For Sale: Palm (the company)

The rumoured UK release of the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus mobiles on the O₂ network has been overshadowed by an even bigger rumour that the manufacturer isn’t in the best financial shape and is currently looking for a buyer.

After 11 consecutive quarters of deficit, names of potential buyers for Palm Inc. have been cropping up notably in American financial media. HTC and Lenovo are rumoured to be the most likely candidates, but neither company would comment on the matter. More firms, including Dell, Nokia and even Apple have been mentioned in what could well just be part of a name-dropping free-for-all. However, as Palm still holds several interesting patents, the competition could be set to genuinely hot up.

Palm’s shares got a welcome boost from news of the rumour … before dropping 11%.


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