Last week veteran PC maker HP announced – much to everyone’s surprise – that it was scooping up beleaguered Palm and their snappy webOS for a cool $1.2-billion.

HP is the biggest PC manufacturer out there, which puts some serious clout and a massive install-base behind webOS, Palm’s new-ish and fairly well-received mobile OS. Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP, says:

“Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices”

What does this all mean? Will there be Windows Phone 7 devices from HP? HP’s VP of Strategy and Corporate Development Brian Humphries says yes:

“We intend to continue to be a strategic partner for Microsoft. They’re a huge piece of our business today, and will continue to be so.”

Well, HP’s ‘mobile strategy’, as Todd puts it, has been absent for a while, so this is a solid step an one direction. The question is, is it the right direction!? Only time will tell what HP has planned for Palm and webOS, but it will at least give the fledgling mobile platform a temporary reprieve.

[via]