| Here is a little history on PDA's that I think you | | | | company, which was called Palm Incorporated. |
| will find interesting, at least I did, so I thought I | | | | Then in 2003, Palm Incorporated split into |
| would share it with you anyway. | | | | PalmOne for selling hardware and PalmSource for |
| In 1996, Palm computing manufactured the first | | | | selling software. Handspring merged with Palm to |
| generation personal digital assistant known as the | | | | form PalmOne and in 2005 PalmOne acquired the |
| Palm m130Pilot. Due to a trademark infringement | | | | full rights to the Palm name, which it had shared |
| lawsuit filed by Pilot Pen Corporation the name | | | | with PalmSource and changed its name back to |
| Palm Pilot was given to the second generation of | | | | Palm. |
| PDA's in 1997 and from 1998 onwards, this | | | | The earlier Palms used the popular DragonBall |
| virtually became the generic name of all handhelds. | | | | processors which were a Motorola 68000 |
| Interesting huh! | | | | derivative. But the more recent models use a |
| Now, the founders of Palm Computing, Jeff | | | | type of ARM architecture. The Arm Architecture |
| Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan who also | | | | is a class of RISC microprocessors, which is |
| are the original inventors of the pilot actually when | | | | widely used in embedded systems and mobile |
| they first set out wanted to produce handwriting | | | | devices. It is usually referred to by the Intel |
| software named Graffiti. Fortunately, for the | | | | Xscale brand name. |
| world they changed their plans midway, and | | | | Handhelds from Palm are becoming more |
| decided to get into hardware. Palm is known to | | | | advanced and are merging with smart phones and |
| have gained from the attempts of Apple | | | | they have the capacity to work as computer |
| Computer and Go Corporation to produce | | | | harddrives via USB cables. The Palm handheld |
| handheld devices. | | | | Treo 650 which functions as a mobile phone and |
| I bet you didn't know that Palm Computing was | | | | also provides SMS, email and instant messaging. |
| initially a division of US Robotics and then later of | | | | It was predicted that as handhelds with multiple |
| 3Com. Now Jeff, Donna and Ed who initially | | | | functions like the Treo become cheaper and more |
| founded Palm felt that the didn't have enough | | | | advanced, the traditional PDA device will disappear. |
| control over the Palm Product so as a result they | | | | Cell phone manufacturers are already producing |
| left 3Com and founded Handspring in 1998. | | | | smart phones, which use interfaces similar to the |
| Handspring became the first Palm OS licensee and | | | | Palm OS and at present the Palm OS is used by |
| then produced a replica of the Palm handhelds and | | | | the Sony Clie', TRG Pro and Handspring Visor, |
| called it the Handspring Visor which used slightly | | | | apart from the Palm handheld. Now wasn't that an |
| different software and had a hardware expansion | | | | interesting history on something you most likely |
| slot. | | | | use everyday. |
| Then in 2000 Palm Computing became a separate | | | | |