Palm is dead, long live HP

Brand name killed following takeover

10 February 2011 9:35 GMT / By Paul Lamkin

You may have noticed during the HP launch event that the name "Palm" wasn't really mentioned - we even noted in our news post that the prefix had been dropped from the official Pre3 title.

And that's because the Palm name is dead, the brand has seemingly been swallowed up by HP following its $1.2 billion takeover back in April 2010.

Since then we've seen the Palm Pre 2 launch - although its reception in the UK was very disappointing with no mobile networks taking up the handset - and it looks like that was the final nail in the coffin.

Pocket-lint spoke to HP to get official clarification and it stated:

"Palm is now part of the Global Business Unit of HP, so the organisation will reflect HP and be integrated within HP. This way HP will show a cohesive brand experience to its customers as well. The Palm identity will now reflect HP, as do other business units within the company."

That's business talk for "it's finished". Words like "integrated" and "cohesive" hint that HP want just one brand name coming out of its HQ - and that name isn't Palm.

Palm was founded in 1992 by Jeff Hawkins and created its first PDA, the Zoomer, a year later.

Full tags

HP Veer, HP TouchPad, HP Pre3, HP, Palm, Tablets, Phones