This article is about the company. For devices that ran on the company's software, see Palm (PDA). For the companion phone released in 2018, see Palm (companion).
Palm, Inc., was an American company that specialized in manufacturing personal digital assistants (PDAs) and developing software. Palm designed the PalmPilot,[1] the first PDA successfully marketed worldwide, and was known for the Treo 600, one of the earlier successful smartphones. Palm developed the Palm OS software for PDAs and smartphones released under its line of Palm-branded devices and also licensed to other PDA manufacturers.
The company was also responsible for the first versions of webOS, the first multitasking operating system for smartphones,[2] and enyo.js, a framework for HTML5 apps. In July 2010, Palm was purchased by Hewlett-Packard (HP), and in 2011 announced a new range of webOS products. However, after poor sales, HP CEO Léo Apotheker announced in August 2011 that it would end production and support of Palm and webOS devices, marking the end of the Palm brand after 19 years. In October 2014, HP sold the Palm trademark to a shelf corporation tied to the Chinese electronics firm TCL Corporation.[3]
History
Palm, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, was responsible for numerous products including the Pre and Pixi as well as the Treo and Centro smartphones. Previous product lines include the Pilot 1000, Palm Pilot Pro, Palm III, Palm V, Palm VII, Zire and Tungsten. While their older devices run Palm OS Garnet, four editions of the Treo run Windows Mobile.
Founding and acquisition
Palm Computing, Inc., was founded in 1992 by Jeff Hawkins, who later hired Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan, all of whom guided Palm to the invention of Palm Pilot. The company was started to write software for the Zoomer, a consumer PDA manufactured by Casio for Tandy.[4][5] The Zoomer devices were also distributed by Casio and GRiD, while Palm provided the PIM software.[6][7] The PEN/GEOS operating system was provided by Geoworks.
The Zoomer failed commercially, but Palm continued generating revenue by selling synchronization software for HP devices, and the Graffitihandwriting recognition software for the Apple Newton MessagePad.[8]
The company was acquired by U.S. Robotics Corp. in 1995. In June 1997, U.S. Robotics was acquired by 3Com and Palm became a 3Com subsidiary. In June 1998, the founders became unhappy with the direction in which 3Com was taking the company, and left to found Handspring.
Stock offering and split into PalmSource and PalmOne
Palm logo, 2000–2004PalmOne logo, stylized as "pa1mOne", 2003–2005
3Com made the Palm subsidiary an independent, publicly traded company on 1 March 2000, and it traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol PALM. Palm Inc had its IPO during the dot-com bubble and in its first day of trading the shares of the new company hit an all-time high of US$95.06.[9] But competition and the end of the tech bubble caused Palm's shares to lose 90% of their value in just over a year. By June 2001 the company's shares were trading at US$6.50, making it the worst performing PDA manufacturer on the NASDAQ index at the time.[9]
In January 2002, Palm set up a wholly owned subsidiary to develop and license Palm OS,[10] which was named PalmSource in February.[11] PalmSource was then spun off from Palm as an independent company.[12][13] In October 2003, the hardware division of the company merged with Handspring, was renamed to palmOne, Inc.[12][13] and traded under the ticker symbol PLMO. The Palm trademark was held by a jointly owned holding company.
In May 2005, palmOne purchased PalmSource's share in the 'Palm' trademark for US$30million.[14] In July 2005, palmOne launched its new name and brand, reverting to Palm, Inc. and trading under the ticker symbol PALM once again.[15]
In late 2005, ACCESS, which specializes in mobile and embedded web browser technologies, acquired PalmSource for US$324million.
In December 2006, Palm, Inc. paid US$44million to ACCESS for an irrevocable license to use and modify the source code for Palm OS Garnet as well as ship Palm OS Garnet in any Palm product without paying royalties; with this arrangement, the Palm company could once again develop both its hardware and software.[16]
In June 2007, Palm formed a strategic relationship with the private-equity firm Elevation Partners, who purchased a 25% equity stake of the company for US$325 million[17] – an investment that came after months of rumours about a possible Palm sale. Palm CEO Ed Colligan acknowledged that "We were approached by larger parties over the last six months," and "the reality is that we thought this was the best outcome for our business and our investors."[18]
On 18 December 2008, Palm CEO Ed Colligan announced that the company would no longer develop any new handheld PDAs.[19] Palm announced the webOS operating system and Palm Pre smartphone at the Consumer Electronics Show on 8 January 2009, and released on 6 June 2009 with Sprint.[20] The design team was led by Matias Duarte, Mike Bell, Peter Skillman and Michael Abbott.[21]
In early 2009, the hype over WebOS sent Palm's stock from US$3 to a high of about US$18. While reviews of the Palm Pre were positive, launching with only one U.S. carrier (Sprint, which was also a distant third in the market) proved to be a crucial mistake that limited sales, even though it became Sprint's phone. The Pre was often described as Palm's swan song[22][23] as it was too late to keep the company – with only $250million in cash and short- term investments at the beginning of 2009 – independent for long. By 2010 the share price of Palm dropped to below US$4.[24]
Acquisition by HP and demise
Palm, Inc. logo, 2010
On 28 April 2010, Hewlett-Packard announced it would purchase Palm at $5.70 a share for $1.2billion in an all-cash deal.[25][26] The acquisition was completed on 1 July 2010.[27][28]
The Palm global business unit was to be responsible for webOS software development and webOS-based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks.
In February 2011, HP unveiled a new line of WebOS products, including the Pre 3, Veer, and TouchPad; however, these products were branded under HP's name and not with the Palm name.[29] In July 2011, as part of a reorganization, WebOS head Jon Rubinstein was demoted from senior vice president to a "product innovation role", and replaced by Stephen DeWitt, head of HP's North American consumer PC unit. At the same time, Palm was renamed the "webOS global business unit", effectively ending the use of the Palm brand.[30][31]
The launch of the TouchPad was met with extremely poor sales;[29] on 18 August 2011, HP announced that it would immediately end the production and support of all Palm and WebOS devices, and would be "exploring options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward", including a potential sale of the division to another company. HP also cancelled the U.S. release for the Pre 3 and Veer, and infamously, held a fire sale on remaining TouchPad stock, lowering prices for the tablet to as low as US$99 (which, however, led to a major spike in demand for the device).[29][31] The decision, made by HP's CEO at the time Léo Apotheker, along with its $11.7billion acquisition of Autonomy, and threats to spin-off HP's consumer business, led to a major decline in HP's market performance, with its shares falling in value by 45.4%.[32]
Logo for HP subsidiary Gram (2012–2013)
Following the resignation of Apotheker and his replacement by Meg Whitman,[32] it was announced in December 2011 that an open source version of much of WebOS would be created. Shortly afterward, Jon Rubinstein, along with a number of other senior Palm staff members, began to leave HP.[29] On 15 August 2012, it was revealed that HP had re-organized the remaining WebOS team as a unit known as "Gram", made up of the remaining components of Palm.[33] In February 2013, HP announced that it had sold the WebOS team, along with a license to the WebOS source code, documentation, and underlying patents, to LG Electronics. LG planned to primarily use the WebOS platform for its smart TV products, rather than on mobile devices, but did not rule out the possibility.[34]
TCL ownership, new device
On 30 December 2014, it was reported that in October 2014, HP had sold the Palm trademark and related intellectual properties to Wide Progress Global Limited, a shelf company controlled by Nicolas Zibell— a regional president of TCL Corporation, which markets Android smartphones under the Alcatel brand. At the same time, it was discovered that the former Palm.com now redirected to MyNewPalm.com; the site displayed a "coming soon" page with the previous orange Palm logo, and the slogan "Smart move", which is also the slogan used by Alcatel OneTouch.[35][36]
TCL publicly confirmed its acquisition of the Palm brand on 6 January 2015, stating that it planned to "re-create" the company with a new team based in Silicon Valley, and incorporate crowdsourcing into its product development.[3]
On 15 October 2018, a new Palm companion device was unveiled, which is manufactured by a new Palm-branded startup company from California that is financially backed by TCL and basketball player Stephen Curry. It is an "ultra-mobile", Android-based device designed to serve as a smaller, simplified companion to a larger smartphone. The new device was announced as being exclusive to Verizon Wireless, only available as an add-on to an existing or new device plan.[37][38]
A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a handheld PC, is a multi-purpose mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in particular those based on iOS and Android, and thus saw a rapid decline in use after 2007.
Palm OS was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management. Later versions of the OS have been extended to support smartphones. The software appeared on the company's line of Palm devices while several other licensees have manufactured devices powered by Palm OS.
A Pocket PC is a class of personal digital assistant (PDA) that runs the Windows Mobile or Windows Embedded Compact operating system that has some of the abilities of modern desktop PCs. The name was introduced by Microsoft in 2000 as a rebranding of the Palm-size PC category. Some of these devices also had integrated phone and data capabilities, which were called Pocket PC Phone Edition. Windows "Smartphone" is another Windows CE based platform for non-touch flip phones or dumber phones.
ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. is a subsidiary of ACCESS which develops the Palm OS PDA operating system and its successor, the Access Linux Platform, as well as BeOS. PalmSource was spun off from Palm Computing, Inc.
Palm is a line of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones developed by California-based Palm, Inc., originally called Palm Computing, Inc. Palm devices are often remembered as "the first wildly popular handheld computers," responsible for ushering in the smartphone era.
A smartphone is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multimedia playback and streaming. Smartphones also have built-in cameras, GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps.
The Tungsten series was Palm, Inc.'s line of business-class Palm OS-based PDAs.
GEOS is a computer operating environment, graphical user interface (GUI), and suite of application software. Originally released as PC/GEOS, it runs on DOS-based, IBM PC compatible computers. Versions for some handheld platforms were also released and licensed to some companies.
Windows Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants.
TCL Technology is a Chinese partially state-owned electronics company headquartered in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. It designs, develops, manufactures, and sells consumer products including television sets, mobile phones, air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, and small electrical appliances. In 2010, it was the world's 25th-largest consumer electronics producer. It became the second-largest television manufacturer by market share by 2019.
Donna Dubinsky is an American businesswoman who played a role in the development of personal digital assistants (PDAs), as CEO of Palm, Inc. and co-founding Handspring with Jeff Hawkins in 1995. Dubinsky co-founded Numenta in 2005 with Hawkins and Dileep George, based in Redwood City, CA. Numenta was founded to develop machine intelligence based on the principles of the neocortex. Dubinsky is CEO and chair of Numenta. Dubinsky is also on the board of Twilio. She was on the board of Yale University from 2006–2018, including two years as senior trustee.
Handmark Inc. was an American developer and distributor of mobile content, based in Kansas City, Missouri. The company was created in 2000 by the merger of Mobile Generation Software with Palmspring Software.
Jonathan J. "Jon" Rubinstein is an American electrical engineer who played an instrumental role in the development of the iMac and iPod, the portable music and video device first sold by Apple Computer Inc. in 2001. He left his position as senior vice president of Apple's iPod division on April 14, 2006.
The Palm Treo 680 is a combination hybrid PDA/cellphone, or smartphone as the successor to the company's Treo 650.
The Palm Foleo was a planned subnotebook computer that was announced by mobile device manufacturer Palm Inc. on May 30, 2007, and canceled three months later. It intended to serve as a companion for smartphones including Palm's own Treo line. The device ran on the Linux operating system and featured 256 MB of flash memory and an immediate boot-up feature.
A mobile operating system is an operating system for smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical/mobile laptops are "mobile", the operating systems used on them are generally not considered mobile ones, as they were originally designed for desktop computers that historically did not have or need specific mobile features. This line distinguishing mobile and other forms has become blurred in recent years, due to the fact that newer devices have become smaller and more mobile unlike hardware of the past. Key notabilities blurring this line are the introduction of tablet computers and light-weight laptops and the hybridization of the two in 2-in-1 PCs.
Handspring, Inc., was an American electronics company founded in 1998 by the founders of Palm, Inc., after they became dissatisfied with the company's direction under new owner 3Com. The company developed Palm OS–based Visor- and Treo-branded personal digital assistants. In 2003, the company merged with Palm, Inc.'s hardware division.
webOS, also known as LG webOS and previously known as Open webOS,HP webOS and Palm webOS, is a Linux kernel-based multitasking operating system for smart devices such as smart TVs that has also been used as a mobile operating system. Initially developed by Palm, Inc., HP made the platform open source, at which point it became Open webOS.
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components, as well as software and related services to consumers, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors. The company was founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939, and initially produced a line of electronic test and measurement equipment. The HP Garage at 367 Addison Avenue is now designated an official California Historical Landmark, and is marked with a plaque calling it the "Birthplace of 'Silicon Valley'".
↑ "Palm, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Dec 11, 2006"(PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012. On December 5, 2006, Palm, Inc. (Palm) entered into a definitive agreement to license the source code for Palm Operating System (OS) Garnet from ACCESS Systems Americas (ACCESS) on a fully paid-up, irrevocable (other than for certain material breaches of Palm's obligations) basis. The agreement includes the right for Palm to modify the Palm OS Garnet source code, to retain ownership of those modifications and to use Palm OS Garnet in whole or in part in any Palm product. In addition, ACCESS has expanded its license to Palm of ACCESS patents that existed as of December 2001, to cover all Palm products. Previously, this patent license had applied only to Palm products based on Palm OS. Palm will pay ACCESS a total of $44 million under the agreement subject to Palm's acceptance of delivery of the Palm OS Garnet source code and other deliverables under the agreement
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