Who said August was a quiet month?

Well, it certainly hasn't been in the world of technology.  If you had said last month that Google would be buying Motorola's mobile business or that HP would be ditching its PC business, WebOS and just-launched TouchPad, you would probably have been given a few strange looks.  But instead, this month we have seen two of the biggest developments in the technology space in many years.

So who are the winners?  Certainly in the short-term it doesn't seem to be the Google or HP shareholders, as share prices did initially go south following both announcements.  However, clearly both decisions had more long-term thinking in mind, with Google picking up a vast patent portfolio and HP looking to concentrate on the more profitable enterprise and services market.

You could argue that the biggest winner at the moment is in fact Apple, with Google's Motorola acquisition seen in some quarters as a defensive move against the iPhone.  At the same time, one of the speculated reasons for HP's decision to get out of the PC business and ditch the TouchPad is apparently the growing dominance of the iPad.

So all in all it looks like it has been a good month PR-wise for Apple (by virtue of doing nothing). However, I am sure its PR department will be somewhat busier in the months to come.....did someone say iPhone 5?