On April 29th, HP agreed to acquire Palm in a deal said to be worth US$1.2 billion. Today the company has announced that the acquisition is complete. 

HP hopes that the combination of its scale and financial clout along with Palm's webOS platform will allow it to “participate more aggressively” in the smartphone markets.

Under Jon Rubinstein, former Palm Chairman and CEO, the Palm global business unit will report to Todd Bradley, Executive VP, Personal Systems Group, HP.

“With webOS, HP will deliver its customers a unique and compelling experience across smartphones and other mobility products,” said Todd Bradley, Executive VP, Personal Systems Group, HP. “This allows us the opportunity to fully engage in growing our smartphone family offering and the footprint of webOS.”

Palm will be responsible for webOS software development and webOS based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks.

“With HP’s full backing and global strengths, I’m confident that webOS will be able to reach its full potential,” said Rubinstein. ”This agreement will accelerate the development of this incredible platform with new resources, scale and support from a world-respected brand.”