What’s Next for Palm?

A year ago HP bought Palm, basically after RIM took the haggling too far. Fast forward to today, and Palm is no better off than it was a year ago - indeed, it’s arguably worse.

In the meantime RIM has been hanging on with its Blackberry devices through brute force, but without a real solid OS it’s painfully sliding towards obsolescence.

So, here’s my idea: what if RIM were to walk up to HP and offer to buy back Palm for the same price - or more than- HP paid for it a year ago?

Right now HP is facing taking on the behemoths of Google & Apple, and to a lesser extent RIM and Microsoft. Palm under RIM would change the game: if they transitioned to WebOS in a convincing way, with a relatively easy transfer path for current Blackberry users, then they would have WebOS with a real audience and a real business-friendly OS (at least, it was when it began) going up against Google, Apple & Microsoft on far better terms.

HP would be rescued from the sinking WebOS ship while saving face. It might not look good to give up, but HP can point to RIM using brute force in a way that HP never can and shrug its shoulders.

Will this help RIM? Not necessarily - and depending on how stubborn Blackberry users are, it might even bring them down - but it’s the best play they can make. Would HP agree to this? Not if they’re as in it for the long haul as they claim to be, but the longer HP holds onto it and doesn’t turn things around, the worse it gets for RIM and the more difficult the prospects get for WebOS. It seems like this would be the smart play for both sides.