According to an SEC filing released Friday, Palm shareholders have approved the company's acquisition by Hewlett-Packard. The final transaction is scheduled to go live on Wednesday, July 1.

So just how much does Palm cost? HP initially announced its acquisition in late April, putting up $1.2 billion for the beleaguered portable device maker.

HP's intentions appear to be two-fold: capitalizing on Palm's existing smartphone line and the company's WebOS technology while simultaneously using its considerable resources to build up more product development, marketing, and sales.

"In acquiring Palm, HP dramatically accelerates the assets needed to deliver compelling, connected mobile experiences," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group, in late April. "Palm's world-class technology coupled with HP's financial strength will accelerate our strategy for these connected global devices."

As well, HP will look to tap into the strengths of Palm's WebOS for devices that aren't necessarily in the mobile space. PCMag.com's Lance Ulanoff has speculated that one of HP's tablet devices—perhaps the HP Slate—could benefit greatly from the inclusion of WebOS as a third option behind Windows 7 and Android. With enough support, HP could potentially reinvigorate Palm's WebOS app library as well.

"HP plans to put well over $200 million into Palm R&D, while investing heavily in third-party software development for the webOS platform," writes PCMag.com's Tim Bajarin. "Palm's OS gives HP the ability to marry Web apps with mobile apps in real-time on mobile platforms."

According to ComScore, Palm was only capturing 5.4 percent of the U.S. mobile market as of February 2010—quite a ways behind Apple's 25.4 percent, Google's 9.0 percent, and RIM's 42.1 percent.

Smartphone shipments are expected to rise 35.5 percent from 2009's 182 million to an expected 247 million shipments in 2010, reports iSuppli. As well, Palm was the tenth-largest smartphone brand in the "fourth quarter of 2009, neither gaining nor losing traction throughout the entirety of the year.

"WebOS was critically acclaimed as a platform, but Palm simply did not have the resources needed to effectively compete with deep-pocketed players like Apple, Google and Microsoft," writes analyst Michael Gartenberg.

"That's different now -- the combination of Palm's technology and brand with HP's resources and channel partners will allow HP to drive its mobile efforts forward."