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Instagram got a lot of flak from iOS users when two events happened within the space of days – Instagram’s release of an Android version of the popular photo shooting app and the announcement that Facebook as bought the company behind Instagram for a cool $1 billion. The negative reactions from long-time Instagram users got so intense that many of them said they will abandon the app and delete their Instagram account. [Read more…]
Draw Something has been a runaway success since it became available for iOS and Android smartphone and tablet users. It has generated the kind of interest and rabid following that Words with Friends generated before.
Zynga, the creators of Words with Friends and other hit games (and arguably the top social gaming developer in the world), knows a hit when it sees it, so instead of developing a Draw Something clone to compete with the hit app, they made the best move they can make – buy the developer of Draw Something. [Read more…]
For people who are looking for alternative e-readers, Kobo is one company that people usually discover when searching online. Kobo, Toronto-based company, is both an e-reader and e-book publishing company. Kobo actually has more than 2.5 million books in its catalogue, which is quite a significant number that allows it to squarely compete with both Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. Kobo’s potential has not been left unnoticed, Rakuten, one of the top e-commerce businesses worldwide has bought Kobo to the tune of $315 million. [Read more…]
That was fast and swift. All of a sudden, Palm which was previously rumored to be selling out has just been bought. Â Guess who was the “lucky,” big time technology company who bought Palm? – yes the company named HP. The price? – $1.5 billion. Are we happy now?
Todd Bradley, a top HP executive said that Palm will provide HP with the innovative OS that will be ideal to HP’s mobile strategy.
“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,†said Todd Bradley.
Jon Rubinstein, Palm chairman and CEO for his part said he is looking forward to working with HP to continue delivering the best mobile experiences to Palm customers as well as business partners.
“We’re thrilled by HP’s vote of confidence in Palm’s technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP’s longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS,†said Jon Rubinstein.
Mr. Rubenstein is to remain with the company when the merger takes place. And also under the TOR of the merger, all Palm stockholders will get $5.70 for each share of Palm common stock. The merger is set to take effect on July 31, 2010 – the closing of HP’s Q3 fiscal quarter.
Now, where would this bring Palm’s WebOS? Hopefully, into a greater good. Palm badly needs to shape up and gear up for a more competitive smartphone market. Can HP bring back Palm’s glory days in the smartphone market? That we are about to see.
Image source: Palm.com
Bloomberg opens up this week’s tech news with a shocking revelation – Palm is putting itself up for sale. Yes, you read it right, it seems that after putting out two new smartphones, Â Palm all of a sudden wanted to bail out of the smartphone battle as it’s now opening itself for possible buyers.
According to the report  Palm is seeking bids as early as this week as it works with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Frank Quattrone’s Qatalys Partners in finding a buyer.
And guess which company are keen on acquiring Palm – HTC, Lenovo Group, and even Dell. Unfortunately none of these companies have given any comment whether any of them are indeed buying Palm.
But whoever gets to acquire Palm at the right price, that company would have to face tough times ahead as Palm’s WebOS platform is currently having a hard time competing against the likes of Apple, RIM and Google in the smartphone battlefield.
Interestingly, one of Palm’s partner company, Elevation Partners LP which owns 30% of Palm:
“a sale may end the volatility of an investment in a stock that surged more than 10-fold since December 2008 before erasing most of the gain,” the Bloomberg report said.
Palm’s stock took a deep plunge of more than 60% this year, thanks to the not-so-good performance of its two latest smartphones – Palm Pre and Palm Pixi Plus smartphones.
So, what do you think? Who shall acquire Palm and makes full use of its technology ? Is it Dell, Lenovo, HTC or perhaps even Google?