PALM: “A New Day”

Today, Palm ceases to exist as an independent entity. For those of us who have used Palm products and fallen in love with this scrappy little company, it’s a bittersweet moment. But the more we’ve thought about this, we’re at peace with it: the smartphone race has evolved and accelerated in ways even its own players could not have fathomed just a few short years ago. Being a major player requires major distribution scale, enterprising know-how, and… cash. If you look at companies that have done well — Apple, Google in particular — these companies were powerful and seasoned before entering the race. With its rebirth through webOS, Palm was a mere seedling in the middle of a thick-trunked (and pretty hostile!) forest. Rather than be trampled by the Android Army  or pelted with Apples, it was scooped up and planted in HP’s garden.

Now we just have to watch it grow.

The process has already begun: Palm has already pulled out of NASDAQ, HP retail outlets are selling Palm phones on their websites. (Ed: And thus far it seems Palm has kept its brand name!) Palm’s blog has recommended we all start following @HP_PC on Twitter, become fans of HP’s Facebook page, and check out HP’s site, “The Next Bench” to see where we’re headed next. We also recommend you check out Dieter Bohn’s excellent writeup, “Palm is Dead, Long Live Palm” — a must read.

We’re looking forward to seeing what the future will bring, and how webOS will blossom.