Can Palm’s upcoming operating system, Nova, revive the fortunes of the flagging company? Palm’s biggest investor, Elevation Partners, is putting $100 million into that Nova, after already spending $325 million for 25 percent of the company last year. Maybe all Palm needs is a really good tune-up, but it is going to be tough to go up against all the newly-polished goodness coming from the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.
When Elevation first invested, it brought in former Apple hardware chief Jon Rubinstein to head up the company. The fruits of his labors may now be just about ready to be unveiled. But will it be enough?
Nova is supposed to bridge the smartphone gap between the hard-working Blackberry and the upmarket iPhone, and is expected to be announced at CES in January. Everyone else (from Android to WinMo to Blackberry itself) is also trying to bridge that gap.
The stock is up 20 percent on the news to $3 (Elevation is buying its new shares at $3.25). Did Elevation just sink another $100 million into a clunker, or is the Nova going to be a sweeter ride than anyone expects? I’m thinking clunker.
The Pic looks like a Malibu, not a Nova… not that any of use nerds would really care…
Thanks… http://tinyurl.com/4rdhmc
It’s a 1970 Chevy Nova, not a Malibu. Too bad it’s not the SS Nova…
I am thinking more of the Chevy Vega. Remember the aluminum engine that crapped out at 40K miles?
Palm is dead. DOA. Kaput. A walking corpse.
Who is going to buy a Palm device when:
1. All the cool kids have an iPhone?
2. All the business guys have a Crackberry?
3. All the open-source freaks have a Droid?
4. Microsoft wants to crush everyone.
where do I signup to win that car? :D
Very interesting. Is this a case of having no other choice but to throw some more $$$ at Palm or are they blown away after seeing the new OS & devices and they want to invest more $$$.
I just don’t believe Palm will deliver anything that will save them.
didn’t the learn anything from GM?
Apparently Nova in Spanish is ‘no go’.
Poor palm…
ROFL!!!!!! “No va” is “it doesn’t go” but pretty damn close.
Seriously. Anyone who speaks spanish knows this isn’t true. Check out Snopes’ take down of this myth.
http://tinyurl.com/5y58d
Funny thing is iPhone isn’t “up market”. Look at the people who have it on the street. It’s regular people. I think techcrunch even wrote a story a few months ago that the average iPhone user in the US has below median income.
First, leave the Spanish translation to me, carnal!
Second, Palm is, like, soooo last year. I mean, like, why will I , like, totally buy me a yucky PALM when, like, all my girlfriends have the groovy, shinny iPhone or, like the red phone with the cute little white ball in the center?
Plus daddy already paid out of his ears for my iPhone. If I go tell him that I want $500 for a new PALM, he’s going to yell at me, and, like, I’m gong to be soooo bump out, that I’ll need a latte to make me feel swell again.
Sounds like you need a new daddy.
Carro Estranho.
I love Palm I used Treo for 5 years before I bought an iPhone 3G. The sad thing is that there is no market for Palm in today’s iPhone/Android environment. I think the $100M is throwing good money after bad. Its time to call it quits or go with the Android bandwagon. Palm will soon go under but have a nice page in tech history. BTW all the iPhone Killers big plans desgined when iPhone was at about $400 but at $200 is impossible to kill it.
Don’t they know that in spanish ‘no va’ means ‘no go’?
wowzers, that’s a deep-pocketed bet. I’m pulling for them…..someone’s gotta keep barking at the iphone’s and blackberry’s heals.
Maybe now that they’ve got cash, Palm will built that promising Roteo device. Although some say it’s a Compal Tabasco, I smell some Palm involvement…
Market leader is Symbian until further notice.
Thanks for information
Palm has a tough fight to compete with the innovative products and services from Apple, RIM and Android.
It is incredible that a private equity firm will ever invest 22% (Elevation Partners has about $1.9 billion under management) of its total capital in only one company.
No wonder - Bono is on their investment team.