Apple and RIM revealed as mystery suitors to Palm

Apple, Google and RIM were three of the companies engaged in the bidding war over Palm before it was bought by HP, a potentially telling leak asserted this afternoon. The iPhone maker, likely Company A from Palm's SEC filings, was purportedly interested first in Palm's patents but would have gone so far as to keep funding Palm for at least awhile, possibly to slow down RIM's BlackBerries. Apple is believed to have lost the deal by underbidding before it reached the final phases.

Google, or Company D, was focused on patents as well, but SAI has heard it would have acquired Palm in the same sort of Apple denial strategy used to justify acquiring AdMob. It would have bought Palm simply to keep the company out of Apple hands, and backed out in the mistaken belief that Apple wasn't involved in negotiations.

RIM is thought to be Company C, the firm Palm said had ruined its own chances in a possible takeover. A source claimed the BlackBerry producer "had to work incredibly hard to blow [the deal]" and at first only tried to acquire patents, but for reasons unknown decided to lower its bid at the last moment even when it made a play for all of Palm. It had undergone due diligence to explore options and thought Palm worth less than before, but wasn't aware of HP's higher bid.

Lenovo has been identified as the remaining major bidder, Company B, and wanted a share-for-share deal. It may have been ruled out as it warned the deal would take months more to complete than usual, which Palm might not have afforded. It's unclear if it was simply the nature of the deal or foreign competition rules as a Chinese company.

The identities haven't been independently confirmed, but if true would present a view of a much more intense bidding process than suspected before. Previous rumors had suggested the candidates were primarily from Chinese-speaking areas, with HTC, Huawei and ZTE all considered possible candidates. Palm has had rapidly diminishing market share in the smartphone world, but its multi-touch, web-focused OS has been considered a major advantage, as has Palm's patent portfolio as one of the earliest smartphone pioneers.

An Apple takeover would have been ironic as many of Palm's employees, including CEO Jon Rubinstein, had last worked at Apple, in some cases on the iPhone. A handful of Palm engineers have since departed for some of the rumored bidders, including Apple and Google.

By Electronista Staff