Palm CEO confident no takeover needed

Palm chief Jon Rubinstein tonight proclaimed in an interview that Palm wouldn't need a takeover to continue its business. He was confident that the smartphone originator "can survive as an independent company" and added that Palm has a plan that would return it to profit. That Palm has $592 million in cash will give it time to recover, he said.

The executive went on to stress to the Financial Times the "strong pipeline" of new phones that Palm is developing, although he didn't provide any early clues as to what these would involve. Most criticism of Palm in 2010 has centered around the relatively conservative Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, both of which only add a small parcel of features to designs released in 2009.

Rubinstein admitted that Palm was still open to a good "strategic relationship" or to the option of licensing out webOS to other companies, but he wouldn't say how likely either of those were or hint at any possible buyer. Recent rumors have made HTCand Huawei possible candidates among others, although none of these have hinted at a deal being close.

Although generally well-received, Palm has faced an uphill battle in 2010 as smartphone buyers have largely steered towards Android, BlackBerry and iPhone. Most of Palm's advantage has centered on webOS' especially simple, true multitasking system and for being one of the first to have social components like Facebook and LinkedIn permeate the entire platform, but some of its advantage has disappeared as at least partial multitasking has come to Android and the iPhone. Apple may even integrate Facebook into iPhone 4.0 as a means of getting and updating contacts.

By Electronista Staff