HP has closed on its $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm, and with it, confirmed that it plans to develop tablet computers and netbooks based on the webOS operating system. HP also plans to continue to develop smartphones using Palm’s technology.
In a statement, the company says, “Palm will be responsible for webOS software development and webOS based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks.”
Tablets and netbooks were one of the big reasons we assumed HP bought Palm, so today’s news doesn’t come as a surprise. With everyone from Apple to Dell getting into the game –- and the market expected to shift significantly over the next few years towards these types of devices –- HP had little choice but to make a bold move.