A personal digital assistant (PDA) from Palm, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (www.palm.com). The first Palm devices were the PalmPilot 1000 and 5000 introduced in early 1996, which sold more than 350,000 units by year end. Although the "Pilot" name was later dropped, it was so catchy that many people refer to all Palm organizers and even non-Palm PDAs as PalmPilots.
The Palm devices popularized the pen interface and handwriting recognition (first called "Graffiti") that was pioneered by Apple with its Newton a couple years earlier (see Newton).
In 2003, the company divided itself into independent hardware and software businesses named palmOne and PalmSource. The hardware company, palmOne, later changed back to Palm, produces the company's handheld PDAs and smartphones, including the Treo brand, acquired from Handspring, Inc. in 2003.
The Software Platform
PalmSource, Inc. was set up to license the Palm OS platform, which includes the operating system and HotSync technology that synchronizes data between handheld and desktop machine. Running on a variety of CPUs from Motorola, Intel, TI and ARM, the Palm OS has been used in more than 40 million handhelds and smartphones worldwide. In 2005, PalmSource became a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan-based ACCESS Co., LTD. By the end of 2006, the parent rebranded PalmSource to ACCESS Systems Americas. For more information, visit www.access-company.com. See PDA.
The PalmPilot
PalmPilot popularized the personal digital assistant (PDA), which has become ubiquitous all over the world. The rectangle at the bottom is for hand printing. (Image courtesy of palmOne, Inc.)
The Palm devices popularized the pen interface and handwriting recognition (first called "Graffiti") that was pioneered by Apple with its Newton a couple years earlier (see Newton).
In 2003, the company divided itself into independent hardware and software businesses named palmOne and PalmSource. The hardware company, palmOne, later changed back to Palm, produces the company's handheld PDAs and smartphones, including the Treo brand, acquired from Handspring, Inc. in 2003.
The Software Platform
PalmSource, Inc. was set up to license the Palm OS platform, which includes the operating system and HotSync technology that synchronizes data between handheld and desktop machine. Running on a variety of CPUs from Motorola, Intel, TI and ARM, the Palm OS has been used in more than 40 million handhelds and smartphones worldwide. In 2005, PalmSource became a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan-based ACCESS Co., LTD. By the end of 2006, the parent rebranded PalmSource to ACCESS Systems Americas. For more information, visit www.access-company.com. See PDA.
The PalmPilot
PalmPilot popularized the personal digital assistant (PDA), which has become ubiquitous all over the world. The rectangle at the bottom is for hand printing. (Image courtesy of palmOne, Inc.)
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2008 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
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