Qualcomm grabs Palm patents and more from HP for core mobile OS technologies.
Qualcomm revealed Thursday afternoon that it is buying a raft of mobile operating system patents from Hewlett-Packard. The price was not disclosed.
The portfolio includes 2,400 current and pending patents that cover some "core" mobile operating system technologies that HP acquired through its acquisitions of Palm, IPAQ, and Bitfone. Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) said in a press release that the IPR trove, which includes 1,400 US patents, gives it more strength and diversity in its mobile patent portfolio. (See Palm Plots Beyond Phones.)
Qualcomm has always been seen as interested in Palm's patents. In 2011, the chipmaker was cited as a possible buyer for the WebOS business. (See Could Qualcomm Take WebOS? and HP Shuts Down WebOS Device Biz.) However, it is not yet clear exactly what patents Qualcomm will get with the buy from HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ). In April, Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) bought $10 million of former Palm smartphone-related patents.
Nonetheless, Qualcomm already has one of the most formidable wireless patent portfolios in the world.
— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading
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