Wednesday was a busy M&A day, and twitter helped me keep track of the excitement. Apple buying Siri, AOL selling ICQ and last but not least – HP buying Palm. 3 deals that will shape our lives in the coming years, and it’s no surprise all 6 companies involved (Apple, Siri, DST, ICQ, HP, and Palm) are in the mobile business. That’s were the action is happening now, were the focus is, and obviously – $$$.
Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, said in one of the few interviews he gave, that he entered the mobile market in the 1990s (with Telcel, 92% market share, subsidiary of Telmex), because there are more opportunities for growth – in a household there’s 1 fixed-line, but at least 3 or 4 mobile lines.
Siri on iPhone
Apple’s acquisition of Siri (an iPhone app – personal assistant that understands what you say, accomplishes tasks for you and adapts to your preferences over time) is maybe the clearest ‘declaration of war’ against Google and its search engine. Voice search technology is the next thing in the mobile market, and Siri will be Apple’s answer to Nexus One’s voice search – a feature I loved when reviewing the device (Hebrew post), that although not perfect, will change the way each of us interacts with his/her phone.
HP’s move was a total surprise for me, that on the one hand seems somewhat natural – completes its Personal Systems Group, and on the other seems like another distraction from their main business (Services & Software). My first PDA was a Palm Pilot Vx, which I bought in 1998 for $100 or so. Since then Palm has evolved, mainly in software and technology, less in hardware, and I (as Mashable) believe it was this aspect of Palm’s business (over 1,500 mobile-related patents) that was most attractive to HP.
Palm Pre
Now, with webOS, HP has one of the best mobile OS out there, which can be installed on a variety of devices, from smartphones to tablets and maybe even netbooks. My thoughts for this deal are:
- How it will translate in markets that have a strong HP presence with weaker Palm presence, such as Israel?
- What the near future holds for HP-Microsoft cooperation? HP have made substantial investments in Windows platform, for both smartphones (Windows Mobile) and netbooks (Windows 7), and now, with in-house (and free) webOS, there is no need for that.
What are your thoughts? Can the new HP/Palm become a contender in the mobile market, against taking share from iPhone/Android/Symbian? Will you buy a webOS slate over an iPad?
The mobile market was definitely shaken this Wednesday, looking forward to seeing the ripple effect of that shake.
