• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, September 30, 2011

Still chewing on the launch of Amazon's first tablet, the industry had to keep from gagging on Friday amid reports of a possible Palm acquisition.       

"A well-placed source tells us that HP is currently looking to rid itself of Palm as soon as possible, and that Amazon is the closest to finalizing the deal, among a handful of contenders," VentureBeat reports.

"From a distance, at least, this deal seems like a good idea for everyone involved," suggests Digitaltrends.com. "Amazon could surely get Palm at a discount, and would do well with its own mobile platform." "Buying webOS would put them right with the AppleGoogsofts of the world," writes Gizmodo. "Amazon needs an OS of its own where it can seamlessly integrate all of their offerings -- Kindle, video streaming, music locker -- into a single, coherent interface.

At least according to VentureBeat, WebOS as an operating system can still have a lot of life left if handled the right way by Amazon. "By outfitting future Kindle tablets with a revamped, customized version of WebOS, Amazon can further distinguish its own devices from the huge pack of Android tablets currently flooding the market," CNet writes.

"It's unclear ... why Amazon is interested in Palm," a less enthusiastic TechCrunch counters. "Ditching Android for webOS after building an ecosystem around Android seems foolish and shortsighted. This move, if it's really happening, could be more about hardware development and patents than reviving a dead operating system."

Likewise, GeekWire writes: "Bringing webOS into the fold would be a huge change in course. Not that it couldn't happen, but without further justification the report is a bit of a head-scratcher."

Meanwhile, "For those who might think that an Amazon/HP tie-up sounds out of the blue, it's not," paidContent notes. "Jon Rubinstein, the former Palm head, joined the board of Amazon in December last year as a director."