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HISTORY Pilot was the name given to the first generation of Personal Digital Assistants manufactured by ''' Palm Computing ''' in 1996 (then a division of U.S. Robotics , later a division of 3Com , and finally a standalone corporation). The first two generations of PDAs from Palm were referred to as PalmPilots. However, due to a trademark infringement lawsuit brought on by the Pilot Pen Corporation , from 1998 on handheld devices from Palm were known officially as Palm Connected Organizers or more commonly as "Palms" but "PalmPilot" has entered the vernacular as a synonym for PDA s, regardless of the brand. The original inventors of the ''Pilot'' were Jeff Hawkins , Donna Dubinsky , and Ed Colligan , who founded Palm Computing . The original purpose of this company was to create handwriting recognition software for other devices, named Graffiti , but their research convinced them they could create better hardware as well. Before starting development of the Pilot, Hawkins is said to have carried a block of wood, the size of the potential pilot, in his pocket for a week. Palm was widely perceived to have benefited from the notable if ill-fated earlier attempts to created a popular handheld computing platform by Go Corporation and Apple Computer . The first Palms, Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000, had no infrared port, backlight, or Flash Memory , but they already had a serial port. Their RAM size was 128K and 512K respectively, and they used version 1 of Palm OS operation system. The next couple of Palms, called Palm Pilot Personal and Palm Pilot Professional, had a backlight, but still no infrared port or flash memory. Their RAM size was 512K and 1024K respectively. They used more advanced version 2 of Palm OS. Palm III, and all the following Palms, had no word "Pilot" in his name due to the legal disputes. (Pilot was, and still is, a registered trademark for pens.) Palm III had an IR port, backlight, and flash memory. The latter allowed to upgrade Palm OS, or, with some external applications, to store programs or data in flash memory. It was run on a couple of standard AAA batteries. Replacement of batteries did not erase data, because for 10-15 minutes it was able to retain enough energy to prevent data from erasing. It had 2 Megabytes of memory, which was huge for the time, and used Palm OS 3. Meanwhile, because Palm Computing was a subsidiary of 3Com, the group of founders became upset that they did not have enough control over the Palm product. As a result, they left 3Com and founded Handspring in June 1998. When they left Palm, Hawkins wrote a license for the Palm OS for Handspring, and the company became the first Palm OS licensee. Handspring went on to produce the Handspring Visor , a clone of the Palm handhelds that included a hardware expansion slot (Palm III also had it) and used slightly modified software. Next versions of Palm used Palm OS 3.1. These included Palm IIIx with 4 Megabytes of memory, Palm IIIe without flash memory or hardware expansion slot (and available for cheaper price), and Palm V with 8 Megabytes of memory. Palm VII had wireless connection to some Internet services, but this connection worked only within USA . It used Palm OS 3.2. Some of these newer handhelds, for example Palm V, used internal rechargeable batteries. Later this feature became standard for all Palms. Palm Computing was spun off into its own company (then called Palm Incorporated) in 2000. Handspring later merged with Palm to form palmOne in 2003 when Palm Inc. split into companies based upon selling hardware (palmOne) and the software ( PalmSource ). In 2005, palmOne acquired the full rights to the Palm name by purchasing the shared rights PalmSource owned and changed names back to Palm again. PalmSource was acquired by Access Software in 2005. Palm IIIc was the first Palm handheld with color screen. It used Palm OS 3.3 which provided extensive tools for writing color applications. Palm handhelds initially ran on the popular DragonBall processors, a Motorola 68000 derivate. More recent models are using a variation of the widely popular ARM architecture (usually referred to by the Intel Xscale brand name). This is a class of RISC microprocessors that is widely used in mobile devices and embedded systems, and its design was influenced strongly by a popular 1970s/1980s CPU , the MOS Technology 6502 . Palm handhelds are beginning to become more and more advanced, including the ability to become hard drives on computers via USB cables, and are beginning to merge with smartphones. The "Treo 700w" is the latest offering that combines a Palm handheld with mobile phone, e-mail, SMS, and instant messaging. It is the first Palm device to use Windows Mobile instead of Palm OS. It is widely expected that Palm handhelds as a PDA-only device will disappear as multi-function Palm handhelds like the Treo 650 decline in price. Some predict that this will be caused in part by PalmSource convincing cellphone manufacturers to use Palm OS-like interfaces and PIM apps in their phones, bringing about cheaper, but less functional, Palm OS smartphones. LIST OF PDA MODELS Current models Discontinued models The following PDAs are no longer in production. SEE ALSO
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