Hewlett-Packard announced Thursday that it has completed its $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm.

"The combination gives HP significant headway into one of technology's fastest-growth segments with Palm's innovative webOS platform and family of smartphones, plus a rich portfolio of intellectual property from the smartphone pioneer," HP said in a statement.

After much speculation about who might snap up the flailing Palm, HP agreed to acquire the phone maker for $1.2 billion in April. Palm's shareholders approved the deal in late June.

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

Former Palm chairman and chief executive Jon Rubinstein and the Palm global business unit will report to Bradley. Going forward, Palm will be responsible for webOS software and hardware development, including smartphones, tablets, and netbooks, HP said.

"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."

Reports that Palm was open to being bought surfaced in April, and HTC and Lenovo reportedly expressed an interest. HTC eventually backed out, and HP swooped in.