Palm is a PDA, an operating system and one of the three mainstream mobile device operating systems. PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) is a handheld consumer product, and its basic structure is similar to that of a computer. Nowadays, mainstream PDA products have two operating systems: PALM and POCKET PC.
PalmPilot series products were originally developed and designed by a company called "PalmComputing". After two mergers and acquisitions, this company became a business unit of 3Com, and then Palm became a company independently from 3Com.
PalmComputing Company was founded by JeffHawkins in June 1992 in Silicon Valley, USA, with the goal of successfully designing a portable, convenient and humanized notebook computer. PalmComputing has spent some time planning the company's financing and operation strategy, and is also actively looking for partners. 1June, 1992 15, then 35-year-old Donna Doubinsky officially joined the PDA company. Although Donna had limited knowledge of "hand-written portable computers" at first, it can be said that her "curiosity" was far greater than her professional knowledge. However, Donna became Jeff's perfect partner. Jeff got $500,000 from BruceDunlevie, a venture capital company that invested in GeoWorks, $300,000 from Tandy and $500,000 from other venture capital companies before starting the first product plan of PalmComputing.
1993 10, the first product "Zoomer" was launched by the handheld. Unfortunately, this is still a notebook computer that is not light and efficient enough to be sold in the market. To make matters worse, Apple's NewtonPDA was first launched in August of the same year, occupying a leading position in the market. Sadly, these two products have failed, and PDA products launched by HP, GO, Sharp, Toshiba and other manufacturers have also failed. Fortunately, PalmComputing still has the remaining funds available, and it has not collapsed, and it can also conduct a review of new faces. So, starting with Zoomer's customers, we began to analyze the really useful functions of PDA products for users. They found that 90% of Zoomer users own a PC, so it is of great significance to transfer files and update application software from the PC. PalmComputing also found that the theme of PDA products should not be to replace the user's desktop PC, but to replace some simple functions of traditional "paper". After rethinking, Jeff found two simple basic principles as the basis for improving the development of Zoomer products. These two principles later became the key to the success of PalmPilot products.
The first principle is to simplify the heavy burden of handwriting recognition system, because Jeff thinks it is feasible to let people learn new brushwork to match the machine. It is impractical and thankless to let machines handle people's complicated handwriting. So Jeff invented the graffiti input method to input English, numbers, symbols and so on. With a new special simple stroke, everyone can input data efficiently and conveniently, thus greatly reducing the computational burden of the recognition system. Even later, it was found that the original graffiti brushwork learning was actually simpler than expected, and many users were also interested in this novel brushwork.
The second principle is about scale. How small is it? Jeff boldly decided that if he could put it in his shirt pocket, he would be satisfied. This key restriction has made the simplification goal of new products a perfect success. All functions that can be sacrificed are deleted, and all functions that can become "optional" are not necessary.
Three months after rethinking the market demand, that is,1August 1994, a prototype model was made. Two small No.4 batteries can be started and used for a long time. Built-in "Time Management", "Phone Book", "To-Do Management" and "Notepad" four applications, the price is less than 300 dollars. PalmComputing decided to name this revolutionary new product development project "Landing". 1April, 1996, the task of "touchdown" project was completed, and finally a lightweight portable PDA product with its official name changed to "pilot" was produced. As we all know, this is a very successful product. Within eighteen months after its launch, it sold one million sets, surpassing the best-selling records of color TV sets and video recorders in the history of electrical appliances for the first time. In the past three years, Pilot 1000, Pilot5000, PalmPilotPersonal, PalmPilotProfessional and PalmIII have been launched one after another, and there are also palmiix, PalmV and PalmVII launched by/kloc-0 in March 1999. More importantly, the open architecture of the PalmOS program development platform has attracted many programmers to develop applications for the PalmOS platform. At present, there are more than 65,438+00,000 kinds of shareware and free software in circulation, and all kinds of excellent application software are still expanding rapidly.
At least10 million users in the world are using PalmPilot. With the launch of PalmIII, PalmIIIx and PalmV, users have also developed from professional users to ordinary users. The proportion of new users discussing using skills in newsgroups has increased dramatically. Although Microsoft developed WindowsCE for PalmPilot and invited many hardware companies to support the production of similar products, Palm still occupies 60% of the PDA market.
Palm: a mobile computer that changes the way people live and work.
–Celebrate the anniversary of 10.
From online pilot notebooks to TreoTM smartphones,
Palm is still committed to the development of mobile computer systems.
10 years ago, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) successfully captured all professionals with its first online pilot notepad-a super handheld computer with only 16 1g, which integrates calendars, contacts, to-do items and notes. Today, Palm has sold more than 30 million mobile computer products, and at the same time, it has the responsibility to continuously improve people's public and private lives around the world, and adhere to its vision for the future: the future personal computer system must be a mobile computer system.
The first pilot notebook put on the market was worth more than 2,000 yuan ($9). Its unprecedented success is mainly due to the following two points: it can not only be easily synchronized with desktop computers, but also be used in a very simple way-we usually call it the Palm product experience. In addition to adhering to its design philosophy, Palm keeps pace with the times and constantly innovates, adding several new functions to its products, such as e-mail, wireless Internet access and multimedia functions-from video to music. At present, the latest product is TreoTM smart phone, which combines the functional essence of PDA and mobile phone, and provides e-mail service through some telecom operators around the world (1).
In the past ten years, PalmTM products have been sent into space to collect information, and were once active in the Everest expedition, helping the business community successfully complete millions of transactions. Both men, women and children like to use them and have successfully won the hearts of consumers all over the world. From doctors, real estate agents, to students, celebrities, and even CEOs of major enterprises, everyone's life and work are accompanied by Palm products.
Multimedia materials: including voice, photos and Palm chronology. Please visit the voice section of www.palm.com/anniversary., including the voices of Palm founders, industry analysts and employees who have worked in Palm for many years.
Mr. Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm, said, "To be honest, even we were a little surprised that the first pilot notepad was so successful. "But when I first talked to jeff hawkins, I was deeply impressed by his statement that the future of personal computer systems-real personal computer systems-will become highly mobile products. That's why we want to design Pilot. This concept is still continuing today. Pilot and subsequent Palm products have become a part of the lives of millions of people-it allows people to keep in touch with their companies and families, send and receive emails and browse the Internet even when they are not at home, and at the same time, it allows them to take their favorite files, music, photos and movies with them. I am deeply proud of our achievements and full of expectations for the future. "
Loyal customers and development factories
Palm's success must be attributed to the support of the following important groups:
Over the years, loyal customers have purchased more than 30 million Palm products, including 3 million smartphones. The most important of these is individual consumers. With the help of Palm products, their lives have become orderly and they can receive important information at any time. For most individual consumers, the Palm V handheld computer-elegant in appearance and high in efficiency-is the first product that can attract novelty and fashion pursuers, and it has also become the focus of the mainstream market. Other customers from business and service industries, such as doctors, can also use decision support software to improve the quality of their medical services to medical stations and patients.
At present, there are more than 29,000 developers supporting Palm OS(R) platform products. They not only develop innovative consumer and enterprise applications, but also introduce various hardware peripherals, such as keyboards, GPS devices and barcode scanners, which are the most powerful backing of Palm. When Palm includes the Windows Mobile(R) platform and becomes one of the platform choices for its smart phones, it also means that its developer team has grown again.
Help Palm PDA and Treo smartphones to market to retailers, agents and dealer partners all over the world. Many retailers that have been cooperating with Palm since 1996 are still our best partners, including Circuit City, CompUSA, J & ampr, Fry and Staples. Palm and its distributors (such as Ingram and Tech Data) and distributors (such as CDW, PC Connection and PC Mall) also have a cooperation history of 65,438+00 years.
There are also telecom operators representing the world's top mobile phone system operators and agents.
And employees who are full of enthusiasm and strive to convey the company's philosophy-the future personal computer system must be a mobile computer system.
Their support not only gives the company more creative inspiration, but also helps the company to formulate product development trends.
Today, Palm not only continues to provide all kinds of mobile computer system products-from the general notebook computer with the simplest function and the most attractive appearance, which costs less than 900 yuan RMB (US$ 100) to the super-powerful handheld computer equipped with wireless technology-but also lists smart phones as the development focus. These powerful smartphones allow customers to send and receive emails, access personal data such as contacts and calendars, listen to music, take photos and share. In addition, with the help of additional software, they can enjoy real-time TV programs, listen to podcasts or post them on their personal blogs.
Palm also attracts a large number of enterprise users. There are more than 8,000 companies equipped with Treo smart phones, and they all use GoodLinkTM produced by good technology as the standard software for enterprise e-mail. At present, among Fortune 1000 enterprises, 40% have already used Treo smartphones, and another 35% are testing or trying out. Frost & Sullivan found in a recent study that mobile professionals tend to choose Treo smart phone over other manufacturers' products for the following reasons: it has a large number of commercial applications, high flexibility, optional operating system, powerful functions and convenient use.
Some facts about Benmai palm
Palm's early leaders are still actively involved in the company's operation-Jeff Hawkins helped to set the development direction of Palm products. Donna Doubinsky is still on the board. As for the current president and CEO of Palm, Mr. Creaghan is the twentieth employee of the company.
Palm Pilot Notepad products have been on the market for 18 months, and the sales volume has exceeded10 million units-the market acceptance speed far exceeds that of IBM PC, Macintosh and even microwave oven.
The original Pilot was the first mobile device that could be used with a PC, so it allowed customers to synchronize information and take it with them.
The first Pilot uses a processor similar to the standard traffic signal, so it is very power-saving, and it only needs two AAA batteries to run (the power can last for 3 months).
Palm products are deeply rooted in people's daily life, which can be found not only in Broadway theaters, Hollywood mainstream movies, real TV dramas and New Yorker comics, but also in wedding reception occasions.
Palm has broken new ground and created a number of first-class records in the industry-including the industry's first handheld computer with wireless technology, which can send and receive emails and surf the Internet, and the first color handheld computer with a lower price than 800 yuan (USA).
About Palm company
Palm, the main manufacturer of PDA system, has been working hard to improve the functions of PDA system so that people can access and share the most important information at any time. The company's products for ordinary consumers, mobile professionals and business people include Palm PDA, Palm TreoTM smart phone, Palm LifeDriveTM mobile home, software, services and accessories.
Palm products are sold around the world through specific websites, retailers, distributors and wireless network operators.
For more information about Palm, Inc., please link to the following website: