To protect Fire, will Amazon buy Palm?

Shares of Amazon fell about 2 percent in the first hour of trading on Friday, amid speculation that the online retailer might be angling to buy Palm, the fallen mobile device business that Hewlett-Packard bought last year for $1.2 billion.

According to technology site Venturebeat, which earlier reported on Amazon’s interest, the companies are engaged in “serious negotiations,” though there are other suitors.

Still, from a strategic standpoint, the purchase of a company like Palm would be somewhat of a departure for Amazon, which has not historically been focused on buying companies to build out its consumer technology products. Though its moving towards building better mobile devices, its focus, unlike its competitors, seems to be on selling content, said Scott Tilghman, a Caris & Company analyst. “Amazon is focused on driving consumption of its own media offerings and getting into other forms of mobility, specifically the smartphone space, doesn’t seem to be part of their core competency or their core business strategy.”

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/will-amazon-buy-palm-for-its-patents/
http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/29/amazon-buy-palm/