Andre Yoskowitz
15 Jul 2010 22:59
The BusinessInsider has reported today that both Apple and RIM bid on Palm before HP eventually purchased it in April for $1.2 billion.
Citing talks with someone close to the discussions, the site says Apple wanted Palm's library of intellectual property and their patents. Palm has 450 patents on file and 400 more applications on file.
Furthermore, Apple seemed willing to leave Palm independent, funding their operations. It is believed that Apple wanted to take a bite of rival RIM's dominance of the smartphones with keyboards market.
On the other end, RIM had the deal locked up but "had to work incredibly hard to blow it," and they did.
Other giants, like Nokia and Google, did not get into the bidding although it appears Google looked into it when it became clear Apple was interested as well.
How it all went down is as follows (some speculation but based in fact from different sources): Apple offered $600 million in cash, and then did not up their bid. Lenovo then bid with a full stock-for-stock transaction, but that would have taken up to a year to complete. RIM first bid $7 per share (HP won with a $5.70 bid) but then lowered their bid to $5.50 after doing their "due diligence."