Andre Yoskowitz
23 Apr 2010 13:02
After HTC dropped out of the hunt, it appears that Lenovo is now the front-runner to purchase struggling smartphone maker Palm.
Lenovo is the world's fourth largest PC maker, but has struggled to make any headway into the phone market.
"A most suitable candidate will be a mainland Chinese company," adds Lu Chialin, an analyst at Macquarie Securities in Taipei. "They've got a lot more free cash and don't have the brand presence in the United States, so that will all give them that boost they need."
HTC passed on bidding after reviewing Palm's balance sheet and books, leaving Lenovo as the top "mainland Chinese" company left in the running.
"There just weren't enough synergies to take the deal forward," says an anonymous HTC source, via Reuters.
Officials from all three companies declined to comment.