Editing Palm, Inc. (section)

=== Acquisition by HP and demise ===
[[File:HP Palm Logo.svg|thumb|175px|Palm, Inc. logo, 2010]]
On 28 April 2010, Hewlett-Packard announced it would purchase Palm at $5.70 a share for $1.2&nbsp;billion in an all-cash deal.<ref name="Palm-Apr-2010-8-K">{{cite web|url=http://pdf.secdatabase.com/2904/0001193125-10-096840.pdf |title=Palm, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Apr 28, 2010 |publisher=secdatabase.com |access-date =31 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="HPPress">{{cite press release |title=HP to Acquire Palm for $1.2 Billion |url=http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2010/100428xa.html |publisher=[[Hewlett-Packard|HP]] |date=28 April 2010 |access-date=28 April 2010}}</ref> The acquisition was completed on 1 July 2010.<ref name="Palm-Jul-2010-8-K">{{cite web|url=http://pdf.secdatabase.com/2703/0001193125-10-153620.pdf |title=Palm, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Jul 2, 2010 |publisher=secdatabase.com |access-date =31 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="HPPress2">{{cite press release |title=HP Completes Palm Acquisition |url=http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2010/100701xa.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN |publisher=[[Hewlett-Packard|HP]] |date=1 July 2010 |access-date=5 July 2010}}</ref>

The Palm global business unit was to be responsible for webOS software development and webOS-based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks.

In February 2011, HP unveiled a new line of WebOS products, including the [[HP Pre 3|Pre 3]], [[HP Veer|Veer]], and [[HP TouchPad|TouchPad]]; however, these products were branded under HP's name and not with the Palm name.<ref name=verge-postmortem/> In July 2011, as part of a reorganization, WebOS head [[Jon Rubinstein]] was demoted from senior vice president to a "product innovation role", and replaced by Stephen DeWitt, head of HP's North American consumer PC unit. At the same time, Palm was renamed the "webOS global business unit", effectively ending the use of the Palm brand.<ref name=verge-shakeup>{{cite web|title=HP shakeup: webOS now led by Stephen DeWitt, Jon Rubinstein in charge of 'product innovation'|url=https://www.theverge.com/2011/07/11/hp-shakeup-webos-led-stephen-dewitt-jon-rubinstein-charge-product-innovation|website=The Verge|date=11 July 2011 |access-date=2 January 2015}}</ref><ref name=pcmag-tpkilled>{{cite web|title=HP Kills TouchPad, Support for webOS Devices|url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2391370,00.asp|website=PC Magazine|access-date=2 January 2015}}</ref>

The launch of the TouchPad was met with extremely poor sales;<ref name=verge-postmortem>{{cite web|last1=Zieger|first1=Chris|title=Pre to postmortem: the inside story of the death of Palm and webOS|url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/6/5/3062611/palm-webos-hp-inside-story-pre-postmortem|website=The Verge|date=5 June 2012 |access-date=2 January 2015}}</ref> on 18 August 2011, HP announced that it would immediately end the production and support of all Palm and WebOS devices, and would be "exploring options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward", including a potential sale of the division to another company. HP also cancelled the U.S. release for the Pre 3 and Veer, and infamously, held a [[fire sale]] on remaining TouchPad stock, lowering prices for the tablet to as low as US$99 (which, however, led to a major spike in demand for the device).<ref name=verge-postmortem/><ref name=pcmag-tpkilled/> The decision, made by HP's CEO at the time [[Léo Apotheker]], along with its $11.7&nbsp;billion acquisition of [[HP Autonomy|Autonomy]], and threats to spin off HP's consumer business, led to a major decline in HP's market performance, with its shares falling in value by 45.4%.<ref name="bbc-hp-whitman">{{cite news|title=Hewlett-Packard replaces Leo Apotheker with Meg Whitman|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15028509|access-date=22 September 2011|newspaper=BBC News|date=22 September 2011}}</ref>

[[File:HP Gram Logo.png|Logo for HP subsidiary Gram (2012–2013)|150px|thumb|right]]
Following the resignation of Apotheker and his replacement by [[Meg Whitman]],<ref name="bbc-hp-whitman"/> it was announced in December 2011 that an open source version of much of WebOS would be created. Shortly afterward, Jon Rubinstein, along with a number of other senior Palm staff members, began to leave HP.<ref name=verge-postmortem/> On 15 August 2012, it was revealed that HP had re-organized the remaining WebOS team as a unit known as "Gram", made up of the remaining components of Palm.<ref name="DGram">{{cite news|url=http://allthingsd.com/20120815/meet-gram-hps-new-name-for-the-company-formerly-known-as-palm/|title=Meet Gram, HP's New Name for the Company Formerly Known as Palm|last=Hesseldahl|first=Arik|date=15 August 2012|work=[[All Things D]]|access-date=17 August 2012}}</ref> In February 2013, HP announced that it had sold the WebOS team, along with a license to the WebOS source code, documentation, and underlying patents, to [[LG Electronics]]. LG planned to primarily use the WebOS platform for its smart TV products, rather than on mobile devices, but did not rule out the possibility.<ref>{{cite web|author=Nilay Patel |url=https://www.theverge.com/2013/2/25/4027814/hp-emerges-as-big-winner-in-webos-sale |title=HP emerges as big winner in WebOS sale |work=The Verge  |date=25 February 2013 |access-date=6 January 2014}}</ref>