In April, HP announced plans to acquire Palm for US$1.2 billion. HP said it planned to invest heavily in product development and marketing initiatives and that it would use WebOS to power tablet computers.

At the time of the acquisition, HP praised the WebOS UI, saying that it "delivers incredible experience for true multitasking," according to Todd Bradley, vice president of HP's personal systems group. The company also said it was excited to acquire Palm's team of engineering talent with strong leaders.

Palm's CEO, Jon Rubinstein, agreed to stay on with HP, but at the time of the acquisition announcement HP declined to say if he'd signed an agreement to stay for a particular period of time.