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PalmPreFeature

It the early days of the modern smartphone era, information technology wasn't just a fight betwixt Android and iOS. There were more competitors that seemed to have a shot at winning the hearts and minds of consumers. One of them was a revitalized Palm under the leadership of former Apple tree exec Jon Rubinstein. Palm didn't brand it, just at present the Palm brand could be poised for a nostalgic comeback on Verizon. It won't be the same Palm you recall, though.

Palm became a household name during the age of PDAs, and its webOS platform launched to high praise in 2009. Non long after, dwindling cash reserves caused Palm to consider buyout offers. HP purchased the visitor for $ane.2 billion in mid-2010 and announced new phones in early 2011. Then, HP got a new enterprise-oriented CEO by the name of Léo Apotheker. HP's new CEO decided to end support for Palm products in the summer of 2011. This was one of several decisions that resulted in Apotheker's ouster. The company considered trying to undo the Palm shutdown, but it was too late. Palm was dead.

Even without feasible devices or a user base, in that location was some value in the Palm name. Smartphone maker TCL purchased the brand in 2015, merely didn't have any immediate plans to use information technology. It's unlikely you know much near TCL, merely you've probably seen its phones before. It makes devices under the Alcatel brand, and near recently it became the hardware partner for Blackberry'due south Android devices (like the KEYone).

BlackBerryKeyOne

The KEYone is manufactured by TCL.

TCL said last year that it was planning to restart the Palm make, but now there are some additional details. Co-ordinate to a written report from Android Police force, TCL has a Palm smartphone in the works that will launch on Verizon Wireless in the The states during the second half of this year. This will be an Android phone like all of TCL'southward other devices. When HP killed Palm, information technology separated the webOS software from the brand name. The webOS platform is currently owned past LG, which uses it on smart TVs.

The Palm brand was all about keyboards, and the Pre was reasonably successful equally a slider keyboard telephone. TCL does have experience making phones with keyboards, and there are some users who still want those. It's unclear if Verizon would desire to accept a chance on such a device, just the market for "flat black slab" smartphones is pretty competitive correct now. Doing something unusual might exist TCL's best shot at reviving the Palm make.