This 12 months marks the 30th Anniversary of Palm Inc, the once-mighty, now-defunct maker of the pioneering Nineties private digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones. This California-based firm single-handedly constructed the market that iPhones and Android units dominate as we speak.
As the corporate’s co-founder Donna Dubinsky tweeted, “Some days it feels prefer it was yesterday. However largely, it seems like one other lifetime.”
Tracing the Palm story with its soap-operaesque twists and turns is difficult even by Silicon Valley requirements. It began in 1992 as a small firm within the handheld computing business, was acquired by one other firm that then offered itself. It went public, was break up in two, reunified, and offered itself off once more. It misplaced its authentic workforce alongside the way in which however then bought them again, solely to bid farewell to them once more. After which it died. Till 2018, when it was briefly revived and silenced another time. Let’s deep-dive.
A star was born
Jeff Hawkins launched Palm Computing in 1992 to create software program for PDAs manufactured by different firms, corresponding to Tandy Corp’s Zoomer – the one machine that rivalled Apple’s Newton. Curiously, the corporate even developed an add-on handwriting-input software program for the Newton-dubbed Graffiti. Jeff employed former Apple government Dubinsky because the CEO together with Radius’ Ed Colligan as VP of selling.
In 1995, Palm Computing Inc was acquired by Skokie, an Illinois-based US Robotics Corp. That is after they unveiled their very own vary of PDAs. The pen-based Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000 had been the primary to hit the market in March 1996. It powered the corporate’s proprietary working system. Regardless that it gained PC Computing’s MVP Usability Achievement of the 12 months Award, critics famous that the preliminary Palm PDAs lacked keyboard performance and messaging options.
The 12 months 1997 was a busy one for the enterprise, with gross sales coming in at over $114 million. US Robotics launched the Community HotSync know-how, which allowed customers to hook up with desktop computer systems or laptop networks by way of an non-compulsory snap-on modem. When 3Com Corp purchased US Robotics in Might, Palm turned a division of 3Com. This was the biggest US information networking merger on the time because it concerned $6.6 billion in shares and produced a brand new enterprise with $5 billion in gross sales. By the top of the 12 months, Palm determined to supply different producers licences to make use of the Palm OS platform.
By 1998, the corporate had hit $272 million in revenues and unveiled the Palm III handheld. All the things appeared excellent till Palm co-founders Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinski deserted the ship as 3Com wouldn’t spin off the hand held starlet. The duo began Handspring, ultimately changing into one in all Palm’s foremost rivals. Just a little greater than a 12 months after Handspring started operations, it had 21% of the market. Palm’s market share decreased from 83 per cent to 63 per cent.
By the top of 1998, 3,500 devoted programmers had been producing purposes for the Palm OS. The demand for Palm’s merchandise continued to develop, they usually had been being adopted in a number of new industries, such because the monetary and healthcare sectors. Nevertheless, Microsoft, which had launched its Home windows CE platform for cellular computer systems the 12 months earlier than, was stepping up the battle. Gadgets operating Home windows CE had been out there from a lot of producers, corresponding to Casio Laptop Co., Hewlett-Packard Co., and Compaq Laptop Corp.
Regardless of Microsoft’s presence out there, Palm continued to do effectively in 1999 with new product launches corresponding to Palm IIIx, Palm V, Palm VII, Palm IIIe, Palm Vx, and Palm IIIe Particular Version. The Palm VII was notable as a result of it allowed customers to attach wirelessly to the web by way of the subscription-based Palm.web wi-fi Web service. Palm developed new know-how referred to as “Net clipping” that allowed Palm VII customers to go to collaborating web sites and entry probably the most related data from them. The brand new Palm VII additionally supported wi-fi messaging.
Revenues had been roughly $563 million that 12 months. The corporate additionally solidified a lot of alliances with firms corresponding to TRG, Solar Microsystems, Nokia, and Laptop Associates Worldwide Inc.
A consolidator on steroids
Within the 12 months 2000, Palm’s revenues reached roughly $1.1 billion. They spun out of 3Com and had been named to the S&P 500. Palm Inc filed its IPO in March 2000, changing into an unbiased firm traded on the NASDAQ inventory alternate.
A slew of recent Palm handheld units additionally appeared out there. The vast majority of their utility stemmed from Palm VII’s wi-fi Web connectivity. Palm entered the enterprise market in 2000 as effectively. It launched HotSync Server software program, which enabled companies and organisations to handle handheld computer systems on a community stage. Moderately than synchronising units to a single PC, customers may achieve this via a server, both throughout the organisation at any variety of terminals, from PCs remotely linked to the corporate’s community, or by way of a wi-fi connection. Microsoft tried to enter this market as effectively within the fall of 2001.
By late 2001, Palm’s developer base had reached 140,000, producing $1.6 billion in income. That they had a worldwide attain, promoting merchandise in over 35 nations. In keeping with a July 2001 market evaluation and forecast from Worldwide Information Corp, Palm managed 55.9 per cent of the worldwide marketplace for private companion handheld units. Its international market share in handheld working programs was 71.8 per cent.
Palm bought AnyDay.com, which produced Web-based calendars, for $80 million in money and inventory choices to increase its wi-fi Web companies. It additionally bought e-mail supplier Precise Software program Corp. Palm deliberate to incorporate enlargement slots in its organisers by early 2001, trailing Visor and Pocket PC units on this space. Sony was additionally making ready to launch its personal PDA.
In a race to develop extra superior options in a shrinking market, Palm bought a number of firms to realize an edge. For instance, it paid roughly $40 million to amass wireless-synchronisation skilled WeSync in late 2000. In a slowing financial system, these purchases had been inadequate to forestall a collapse within the handheld laptop market. The corporate’s new m500 and m505 fashions had been introduced two months early, which didn’t assist gross sales of items already in the marketplace. Palm needed to cancel a plan to amass Boise’s Prolonged Techniques, Inc., a wi-fi know-how producer for the company market, for $264 million in inventory as its share value started to fall.
Palm laid off staff for the primary time in Might 2001, placing a halt to a deliberate 11-building headquarters advanced. PDA producers launched steep reductions all year long to maintain the machines transferring. This was when Palm was pressured to take care of the acquainted menace posed by Handspring and Microsoft alongside rising gamers like Blackberry, who had been making a whole lot of noise.
As such, Palm paid $11 million in inventory for former Apple government Jean-Louis Gassee’s Be working system in 2001 and break up it into two enterprise items: {hardware} and software program. The corporate’s software program division, PalmSource, took management of the Palm model in August 2002 and relocated to its headquarters. Palm Options Group, the {hardware} division, shortly developed into two distinct product traces: the high-end Tungsten model for professionals and the Zire model for brand new customers and college students. Palm additionally tried to increase its company presence by offering options corresponding to wi-fi database entry and excessive safety.
A rollercoaster of a Decade
In June 2003, Palm, Inc. introduced it was buying rival Handspring in a inventory swap (price $240 million when the deal closed in October). In October 2003, Palm, Inc. spun off PalmSource, its software program unit, whereas the unique firm, which retained the {hardware} operations, was renamed PalmOne, Inc.
PalmOne nonetheless led the standard PDA market with a 40 per cent share, whereas Handspring had turn into a distinct segment participant within the rising “smartphone” market, which was exploding. PalmOne was renamed Palm, Inc. in July 2005 after it purchased the remaining rights to make use of the Palm identify for $30 million.
Palm launched its Life Drive line, which featured 4 gigabyte onerous drives, within the spring of 2005. This was the corporate’s first try and create a bigger, all-encompassing cellular supervisor system designed to satisfy all your necessities. To talk of it now, with its contacts, calendar, music, photos, video, purposes, 4GB of microdrive HDD storage, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and all of the software program from the Palm OS, it doesn’t sound too dissimilar to trendy smartphones and seems to be a good suggestion. It even had a change to toggle between portrait and panorama mode. The issue was that every one of this made it a really massive and costly machine on the time. Manufacturing ceased lower than two years into the cycle, not lengthy earlier than others got here up with an identical however extra refined thought.
In September, it introduced a brand new vary of Treo units (beforehand developed by Handspring and supplied below the palmOne model) with Microsoft’s working system to assist stave off competitors from Blackberry. Sadly, like Life Drive, this product was discontinued in simply 4 years. The identical destiny was seen with Palm’s first and solely laptops, Foleo, Centro, Pre, and Pixi.
The Remaining Chapter
Palm offered itself to HP for $1.2 billion after shedding all hope in 2010. The computing behemoth said that it intends to launch telephones, tablets, PCs, and different merchandise based mostly on WebOS. (Below the HP model, it discontinues Palm.) However then HP fired Mark Hurd, the CEO accountable for the deal. In 2011, the corporate launched the TouchPad, a possible iPad killer, below new CEO Léo Apotheker. Nevertheless, it closed the WebOS enterprise seven weeks later.
Quick ahead to 2018, a brand new startup backed by TCL and Golden State Warrior Stephen Curry adopted the Palm model for a tiny Android-powered machine designed to be used while you’re figuring out. And that was the final time we ever heard of the model.
In Palm’s historical past, each enterprise determination taken after the primary chapter was too little, too late. They gave Dash an unique deal to promote the Pre and Pixi and continued it when there have been no gross sales. Palm neither let builders construct WebOS apps or an equal of the iPod contact. Palm by no means marketed Pre in a manner that mattered whereas iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android units blew the roof. Given how issues went, even their buyers started publicly trashing the corporate.
Sarcastically, Palm’s greatest competitors, BlackBerry, adopted the identical downward spiral. The corporate started collapsing in 2013 resulting from a 40 per cent plunge in gross sales, resulting in its shares tumbling down by practically 17%. The corporate fired 4,500 staff and recorded a list write-down of practically $960 million for that fiscal second quarter of that 12 months. Nevertheless, not like Palm, they’d no prospects for a last-minute exit. On January 4, 2022, BlackBerry’s once-famous messaging service was utterly defunct.
