back to article World, face Palm: PDA brand to RISE FROM THE GRAVE

Remember Palm? The company that made the PDA a must-have item in the 1990s may be long gone, but it looks like the Palm brand may be due for a resurgence this year. The eagle-eyed fanatics at webOSNation.com were the first to notice that the palm.com website – and indeed any subdomain of palm.com – now redirects to a site with …

  1. Robert E A Harvey

    Brandbollocks

    this branding thing is weird.

    The newspaper headline 'post code lottery' or "'health lottery' both denote something bad. So someone launches actual lotteries with those names, and idiots buy the tickets. Is that just because they are familiar with the phrase in complete isolation from the context?

    Then there was Park Hampers, who went bust taking people's christmas savings with them. Within a year someone had bought the name, and up and down the land people were giving them money . What happened to the toxic assosciations?

    Will people really think 'oh good, Palm is back, I must get one'? Yes, probably, in droves. Or should that be 'herds'? Sheep come in herds, I think.

    1. Blofeld's Cat
      Facepalm

      Re: Brandbollocks

      A powerful disinfectant had to be rapidly withdrawn and renamed when the manufacturer inadvertently reused the name of an Edwardian patent medicine which had long ceased production.

      The recall was triggered by the number of elderly people commenting on how pleased they were that it was being manufactured again, and that they intended giving their grandchildren a couple of spoonfuls every night - just as their grandparents had done.

      BTW "Sheep come in herds, I think." - That's "flocks" my dear chap. As allegedly watched by nocturnal shepherds...

      1. captain veg Silver badge

        Herd of cows

        Of course I've heard of Cowes. It's on the Isle of Wight.

        -A.

      2. Robert E A Harvey

        Re: Sheep

        'flocks' - that's the bunny!

  2. DropBear

    Hmmm...

    Ok, I'm the first tot admit it, long before smartphones I did have a Palm. Good times. But PDAs are truly dead and buried today - what can they hope to achieve?

    1. DropBear
      Joke

      Re: Hmmm...

      Heyyy, I'm not in the habit of answering my own posts (really, i'm not - you shut up, booze!) but I just realized there's a goldmine here: make a classic PDA without ANY sort of connectivity (not even WiFi or Bluetooth) then slap a "NSA-PROOF" sticker on it - boom! Instant profit! What's not to like?!?

    2. Lewis R

      Re: Hmmm...

      ...a better, more secure handheld than A--le or G--gle...er...S-ms-ng, perhaps...?

      Full disclosure: I own, and use daily, the HP Pre 3 (the Palm webOS phone which almost never was). I much prefer webOS to Android, and would not think of using an Android phone if I could help it. I'm also typing this on an HP Touchpad, running webOS.

      1. Graham Lockley

        Re: Hmmm...

        I would happily buy a Pre 3 if I could get one from somewhere other than Ebay. I owned an original Pre and loved it.

      2. mikecoppicegreen

        Re: Hmmm...

        I used a Pre 3 and Touchpad tablet, and they were nice devices. I'd happily go back to webOS if the range of apps was up to spec. And I think this would be the big problem for a relaunched webOS - the iPhone and Android OS's dominate the thinking of companies that want Apps developed, with Windows a distant third place. webOS would need some fantastic positioning to break through the mindset of companies paying for App development.

    3. Terry Cloth
      Happy

      Really sad

      I'm still using a Handspring Visor. It was the last PDA made with replaceable, over-the-counter (AAA) batteries. I carry a couple spares when I'm travelling, and the hell with finding an electric outlet I can hang around for a few hours. (And I can buy new ones in any place with pretensions to civilization.)

      (And I have two or three more in my junk room, for spare screens or replacement.)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Really sad

        I had two or three Palms over the years, but the Handspring was by far my favourite PDA - far better thought through in a great many ways, not least because of those replaceable batteries.

        I took one to India with a modem and storage card and used it mainly as an e-reader for scanned books. Beat the hell out of lugging about a trunk full of hard to get titles. With the external keyboard and the cut down version of Eudora it also made for a decent email device while travelling and synced well with Eudora on the Mac if treated carefully. It was just before Internet cafes really took off, and I got plenty of quizzical looks connecting the modem to the phone line junction box with crocodile clips at some dusty dhaba in the back of beyond.

    4. Mike Lewis

      Re: Hmmm...

      I still use a Palm Pilot Tungsten E2 every day. I call it my "information engine" as I listen to podcasts and read ebooks and Internet articles (captured by Sunrise XP) on it. I had to buy a new one on eBay for $60 several months ago as the old one just wore out after eight years. When I changed to a smartphone, I got a data bill for $1,300 (eventually cancelled) thanks to something called "automatic update" so it's back to my Nokia 3315 and Palm Pilot for me. I now use the smartphone for what I had bought it for originally, which was an MP3 player.

  3. Tim Roberts 1

    I still have a Palm Pilot ......

    As a PDA they - IMHO - were the best, but now smartphones are the new PDA - basically because they do it all and more. I personally hope they can make something of this but actually doubt that the fanbois of various "cultures" will really get it.

    Colour me old and I accept that colouring.

    1. Morten Bjoernsvik

      Re: I still have a Palm Pilot ......

      I miss the Palm stylus and the graffitti. On small devices it was the prefered method of entering text. There were some grafitti patents, preventing the latest palm devices to use the original grafitti. had to buy a program called tealscript where you could program your own grafitti. Small smartphones like the Experia Z active I had for years where great but my butterfingers made a lot of misstyping. I do not have this problem on a 5inch display though.

      PalmV -> Sony Clie -> Sony Clie2 magnesium -> Palm Lifedrive (Still in use as an Alamclock goes 1 month on a single charge).

      Does the Samsung Note stylus have similar capabilities?

  4. Chris G

    Alcatough

    I have had 2 or 3 Alcatel clamshells in the past and they were amongst the toughest phones I have had. I would consider buying a smartphone/PDA from them if it did a decent job.

    I can see them using the name for a line of phones.

  5. Adam Hammerton

    Psion next?

    Come on next gen 5MX! My money's here and waiting.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    PDA you say?

    I have no idea what my PA uses.

  7. Teiwaz

    Is someone buying patents?

    It may just be another round of 'feed the lawyers'.

    A couple of patents and the palm brand might well 'convince' some courts to start awarding money.

    I may just be paranoid (and I've been up all night playing LA Noire).

  8. Bad Beaver

    Why can't we be together …

    I think I once dropped my Newton MP2100 on some unsuspecting Palm unit and it was not pretty … made up story that is. Anyhow, the big green brick was way superior for my needs in about every aspect including size. Nevertheless, the small thingies were quite appealing to look at. I also remember how very keen I was on picking up a Pre 3 but then HP threw a hissy fit instead of just selling the darn thing. So why would I want it now?

  9. Kamal Hashmi

    Smartphones DO NOT cover all PDA and Palm functionality - if they did, I'd have moved off my cheapo Z22 ages ago!

    I want something that has a calendar with customisable categories, a useful contacts, a to do list and memos - AND I want this saved to multiple machines (home,work,PA).

    Google and the iPhone cloud are getting near but not as easy to access and you need internet to use it AND it's MY data - not theirs!!

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like