In another sign that HP gets it and realizes that Microsoft’s tablet efforts, after 10 years of failures, won’t lead the company to compete against the iPad:

HP and Palm, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm webOS mobile operating system, at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion. The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors.

This is about Palm’s webOS. Why not just use Android, Google’s free operating system for smart phones and tablets? HP doesn’t want to make the same mistake it made by hitching itself to Microsoft’s Windows. Differentiation is a key factor in products. If every product runs Windows, how are the products different? If every tablet and smart phone runs Android, how are the products different?

Apple’s products—Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod—are different, in many respects better than competitors, so Apple can charge a premium. With PCs and Windows, HP cannot differentiate their product line. They won’t make that mistake again.