rumour circulated late last week on Wall Street thatPalmwas putting itself up for sale , which one industriousness analyst read would be a good idea .
“ I think it would be a full thing if they were purchased , ” say Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney . “ They ’re doing well now , but they require more capital to do the things they call for to do . ”
The rumors late last week drove up the price of Palm stemma . thenar spokeswoman Marlene Somsak tell previous Monday that the company does not comment on rumors and venture . “ There ’s new ones every day , ” she say .
Dulaney say he had no verbatim knowledge that , as several news story indicated , Palm was prepare itself for sale . He did say , however , that Palm investor told another Gartner analyst of the preparations .
“ The rumour that [ Palm ] is in play came from investors , ” Dulaney say . Whether the stories are true , Dulaney said that Palm , which is presently profitable , ca n’t keep up its gainfulness over the farsighted draw , particularly with its popularTreo crinkle of smartphonesstarting to show its age .
“ Today , the big guys can do new [ phone ] manakin every six months , ” Dulaney said . “ Palm just ca n’t do that . The Treo has been out there far too long . Its electronics have been upgraded , but it ’s just too loggerheaded . ”
Dulaney was referring to the trend toward ever - thinner and smaller smart earphone , such as the Motorola Q , Samsung’sBlackJackand Research In Motion’sPearl . Even RIM ’s long - pop BlackBerry line train at business user received an renovation late with release of the thinner , smallerBlackBerry 8800 .
But while a sale of Palm cause sensation , finding a emptor might be difficult , Dulaney said .
“ It would n’t be Nokia or Motorola , ” he said . “ Nokia would n’t make sense because there ’s no vulgar OS chopine , and I do n’t think Motorola is interested since they already have Windows platform devices . RIM does n’t make sensory faculty because they ’re very positive in what they already have , although it would give RIM ledger entry into Windows Mobile , which would increase their sales . ’
Besides some Asian phone vendors , that leaves large computer marketer as potential purchasers , Dulaney said . One candidate would be Hewlett - Packard , which latterly introduced a chic phone , the iPaq 510 Voice Messenger , which will be based on the Windows Mobile 6 platform .
“ Their shares are down , and the Messenger product is a weak exploit , ” Dulaney read . “ It would be natural for them to pick up Palm . ”
Other possible nominee include Dell and Apple , but Dulaney dismissed the first possible action , allege , “ Dell has too many problems now . ”
Apple might benefit from acquiring Palm , he said . “ What they ’d get from Palm is bearer knowledge . But they ’d have to blame up a whole OS . ” By that , he said he imply that Apple is getting into the telephone set line with its much - ballyhooed iPhone , based on Apple ’s OS X , but some believe that the mobile phone business present complications that Apple may not have considered . Also , Palm ’s Windows Mobile Treos would not needfully be a ripe accession , given Apple ’s civilization and traditional antipathy to Microsoft ’s program .
In any character , Dulaney aver that now was a sound time for Palm to be looking for a vendee .
“ It would be a good thing , ” he enounce . “ They ’re profitable and there are some positive thing there that wo n’t be positive for all that long . ”
