HP exec says multiple Palm WebOS products coming this year

On July 1, HP Corp. confirmed it would acquire Palm Inc. for $5.70 per share, valuing Palm at about $1.2-billion.

The acquisition sent the market into a spiral of eager speculation of new HP consumer electronics and smartphones powered by Palm’s WebOS platform.

In a recent blog post, HP Chief Technology Officer, Rahul Sood, wrote in a blog post that HP would release multiple Palm WebOS products within the next year, some of which will include new form factors.

Mr. Sood said, “you will certainly see products [including smartphones and “web-connected devices”] released over the next 12 months, some sooner than others, and some which are very exciting to me. The stuff that excites me the most are the new form factors.” He warned that the products wouldn’t be released in the short term, but at the same time, it wouldn’t take an entire year for the first devices to launch, rather, multiple products would be released over the course of the next year.

 No other information was released relating to what type of products HP could release.

Competition in the mobile industry is greatly intensifying as firms continue to release new and more advanced smartphones.

The mobile landscape is expected to significantly change in the short-run.

The business IT market research group, Garner, recently published a report that forecasted Google Android to overtake RIM’s BlackBerry as the second top mobile platform in terms of device sales as soon as by the end of this year.

HP says the smartphone market will exceed $100-billion, and its acquisition of Palm would enable the company to “deliver its customers a unique and compelling experience across smartphones and other mobility products,” according to Todd Bradley, the vice president of Personal Systems Group at HP.

Most recently, on Aug 26, HP also acquired 3PAR Inc. after edging out bidding rival Dell Inc. in a race to acquire 3PAR. HP paid $27 per share for 3PAR, valuing that acquisition at $1.8-billion. HP said it has the financing available and it would close the deal with cash.

The HP stock (NYSE:HPQ) has lost a significant amount of value over the past 7-months, trading at $40 per share, compared to about $55 per share only 6-months ago.

Today, the HP stock is up almost 2-percent.