This is a guest post by Annkur P Agarwal who is a gadget lover and a biased Palm fan :P, you can read his ramblings about the tech industry on OnlyGizmos.

Late reaction here from me and to be honest I missed the original news as my GPRS connection failed me during travel, but the initial reaction when someone told those to me at a late night tweet-up in Pune was a scream – NO!

I was personally hoping for (if at all) someone like HTC to buyout Palm (if at all) who can bring in superb hardware backing along with $ to make the most of the webOS and speed up release of new devices. Why HP didn’t sound good to me was simple, they just aren’t a smartphone company. The last HP iPaq phone I handled was by all means pathetic and I so preferred my Treo 650 over them.

While thats some reason for me to be skeptical, its accepted that there wasn’t a great smartphone / handheld presence by HP and that’s where they want to fit in Palm. Certainly HP realizes that windows mobile isn’t the most happening thing here. Palm has done well to rise from a near dead level and come up with impressive products. Part of my reaction arises from the fear that we might just see a great innovator just dissolve in the deep sea.

But then I am so hoping that Jon Rubenstine has striked a good deal and HP is committed to preserve the Palm DNA. At its current pace and given the market competition, I am so sure that Palm wouldn’t have been in a position to expand and innovate to its full potential. With a big daddy like HP in picture I see a better chance to handle the nextgen Palm device back here in India. Not to forget some other cool products apart from smart phones that can show up. My wish, HP preserves Palm … Fingers crossed.

Editors Note : HP’s decision could give rise to a new business model in future. With HP eyeing the tablet market, it would probably mean the entry of Palm’s Web OS into the tablet arena and it might just work out. You never know, developers and customers are unpredictable these days!