Decision Nº M/10/014 from Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, 2010-05-31

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
• Decision Date: 31 May 2010
• Decision Number: M/10/014
• Date: 31 May 2010
• Parties: Hewlett Packard Company,Palm Inc

M/10/014 – HP/Palm

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DETERMINATION OF MERGER NOTIFICATION M/10/014 -

Hewlett Packard / Palm

Section 21 of the Competition Act 2002

Acquisition by Hewlett Packard Compan y of Palm Inc.

Dated 31 May 2010

Introduction

1. On 14 May 2010 in acc ordance with Section 18 (1) of the Competition

Act, 2002 (“the Act”), the Competition Aut hority (“the Authority”)

received a notification of a proposed transaction whereby H ewlett

Packard Company (“HP”) would acquire sole control of Palm Inc.

(“Palm”).

The Undertakings Involved

The Acquirer

2. HP, incorporated in Delaware U.S.A. and headquartered in Pa lo Alto,

California, U.S.A, is a global supplier of information technology (“IT”)

products and services. HP’s products include computing sys tems,

personal c omputers, printers, scanners and copiers and also the iPAQ

range of sm artphones.

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HP’s services include consulting, education,

design and installation, ongo ing support and mai ntenance, and IT

service outsourcing. HP offers its full range products and services

within the State. HP is not involved in the production or sale of

operating systems for smartphones.

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3. For the financial year ended 3 1 October 2009 H P’s worldwide turnover

was approximately €82.1 billion.

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For the same period within the

State, HP’s turnove r was approximately […]. Net revenue from the

sale of iPAQ phones in the State over the sam e period was […].

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The Target

4. Palm, incorporated in Delaware, U.S.A. and headquartered in

Sunnyvale, California, U.S. A, is a global m obile products supplier.

Palm’s products include smartphones and smartphone operat ing

systems.

5. Palm’s most recent smartphone models, Palm Pre and Palm Pixi, run

on the new Palm WebOS operating sys tem, which supports core

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A smartphone can be described as a device that, in addition to making phone calls, has

capabilities such as messaging, web access, camera, document editing, contact lists, and calendar

and other features. There is no universal definition of a “smartphone” and the capabilities of

smartphones will likely continue to grow over time.

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An operating system is an essential input in the production of smartphones.

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Using the relevant average a nnual ECB exchange rate for the year ending 31 December 2009

for conversion of US dollars into Euro, €1 = US$1.3948.

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[…].