The Name Game

It's a long story of name changes, but the handheld-maker, palmOne, has now officially changed its name back to Palm, Inc.™ The company even has a new logo, which is very similar to the old Palm, Inc logo, but it's orange. Although palmOne has changed its name back, the company does not make its own operating system like the former Palm, Inc. did. PalmSource, a spin-off of the old Palm, Inc., continues to be a separate company responsible for the Palm Operating System. Kind of confusing, eh? Check out The Engadget Guide to How Palm Became Palm Again.

Name changes are nothing new to handheld computing. In fact, Microsoft's operating system for handhelds was originally called Palm PC. Of course, Palm Computing (one of Palm, Inc's previous names), thought that Palm PC was too similar to their product's name and sued in 1998. Microsoft then has called their operating system for handhelds Windows CE, Pocket PC, and now prefers to call it Windows Mobile.

With all of these name changes, no wonder so many people still call any handheld computer a Palm Pilot. It's too difficult to keep up!