After previous potential buyers had fallen by the wayside, US technology giant HP has picked up struggling mobile company Palm.

The price was $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash, valuing it at $1.2 billion.

Just last week, Palm's most likely suitor HTC had declined the opportunity to take control of the manufacturer, but HP has now stated it intends to push the company forward and become a "leader" in what it loosely described as the mobility market.

The big pick-up

"Palm's innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices," offered executive VP of HP's personal systems group, Todd Bradley.

"Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share.

"Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market."

Back in the game?

Since the news broke last night, there's been something of a collective sigh of relief from all those involved in Palm's business.

Both the Pre and Pixi were the firm's attempts to relaunch its position within the mobile market and, despite positive reactions to webOS, sales have been less than stellar.

However, with Palm now set to join the world's largest computer manufacturer, both and future handsets may now have the opportunity – and, more importantly, the financial backing - to gain real ground on Apple, RIM, Google, Microsoft and the like.

"We're thrilled by HP's vote of confidence in Palm's technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre," said Palm chairman and CEO Jon Rubinstein.

"HP's longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS.

"We look forward to working with HP to continue to deliver industry-leading mobile experiences to our customers and business partners."

[source: HP]