Palm Still Claims WebOS is worth something. HTC says no.

About two weeks ago I posted this article about Palm going on the auction block.  A lot of sites (like Engadget, WMPowerUser.com, and others,) believed HTC would drop the majority of their current coffers into picking up Palm.  After digging into the dirty financial black hole like singularity that is Palm’s checkbook, HTC has taken a step back.  This makes a hell of a lot of sense in light of the many product releases on HTC’s table.  All that cash in the bank is going to be for pumping out prelaunch handsets and marketing said handsets in the next few quarters.  Find out what I’m rambling about after the break.

     With the Incredible stomping ass all over the place (Doug’s Nexus One included,) and the incredibly high demand for the David K’s HD2, HTC will be dumping all kinds of cashflow into manufacturing these devices as well as priming the pumps on Windows Phone 7 devices.  What I think is most interesting is Palm’s steadfast claim that it’s still viable independently.  Clearly the financial struggle of such a large corporation means they are probably deeper in the red than Tampax. 

     Palm seems to believe that by licensing its WebOS to third-party handset makers like HTC, they can overcome the epic shame and failure of the OS’s intial release (poor hardware, poor carrier decisions, and baleful marketing campaign,) and the companies financial woes in turn.  I don’t think Palm is going to be able to find a buyer so far in debt.  Like I mentioned in my first article, if Palm is going to be bought by a smart investor, it will be in the wake of bankruptcy.  This whole licensing business Palm is viewing as its savior is quite muddy though.  Everyone in the industry seems to know that the worst thing about WebOS is that it’s currently being run by a group with the business intellect of a doorknob.  If a handset manufacturer of decent size and vision can pull this last whim of hope from the dying fingers of the Palm Corporation they could certainly make a name for themselves.  I’m still pulling for Nokia to drop their Symbian struggles and license WebOS.  I think I’d have to ditch Microsoft, Google, and my lofty dreams of the First Else if I could get an N900 with WebOS.  So who do you guys think will be the next company looking into the dark pit of suffering, also known as Palm’s financial records?