HP’s acquisition of Palm instantly changed the landscape of the wireless market. Even without knowing HP’s exact roadmap for the near future, or which direction (or directions) they plan to take, it is clear that this deal will have major implications on device vendors, users, wireless carriers and everyone in between. Palm users are the big winners as they get to see the life of their mobile device maker not only continue but potentially thrive, alongside a company with deep pockets, and a vast community of developers. On the other end, Microsoft could lose out if HP decides to implement Palm’s mobile webOS into their line of tablets and netbooks instead of Microsoft’s Windows 7 OS.

The biggest loser, however, will undoubtedly be RIM. A golden opportunity was missed when RIM passed up the chance to acquire Palm. While RIM continues to do well in the corporate smartphone market, their attempt to conquer the consumer mobile device market has come up short. The dated BlackBerry mobile OS has not been well received by consumers, and RIM is falling further behind as Google and Apple continue to push the limits of mobile innovation. Palm’s webOS has been applauded for its intuitive design and innovative features, and the lack of success of the platform had more to do with Palm’s own lack of marketing strategy and exclusive carrier deal. RIM’s highly regarded hardware paired with Palm’s slick webOS could have provided the match that was capable of doing some serious damage in the smartphone market. Instead, RIM will now be forced to play catch up, by themselves, against an army of vendors that are becoming stronger by the day.