As we reported earlier, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein has said that the company has a plan to become profitable once again, and that he would like Palm to continue to work alone. But while the executive has made it clear that he does not want Palm to be acquired, some other firms have been sniffing around. One of them, Taiwan based HTC, took a look and has decided to pass. The fifth largest global cellphone manufacturer did have some private talks with the webOS developer and decided that an acquisition of Palm would not be right for them. A source close to the situation told Reuters, “There just weren’t enough synergies to take the deal forward.” Another company mentioned as a possible suitor, China’s Huawei, also decided to pass over Palm. According to Investment Bankers, this leaves the world’s fourth largest PC maker, Lenovo, as a potential bidder. The company at the end of last year had $2.9 billion in its coffers, enough to finance a buy out of Palm, which could run in the range of $1.5-$3.0 billion. One banker wondered what exactly a winning bidder would be buying. “What are you buying – a good operating system?” he said. “It’s a wounded brand.” In the quarter that ended February 26th, Palm sold only 408,000 units of its webOS devices, less than the 600,000 estimated by analysts. Lenovo had a cellphone unit which it sold to concentrate on computers, then bought it back last year. It has produced a model for the Chinese market but needs a product for the U.S. market which is the world’s largest based on the number of users. Lenovo is no stranger to big deals, having purchased IBM’s PC business 5 years ago.
source: Reuters

Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein shot down all of the takeover theories that have circulated around the company in the last few weeks. The exec points to the $592 million in cash that Palm has and says that the money will give Palm some breathing space to keep going forward. While that is a lot of dough, to put it in perspective, Apple has $40 billion in cash and short term investments on its balance sheet which gives them the ability to consider an $8 billion purchase of ARM as we reported yesterday. Rubinstein says that Palm has a pipeline of great phones in development although no details were forthcoming from the executive. He did say that Palm does have a plan to follow to return to profitability. The CEO added that the company is open to licensing the well received webOS operating system or forming a “strategic alliance” with another company. Recent rumors have linked Palm to buyout offers from China’s Huawei and Taiwan based HTC. Even though he says that Palm can survive alone, Rubinstein did tell the financial paper that he would take a look at being acquired if all other options fail. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets believe that the company-with a current market cap of $820 million, could attract bids of $2-3 billion based on the attractiveness of webOS to another manufacturer.
source:FinancialTimes via electronista

Running on time as planned, the latest version of the Facebook app for webOS is now available as planned. Even though most of the new features seen with Facebook v1.2 have been available as part of a free beta, those who prefer to grab the real thing and not dabble in betas can quickly download the app from the App Catalog. The biggest thing to finally come around is the new Facebook notifications – which seamlessly pops up unobtrusively as you’re running some other application. Additionally, the update adds support for Facebook videos, keyboard shortcuts, and other items. Since it first came onto the scene, the webOS Facebook app has seen its fair share of transformation to ultimately come down to its most polished form now – which really improves the overall experience.
via Palm Infocenter

Palm’s Plus models are coming, Palm’s Plus models are coming – to France too that is. Both the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are saying bonjour to France’s SFR starting on April 27th through their web site while customers can look forward to seeing it in stores by May 11. It looks as though Palm’s Plus handsets are slowly infiltrating Europe with the hopes of seeing them being gobbled up by customers that prefer a slightly more beefed up webOS experience. Although Germany was seen to be given the thumbs up for both devices, the people of France will also be taking in the pleasures of seeing both handsets become available shortly. Palm’s chairman and chief executive officer, Jon Rubinstein said about the launch, “We are excited to bring the Palm webOS experience to France for the first time so SFR customers can benefit from the unique ability to use natural gestures to switch easily between multiple open applications and always stay up to date. With the choice of the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus phones, customers across France can stay connected so they never miss a thing.” While the company may seem optimistic and upbeat about the launch, there is still a growing sense of anxiety in the background that’ll undoubtedly be looked on as Palm’s future is still uncertain.
source: Palm

Now that webOS 1.4 had been readily available, there was a new security flaw that was recently uncovered which showed how an unsuspecting webOS owners still running an older build of the platform could get hacked via SMS. Simply by using text messaging, owners could potentially be at serious risk if they are still running webOS 1.3.5 for some apparent reason. Due to the fact that many of its applications are written with HTML, JavaScript, and other web standards, the text messaging client in webOS was acting a bit naughty by not executing input/output validation on messages being sent to it – which ultimately led to an HTML injection bug. Fortunately though webOS 1.4 corrects the problem, but for anyone who is still running the older build, just contemplate what you could be getting yourself into by not upgrading.
via UberGizmo

The saga continues with Palm as they are doing whatever they can to attract developers and stay in competition among the other platforms. Although Palm’s App Catalog pales in comparison to what the App Store or even BlackBerry App World has to offer, they are aggressively trying to get developers on board by waiving their usual $99 fee which is required for developers to publish their apps. That membership fee would allow them to distribute webOS applications, manage apps online, and includes a community membership. As much as this might sound like something set in stone for good, Palm is only doing this for a short time to see what kind of outcome would occur by this move. If there is a drastic change in the amount of developers on board, they would most likely keep steady by waiving the fee. If not, then it would revert back seeing that it’d be somewhat unforgiving if they could somehow profit from it. All in all, developers most likely won’t hesitate to get their apps into the App Catalog due to the fact that the fee has been waived – so hopefully it’ll spur some quality apps that were never given a chance to see day light.
via MobileCrunch

Facebook for webOS had a humble beginning which has slowly butterflied into a versatile app that rivals some of the ones seen on other platforms. At first it could’ve been argued that the app was at first a similar version of their web app, but it has gone through some transformations with version 1.2 expected to hit the App Catalog some time next week; according to its Facebook page. There will be plenty to look forward to in this version as it brings along some enhancements like notifications, the ability to play Facebook video, speed enhancements, keyboard shortcuts to lessen the load on yourself, and many more things – actually, you can simply experience it now by checking out the beta version that’s currently available. Even though the future is still uncertain for the continuation of webOS, it’s nice to see that the developer is committing in offering the best level of experience for Facebook on the platform.
source: Facebook via PreCentral

Here in the US, we’ve have been treated to nothing but CDMA based Palm Pre units while those who call GSM their home are still waiting for the good news to come out of AT&T. Those GSM customers can take the plunge ahead of time with by purchasing a permanent SIM unlock fix for the original GSM version of the Palm Pre which is developed by jictechnology. Although you may have to resort to the slightly less than stellar specs of the original GSM Palm Pre and not the bumped up ones seen on the Palm Pre Plus, it should suffice some people out there who just can’t wait any longer for the webOS powered device to make landfall with AT&T. There are various pricing plans being offered, but a single unlock code will only cost £ 25.00 – which should be more than justifiable enough seeing that you’ll be able to use the handset on just about any network. The great thing about this unlocked solution is that it won’t be affected by any future webOS software updates which was seen to cause some problems with the arrival of webOS 1.4.
source: PreCentral

Doubt can always lead some people to take drastic measures to ensure their survival amid an imminent journey that has some uncertainties surrounding it. Palm’s battle to stay afloat may seem insurmountable at this point, but the long time smartphone manufacturer is doing what they can to keep their core intact. There was a new SEC filing this week that offered some insights to the shakeups happening over in Palm land as they continue to find a suitor in possibly buying them up. At the same time, Palm is attempting to entice some of their executives to stay along with the company by offering them some direct cash incentives and stock options. Their Global Operations Senior VP Jeff Devine and CFO Doug Jeffries were paid along the lines of $250,000 in bonuses and stock options to commit in staying for another two years as part of their “retention program.” This move was followed after their Software and Services Senior VP was heard to be leaving the company on April 23. CEO Jon Rubinstein has already committed to staying on board while other executives are hoping to do the same to keep their core intact – even if a buyout does go through. It’s not too surprising to see Palm rushing to some brash moves like these, but they’ll need to do all they can if they choose on moving forward with minimal loses.
via Electronista

Huawei may not be widely known here in the US, but they surely have the recognition around the world to supplant itself as a major player in the mobile market. Here in the US, they’ve mostly kept their name hidden in certain devices like the T-Mobile Tap that offered the convenience of a touchscreen phone with an entry-level price. According to Reuter’s source that was speaking on the condition of anonymity, apparently Palm contacted Huawei back in mid-February in regards to “preliminary discussions” about a possible acquisition. Even though talks surrounding the two have not moved forward since then, it still doesn’t throw out the possibility of it happening as Palm continues its quest on finding a suitor. In response to the news surrounding a buyout, the company said in a statement, “As a matter of policy, Huawei does not comment on speculation about possible mergers or acquisitions. Huawei is always open to consider opportunities that will further enhance its business development.” The list of suitors are always growing and leads to the realization that there is no denying at this point that Palm is aggressively looking for a buyer. As for Huawei, they would be required to pony up approximately $1.3 billion in order – the price to hold Palm’s patent portfolio into its own.
source: Reuters