HP has announced that they will buy Palm for $1.2 billion and I think it’s a sound deal for HP. Palm is a great company with a solid fan base and more than a $1 billion worth of patents alone. Palm has real problem like way too much debt for this weak economy and the heavy competition they face in the mobile market which ironically they pioneered. With all the patents they hold in small form factor and mobile technology it’s a smart play for HP to snatch up an instant advantage in the mobile phone business with Dell recently announcing they will build the first new Windows Mobile Phones and of course Google making thier own moves with Android.

Competition is a good thing for mobile phone users and the explosive growth means there is plenty of room for a top 5 major players to live comfortably. HP has an incredible opportunity to grab a spot at the top if they do this right and support the Palm brand rather than assimilate it. What do you think HP will do with Palm?

HP buying Palm for $1.2 billion | Circuit Breaker – CNET News

Hewlett-Packard will purchase Palm for $1.2 billion, the companies announced Wednesday.

That works out to $5.70 per share for the company that invented the PDA and was instrumental in kicking off the smartphone craze. That’s a 23 percent premium over the Wednesday closing price on Palm’s stock of $4.63. The deal has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors and is expected to close by the end of July.

“Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices,” Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP’s Personal Systems Group, said in a statement. “And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team.”

Bradley was CEO of Palm from 2002 through 2005.

Microsoft phone system hits reset on digital music | Reuters

To date, Microsoft’s effort to address the digital music market has largely focused on its Zune player and Zune Pass subscription service, which have won favorable reviews but few customers. But with the recent unveiling of its Windows Phone 7 Series operating system at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Microsoft hopes to reboot its struggling digital music strategy.

Even the well-received Zune HD device, introduced last fall, hasn’t been enough to convince music fans to convert to the Zune Pass. The company says it has sold only 3.8 million players since 2006, and NPD Group estimated in November that it has a 2 percent share of the U.S. portable media player market, compared with 70 percent for Apple’s iPod.

So Microsoft has made it a priority to expand the Zune service to other platforms. In November, it added the Zune’s video service to its Xbox Live network, consisting of more than 20 million worldwide users of the Xbox 360 gaming console. Since then, Zune communications director Jose Pinero says the number of daily HD video downloads and streams has doubled. Now, Microsoft plans to use its Windows Phone 7 platform to bring Zune to mobile customers.

“Anybody who gets a Windows Phone 7 Series phone is going to get a Zune within that device,” Pinero says.

It seems the first reviews of the Zune phone are in and even though no and has a device in hand yet many seem positive about what Microsoft plans to offer by holidays 2010.

The Windows 7 Series Zune Phone will integrate the entire suite of Microsoft applications and services including the basic business and contact services such as Office and Outlook but also Xbox and Zune for the first true all in one device with tight integration of the separate ecosystems on 3 different screens.

It’s a long ways off and the mobile smartphone market is going to get a bit crowded with all the competing systems. Who will Microsoft take from if they want to increase marketing share? Will partnerships with existing handset makers be enough to chip away at Apple or will the Windows Phone make a real challenge to their strong position?

TMCnet | Mobile World Congress News

Microsoft is not about the let Apple enjoy the limelight when it comes to portable media players and smartphones. The company’s highly-rated ZuneHD portable media player is now a phone.

At MWC 2010, Microsoft’s press event, the Zune phone finally took center stage, welcomed by a number of approving nods from audience attendees – according to a review in CNET.

This Windows Phone 7 Series is truly more than simply a Zune HD with a phone added to it. This portable device actually combines some of Microsoft’s most successful products, such as Windows Mobile, Zune, Xbox and Microsoft Office – who wouldn’t want this device?

It seems the first reviews of the Zune phone are in and even though no and has a device in hand yet many seem positive about what Microsoft plans to offer by holidays 2010.

The Windows 7 Series Zune Phone will integrate the entire suite of Microsoft applications and services including the basic business and contact services such as Office and Outlook but also Xbox and Zune for the first true all in one device with tight integration of the separate ecosystems on 3 different screens.

It’s a long ways off and the mobile smartphone market is going to get a bit crowded with all the competing systems. Who will Microsoft take from if they want to increase marketing share? Will partnerships with existing handset makers be enough to chip away at Apple or will the Windows Phone make a real challenge to their strong position?

TMCnet | Mobile World Congress News

Microsoft is not about the let Apple enjoy the limelight when it comes to portable media players and smartphones. The company’s highly-rated ZuneHD portable media player is now a phone.

At MWC 2010, Microsoft’s press event, the Zune phone finally took center stage, welcomed by a number of approving nods from audience attendees – according to a review in CNET.

This Windows Phone 7 Series is truly more than simply a Zune HD with a phone added to it. This portable device actually combines some of Microsoft’s most successful products, such as Windows Mobile, Zune, Xbox and Microsoft Office – who wouldn’t want this device?