Reports indicate that Palm could re-emerge as a brand in 2015. Don’t get too excited just yet.
I can still keenly remember when Palm wasn’t just relevant but massive, with new Palmpilot releases eagerly looked forward to, and the promise of WebOS based phones as something mysterious and powerful.
That was a long time ago now, but it appears that the Palm brand may still have legs left in it, or at least that somebody with money figures that it does. WebOSNation uncovered evidence that suggests that a shell company with links to Alcatel OneTouch has purchased the Palm brand name from HP, in much the same way that LG bought out WebOS itself.
There’s no indication of how much money changed hands, or any kind of definitive statement from the holding company that now owns the Palm branding as to what it’ll do with the brand. It would seem most likely that, like the upcoming “Kodak” Android phones that they’ll pitch some kind of smart device under the Palm branding, or at least try to licence out the name to somebody else for the same effort.
As I said at the start, though, Palm’s time as a relevant brand was quite some time ago. Would you get excited by a 2015 PalmPilot now?
Image: Ian Lamont