When HP purchased Palm in 2010, and took over the company’s struggling webOS platform, many thought the buyout would breathe new life into the mobile operating system that had received good reviews on the Palm handsets it had made its debut on. New HP branded phones were then unveiled, but like the Palm Pre models before them, HP soon found itself struggling to catch the attention of consumers. With the announcement of the webOS HP TouchPad tablet, once again many thought HP would have a good chance of competing against such rivals as Apple, as well as the many Android tablets making their way to store shelves. The TouchPad, however, debuted to lukewarm reviews.

Having come out after the release of Apple’s iPad 2, HP’s tablet offering seemed dated even though it was brand new. The TouchPad, like the new webOS phones, didn’t catch on. With poor sales, HP announced that it would be discontinuing its webOS products, closing the door on any chance it may have had of recovering from its first generation TouchPad tablet, and remaining in the smartphone and tablet game. Though HP has said that it will continue to look for new ways to use webOS in its products, the company’s withdrawal from the tablet and smartphone market has given another company a chance to grab a bigger piece of the mobile platform pie. That company is Microsoft.

As Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android smartphone platforms have been battling it out for market domination, Microsoft has been steadily revealing itself to be a major player with its Windows Phone OS. The company has already partnered with many major handset manufacturers, and has received good reviews for its new take on mobile operating systems. With its upcoming Mango update, scheduled to be released soon, the company now finds itself in a unique position to begin moving ahead in mobile. Here’s why.

With Google’s recent announcement that it would be purchasing Motorola, one of the top Android handset manufacturers, other Android handset manufacturers were left wondering where that deal would leave them. Google stated that Android would remain an open platform, and that Motorola would be run as a separate business, but could the uncertainty of whether or not they will continue to be treated equally alongside Motorola drive some handset manufacturers to start taking a second look at Windows Phone as their platform of choice? It could happen, which would make Microsoft a strong contender with a big enough presence that consumers would have to consider Windows Phone in the top three when considering a mobile platform to invest in.

Microsoft has already begun tying Windows Phone features into its other popular products, namely the Xbox 360, and the upcoming Windows 8. It has also been working on building its app offerings in order to be able to compete with the tens of thousands of iOS and Android apps currently available. With one less foe to battle in webOS, and RIM’s Blackberry platform quickly losing steam, Microsoft is now positioned to challenge Android and iOS on their own turf, and start chipping away at their shares of the market.

If Microsoft continues to grow Windows Phone with frequent enhancements and upgrades consumers will take notice of, and if Google’s Motorola buy causes any cracks to form in the strong foundation it has built with its Android OS up until now, Microsoft could get the opportunity it has been waiting for sooner rather than later, and start putting Windows Phone devices in the hands of consumers who thought they would never purchase anything other than an iOS or Android device.