Hasta La Gadget!

Sprint’s riffed about the possibility of migrating to LTE in the past — as has its 4G partner, Clearwire — so it’s no big surprise to hear CEO Dan Hesse tell the Financial Times today that he’s still open to the idea down the road, possibly side-by-side with the company’s existing WiMAX deployment thanks to its deep spectrum holdings. What’s far more interesting, though, is his concession that there’s “logic” to exploring a merger with T-Mobile USA in the event that they both move to LTE for their next-gen networks. For its part, T-Mobile hasn’t announced its 4G plans yet, but it’s an open secret than Deutsche Telekom has explored the idea of selling off its US outpost in the past. Combined, it seems that Sprint and T-Mobile — neither of whom have the firepower to compete with giants AT&T or Verizon on every level — would create a strong third-place carrier capable of nipping at their heels. FT says that the idea of a Sprint deal was rejected back in 2008 on grounds that the two have incompatible networks, so who knows… if that restriction were removed, there might yet be love in the air.

Sprint’s Hesse: there’s ‘logic’ to a T-Mobile merger — if they both move to LTE originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s only been a couple short months since HP announced its intentions to buy Palm, but apparently all the investors are happy and the lawyers are rich, because the two companies have just announced that the $1.2b transaction is official and the buyout is complete — Palm is now part of HP. Yes, it’s the end of an era — Palm’s been a part of the tech landscape in one confounding way or another since 1992 — but it’s also the start of what could potentially be a webOS renaissance, as HP plans to use Palm’s ideas and OS on everything from smartphones (phew) to tablets to even printers. We still don’t know exactly how Palm’s people and structure will be folded into HP, or what exact role CEO Jon Rubinstein will play, but Palm’s already lost some important people, and managing that transition while still keeping the product roadmaps on course will be the next great challenge for these two companies. Here’s to the best — now how about some of that rumored new hardware?

P.S.- Now that things are official, we can’t help but wonder about the fate of the HP Slate — there have been rumors of its death since the buyout was announced, and HP’s gone from crowing about it to total radio silence. We honestly don’t know one way or another, but we’d sure love to find out.

HP / Palm buyout officially complete — get ready for webOS printers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Merger mania in the Japanese smartphone market, as Toshiba and Fujitsu have decided to combine their mobile operations, creating what will be the second-largest Japanese phone maker after Sharp. The move comes just over a year after these two merged their hard drive operations, so clearly the love here is deep. Fujitsu will reportedly own 70-80 percent of the new company, as it’s actually a bigger mobile player — but it mostly makes dumbphones with gimmicky features for the domestic market, which is why it’s buying Toshiba and its lineup of smartphones like the Snapdragon-powered TG02. Of course, the TG02 runs Windows Mobile, so it’s not like it represents any sort of future, but we’d bet it’d look real nice running Android or Windows Phone 7. We’ll see how quickly these two can get in the game — the mobile market isn’t for the faint of heart.

Fujitsu and Toshiba cellphone units merge, become second-largest Japanese mobile company originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adding even more drama to an pivotal and transformative year in tech, last week HP announced it will buy Palm for the nice round sum of 1.2 billion dollars — a move that will position it as a major player in the crowded mobile market. HP is no stranger to mobility — the iPaq was once a defining mobile product — but over the years the company has been unable to replicate that success with similar efforts in as the dynamic shifted from PDAs to phones. Buying Palm is a quick way of getting back in the game.

This deal underscores the velocity of mobile and how that speed is affecting long term winners and losers. Many had written off Palm’s relevance in the market, which might have been a correct assessment if Palm had ended up elsewhere. But I think Palm found a good home. In addition to Todd Bradley, the former CEO of Palm who now leads HP’s Personal Systems Group, there are many Palm alumni at HP. This means that there should be a relatively smooth transition and overall good cultural fit. That’s important because time is of the essence — the market won’t wait around for HP to integrate Palm.

Continue reading Entelligence: Meet H/Pre

Entelligence: Meet H/Pre originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After months of speculation, smartphone maker Palm has finally found a buyer. HP has said it will buy Palm for approximately  $1.2 billion.

The move will give HP a foothold in the fast-growing smartphone business, at a time when HP rival Dell has its own smartphone available on AT&T.

Palm’s chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, a former Apple executive, will remain with the company, says HP.

Over the last two years, Palm has tried to reinvent itself by introducing a new smartphone operating system called webOS and new phones such as the Palm Pre and the Pixi. The phones have been well-received, with positive reviews, especially for the latest versions, the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus.

But Palm has been stymied by lack of a big marketing budget, particularly when compared to its rivals such as Apple, Motorola and HTC. Palm has been steadily losing money and market share. And acquisition rumors have been rampant with companies such as HTC and Lenovo reportedly interested in Palm.

Now that HP has bagged Palm, it could mean a new direction for the latter. Access to HP’s distribution channel and coffers could help turn the tide for Palm.

That’s especially true for the enterprise channel — computers and smartphones for business users — where both Palm and HP have historically been strong. This might ensure Palm a healthy future as the corporate sidearm of choice, even if it fails to gain significant consumer traction.

“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, chairman and chief executive officer of Palm in a statement.

HP and Palm are expected to close the transaction in the third quarter.

See Also:

• Palm Palm Pre Plus vs. Palm Pixi Plus
• Review: Palm Pre
• 6 Reasons Why the Palm Pre Is Special
• Palm Unveils Its Long-Awaited Smartphone, the Pre

Photo: (Patrick Moorehead/Flickr)