Old Hardware Emulated :POSE Emulating The Palm Pilot (Part 2)
The Palm Evolution Continues
On 1997, U.S.
Robotics was acquired by 3Com, a tech company that made network
adapters, routers, and other networking equipment. Palm, which was owned
by U.S. Robotics, became a part of the merger. Their was nothing
stopping the Palm Pilot, which had become a runaway success. The new
platform was already redefining what the PDA should be.
The massive success of the Palm brought both wanted and unwanted attention. Palm Computing was sued by the Pilot Pen Corporation, a company that made pens, for trademark infringement. After the lawsuit, the company dropped the "Palm Pilot" branding, and the devices were simply referred to as "Palms".
A far more serious lawsuit resulted with Xerox. Xerox claimed that Graffiti violated a patented technology called "Unistrokes" technology, which was invented and developed by David Goldberg in 1993. Palm Computing got a early demonstration of the technology, which served as inspiration for Graffiti. This lawsuit would go back and forth over the years, before a judge ruled in Palms favor in 2004, and both company's decided not to sue each over for a course of seven years after that ruling. In the immediate aftermath though, Xerox forced Palm to discontinue it's Graffiti system. Palm immediately licensed the Jot handwriting system from Communications Intelligence Corporation, which then got rebranded as Graffiti 2. Both were very similar with minor differences with how the characters were drawn on the screen.
The massive success of the Palm brought both wanted and unwanted attention. Palm Computing was sued by the Pilot Pen Corporation, a company that made pens, for trademark infringement. After the lawsuit, the company dropped the "Palm Pilot" branding, and the devices were simply referred to as "Palms".
A far more serious lawsuit resulted with Xerox. Xerox claimed that Graffiti violated a patented technology called "Unistrokes" technology, which was invented and developed by David Goldberg in 1993. Palm Computing got a early demonstration of the technology, which served as inspiration for Graffiti. This lawsuit would go back and forth over the years, before a judge ruled in Palms favor in 2004, and both company's decided not to sue each over for a course of seven years after that ruling. In the immediate aftermath though, Xerox forced Palm to discontinue it's Graffiti system. Palm immediately licensed the Jot handwriting system from Communications Intelligence Corporation, which then got rebranded as Graffiti 2. Both were very similar with minor differences with how the characters were drawn on the screen.
Handspring
The issues didn't
end their. Jeff Hawkins wasn't pleased in the direction of where 3Com,
who just recently acquired U.S. Robotics, were taking the Palm devices.
The were new Palm models announced by 3Com had additional features and
better specs, but these handhelds were more of the evolution of the
platform than the revolutionary statement made a year earlier. Also, the
designers had little control over the design/technical decisions
dictated by 3Com.
By this point, Hawkins felt that he could make a better Palm than 3Com. Using the money that they made from the Palm, He, along with some of the other head designers of the original platform, most notably Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan, who also played a massive row in the development of the platform, left the company and formed Handspring. They would eventually be brought back into the company with Palm aquired Handspring in 2003.
The Handspring Visor became critically acclaimed within the PDA sphere. These PDA's sported a expansion slot that allowed modules to be inserted, like a camera, music player, GPS, and cell phone service. Handspring was a early adopter of USB, which allowed much higher transfer speeds for synchronization compared to the serial RS-232 port. The Visor with the cellphone service module transformed these PDA's into the first smartphones that seen significant commercial success (even though mainstream smartphone proliferation was still many years away at this point). Realizing that a lot of money could be made in software, Palm Computing licensed PalmOS to Handspring, thus the new products were compatible with the main Palm platform.
The first new products released by Handspring was the Visor Solo, released in 1998. Their were various translucent models to choose from, which is reflected in the POSE emulator, which emulates the Visor handhelds as well. The device came with 2MB's of RAM. Along with the Solo was the Deluxe, which came with 8MB's of memory. The Visor ran Palm OS 3.1. Their were enhancements made to Palm OS including a couple of extra apps like a enhanced datebook a graphical time clock, and a advanced calculator.
Unlike Palm Computing which removed the Infrared port on their followup models, Handspring left it on their device, shifting it to the side to make room the for expansion slot.
By this point, Hawkins felt that he could make a better Palm than 3Com. Using the money that they made from the Palm, He, along with some of the other head designers of the original platform, most notably Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan, who also played a massive row in the development of the platform, left the company and formed Handspring. They would eventually be brought back into the company with Palm aquired Handspring in 2003.
The Handspring Visor became critically acclaimed within the PDA sphere. These PDA's sported a expansion slot that allowed modules to be inserted, like a camera, music player, GPS, and cell phone service. Handspring was a early adopter of USB, which allowed much higher transfer speeds for synchronization compared to the serial RS-232 port. The Visor with the cellphone service module transformed these PDA's into the first smartphones that seen significant commercial success (even though mainstream smartphone proliferation was still many years away at this point). Realizing that a lot of money could be made in software, Palm Computing licensed PalmOS to Handspring, thus the new products were compatible with the main Palm platform.
The first new products released by Handspring was the Visor Solo, released in 1998. Their were various translucent models to choose from, which is reflected in the POSE emulator, which emulates the Visor handhelds as well. The device came with 2MB's of RAM. Along with the Solo was the Deluxe, which came with 8MB's of memory. The Visor ran Palm OS 3.1. Their were enhancements made to Palm OS including a couple of extra apps like a enhanced datebook a graphical time clock, and a advanced calculator.
Unlike Palm Computing which removed the Infrared port on their followup models, Handspring left it on their device, shifting it to the side to make room the for expansion slot.
Palm Upgrades
The followup
released by 3Com featured better hardware specs compared to their
predecessors. The followup Palms, the PalmPilot Personal and
Professional, had 512KB and 1MB, came with a back-lit screen, and
utilized the latest version of Palm OS, version 2. These new models,
while utilizing more memory, also lacked a infrared port or flash
memory, which were a feature of the previous models.
In 1998, the Palm III was released, which reintroduced Infrared capabilities, along with more memory. The Palm III ran the latest incarnation of the Palm OS, version 3.0. Retailing at $400 at launch, it was more expense than the previous models. By this point though, with the platform becoming critically acclaimed, and sporting more capable hardware and more features in the process, such a price could be justified. The Palm III would find massive success in the marketplace.
In 1998, the Palm III was released, which reintroduced Infrared capabilities, along with more memory. The Palm III ran the latest incarnation of the Palm OS, version 3.0. Retailing at $400 at launch, it was more expense than the previous models. By this point though, with the platform becoming critically acclaimed, and sporting more capable hardware and more features in the process, such a price could be justified. The Palm III would find massive success in the marketplace.
Despite these
issues though, their was no stopping the Palm. The platform was growing
at a very rapid rate, and the software library for the Palm was
exploding. People who were buying the devices were falling in love with a
product that turned out to be far more capable then realized. Palm made
their statement, and they were going to redefine the platform in their
image.
Articles of Interest
Graffiti (Palm OS) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti_(Palm_OS)
Palm OS Emulator - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_OS_Emulator
Palm, Inc. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm,_Inc.
Freescale DragonBall - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freescale_DragonBall
Palm (PDA) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_(PDA)
Handspring (company) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handspring_(company)
3Com - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3Com
Palm III - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_III
Xerox lawsuit prompts Palm to abandon Graffiti - https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/xerox-lawsuit-prompts-palm-to-abandon-graffiti
Palm’s progress: The rise, fall—and rebirth—of a legendary brand - https://www.fastcompany.com/90246716/palms-progress-the-rise-fall-and-rebirth-of-a-legendary-brand
Palm: The Rise and Fall of a Legend - https://www.technobuffalo.com/palm-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-legend
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