Amazon wants to buy Palm and its smartphone/tablet platform webOS, VentureBeat reports, citing a well-placed source.

There are other interested parties, but Amazon is nearest to completing the deal, the same source claims.

After HP gave up on the tablet business, rumors started swirling about possible buyers for Palm and webOS — a platform which showed a lot of promise even in its early days but was never given a chance to shine as Palm changed hands.

Recent reports that Samsung was interested in acquiring Palm were quickly shot down by the company CEO Choi Gee Sung. HTC, on the other hand, carefully let the world know that it wouldn't mind having a spare mobile OS on its hands, although CEO Cher Wang was careful not to go into specifics.

Now, Amazon rises as the next likely contender. The company recently shook the world of tablets by introducing a cheap 7-inch device, Kindle Fire, which is Android-based like the tablets from HTC and Samsung.

After Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility, focusing one's entire tablet/smartphone strategy on Android quickly became a lot less attractive, so it seems as if it's just a matter of time until someone takes Palm off HP's hands — probably at a big discount.

If Amazon really does acquire Palm and webOS, it would probably have to completely switch future Kindle Fire products from Android to WebOS, as it doesn't make much sense for a company whose hardware devices are just a front to offer users content to develop tablets on two operating systems at the same time. But Amazon has shown a lot of commitment and patience with its ereader and tablet products, and we're quite sure it could integrate webOS into its long-term tablet strategy.

[via VentureBeat]