Microsoft Loses On HP-Palm Deal, Too

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Earlier, we reported that U2 rock star Bono and some friends of his had lost over (an estimated) $200 million on the HP-Palm sale. Some other people might not be so happy regarding the deal, and that’s Microsoft. HP previously was going to base their mobile products around Windows 7 and Windows Phone. Now, analysts and insiders report that HP will go webOS with everything, leaving Microsoft’s products in the cold.

As we first reported when the HP-Palm news broke, an HP senior VP told TechCrunch that one reason behind the Palm purchase was that HP wanted to “double down” on webOS as a mobile platform. Another vice president at HP, head of the ‘personal systems group’, Todd Bradley, told Bloomberg News that, point-blank, “We looked to acquire them for the WebOS.”

You’ll recall that the HP Slate is the upcoming tablet from HP that is set to be running Windows 7. This year at CES 2010, during the apex of tablet hype from everybody who tried to compete with Apple, this HP Slate was being held up as “Microsoft’s iPad”. While they still are planning to release the HP Slate tablet with Windows 7, don’t count on future tablets coming out. Matt Rosoff, analyst, told Bloomberg BusinessWeek that the Palm-HP deal “doesn’t show a lot of confidence [in] Windows”.

WebOS tablets and phones have already been rumored for this year. Adam Holt, analyst for big firm Morgan Stanely, is very positive on the possibility of a webOS-powered HP tablet. He told Bloomberg BusinessWeek that an HP tablet with webOS could sell 3.5 million units by the end of the year, which would account for 50% of his forecast of 7 million tablet sales this year. (no offense to Mr. Holt, but since the iPad has already sold 1 million units after three weeks, I have feeling more than 7 million tablets will be sold this year).

Microsoft still wants to be friends with HP. A Microsoft Director told Bloomberg BusinessWeek that “HP is a strategic partner and will continue to be so.”