Like the late, great Compaq, Palm looks like it’s going to be subsumed by a bigger company in the next few days. Rumors abound regarding a possible purchase by Nokia, although Motorola is also in the running.

What does that mean for us? Probably Symbian-based Treo-esque devices or, heaven forefend, Windows Mobile or Palm devices coming out of the Finnish giant. The only real precedent to something like this is, in fact, HP buying Compaq and putting out iPaq handhelds and then phones. Unfortunately, both Moto and Nokia have such closed cultures and aesthetics that I’d suspect they — in the manner of the bee wolf — take the technology and leave the brand fluid-less husk at the bottom of a flower. Goodbye, Treo?

Palm’s in Play [Unstrung]