Remember when Steve Jobs famously rebuffed Palm's patents as not worth much? It seems Apple has had a change of heart as it has paid $10 million to acquire Palm patents. Then again, what is $10 million to a company with $147 billion in cash? Not much.

Apple has licensed the patents from Japan's Access, Co. Access purchased PalmSource in 2005 and acquired the patents in the sale.

Access Co., a Japanese outfit that makes software for mobile platforms, TV set-top boxes, and other digital devices, had acquired PalmSource – owner of Palm OS patents – in 2005. The agreement, signed on March 31, is somewhat surprising due to the certainly turbulent history Palm has had with the late Apple leader. Jobs had engaged with Palm in a verbal battle in 2007, ending with threats of a lawsuit if Palm in 2007 didn’t concede to Apple’s demands of not poaching each other’s workers. Palm had responded aggressively, threatening a lawsuit of its own concerning patents. Jobs then proceeded to belittle Palm’s patented designs and software saying, “We are not concerned about them at all. My advice to you is to take a look at our patent portfolio before you make a decision.” Such was the history between the two groups that when Apple’s great leader was alive, this action would have been unheard of. It looks like Apple is hedging its products by making sure that a possible major source of competition for Apple’s iOS is now under its control.

I wonder what Apple has up its sleeves?

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