Slashdot Mirror


Palm Reveals New Name

dmehus writes "Milpitas, Calif. based Palm Inc. announced Sunday afternoon the new name and moniker for its handheld hardware business. After almost two years in the planning and focus group stages, the company's Board of Directors and executives decided on PalmOne. PalmOne's ticker symbol will change from the current PALM to PLMO. Sister company PalmSource, which will be the operating system business, takes ticker symbol PSRC. According this report by CNET News.com's Ina Fried, the two companies will be publicly traded, but they will also be controlled by a new holding company. In addition, the Spring 2004 line of handhelds will adopt the PalmOne moniker. Devices that run the Palm OS can continue to say "Palm powered." The new ticker symbols and corporate name changes will take affect some time in late September or early October, once the Palm buyout of rival HandSpring is complete."

306 comments

  1. What about... by swordboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    They didn't even make it fully buzzword compliant. There's no '.' in there or 'e' anywhere... What about 'flex' or 'i'?

    --

    Life is the leading cause of death in America.
    1. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget the "oo" (double o) read on so many company/websites names.
      t'was the goolden age oof nasdaq... [sigh] proofit [sigh again]

    2. Re:What about... by NoData · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They didn't even make it fully buzzword compliant.

      But hey, they did make a compound word with an unnecessary infix capitalization.
      (CitiGroup, MetLife, SunTrust, etc.) That's pretty CorpSpeak of them.

    3. Re:What about... by FooAtWFU · · Score: 2, Informative

      What, One isn't cool enough of a buzzword? I'll go toss my RealOne player (not that I used it- winamp!), my Sun ONE studio (hey! That was cool!) and, while we're at it, ignore Formula One racing and... and... I'm sure I'm missing lots, too bad it's hard to get a list...

      --
      The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
    4. Re:What about... by pez · · Score: 1

      A little bit older, but don't forget Netscape's ONE.

    5. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They didn't even make it fully buzzword compliant.

      Sod that, you can't even come up with humourous masturbation references any more!

    6. Re:What about... by dnoyeb · · Score: 1

      And of course ChineOne chinese food :) But of course you can actually catch the pun in ChinaOne.

    7. Re:What about... by Zemran · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It still sounds dumb... They have a really good corporate identity and they want to ruin it ??? Sounds like SCO marketting to me.

      --
      I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
    8. Re:What about... by thebigmacd · · Score: 3, Informative

      Unfortunately for your joke, Formula One has a "one" in it for a reason...it is a division of the Formula racing series, in which there is F1, F2, and F3.

    9. Re:What about... by RevDobbs · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Speaking of messing with an established identity... most people I know still refer to their Palm devices as "Palm Pilots", and that term hasn't been officially used for what, 4 years now?

    10. Re:What about... by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      They didn't even make it fully buzzword compliant. There's no '.' in there or 'e' anywhere...

      What's that squiggly little round letter at the end of the name 'PalmOne' then...?

    11. Re:What about... by Andrewkov · · Score: 4, Funny
      They didn't even make it fully buzzword compliant. There's no '.' in there or 'e' anywhere... What about 'flex' or 'i'?

      And no Extreme or Xtreme in the name .. I no longer buy products without Extreme in the name. Even my deoderant is Extreme.

    12. Re:What about... by apchar · · Score: 3, Funny

      Paint em green and call em PalmOlive.

      --
      ---Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
    13. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ack bugger'em I still call it 3com, and everyone knows what I mean. :)

    14. Re:What about... by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 2, Funny

      I bought Xtreme Jello this week. It's just like old Jello but in Xtreme new flavors like "Wild Berry". It tastes suspiciously like they mixed the left overs of thier other berry flavors together.

    15. Re:What about... by squidfood · · Score: 1
      it is a division of the Formula racing series, in which there is F1, F2, and F3.

      But I just pressed F1, and I'm still going the same speed...

    16. Re:What about... by FooAtWFU · · Score: 0

      Mmm. What if higher numbers make you go faster...
      Try Alt-F4, that'll REALLY build up the speed.

      (as if anyone who had ever heard of Slashdot would fall for that one...)

      --
      The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
  2. what's in a name by chrisspurgeon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Geez, two years to decide to change your name from Palm to PalmOne. I am soooo in the wrong business.

    1. Re:what's in a name by ArmenTanzarian · · Score: 1

      Yeah, two years just to rip off RealPlayer. Is their next product going to be called the IPalm?

    2. Re:what's in a name by Dionysus · · Score: 1

      That's nothing. How much did SGI pay to come up with the name sgi?

      --
      Je ne parle pas francais.
    3. Re:what's in a name by BigBir3d · · Score: 1

      PalmExtreme ;-)

    4. Re:what's in a name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      PalmExtreme
      Extreme! Can I get one of these at my local Pro Shop? :)
    5. Re:what's in a name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      that's Silicon Graphics, Inc. The abbreviation was something that came afterwords.

    6. Re:what's in a name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, probably $100000 to have that abbreviation pointed out.

    7. Re:what's in a name by Slime-dogg · · Score: 1

      In breaking news:

      The board of directors for the major chain store 7-11 have decided to rename to 7-OneOne. In the press release, the press liaison for the company has declared, "One has become an integral part of an innovative brand name. We feel that we will march proudly into the future knowing that we have TWO ones in our name."

      Other companies making the bow to "One" include Sun, Palm, and Be. They are all known as SunOne, palmOne, and Bone, respectively.

      --
      You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
  3. BeOS? by Jagunco · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Is BeOS still under the wings of Palm? Why don't they use the thing, or simply open the source?

    1. Re:BeOS? by mst · · Score: 1

      BeOS? I suppose it must now inevitably be BeOne. Quite ironic indeed ;)

    2. Re:BeOS? by wcb4 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Did you say B1?

      BINGO!!!!

      been waiting for that for about 5 balls now

      --
      I reject your reality ... and substitute my own.
    3. Re:BeOS? by rifter · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Is BeOS still under the wings of Palm? Why don't they use the thing, or simply open the source?

      When Palm bought Be, Inc. they promised there would never again be a BeOS release. They refused to license the IP or allow anyone to work on it ("Omigod, they killed the BeOS!" "You bastards!"). :P

      However, a German company (yellowTab) which had wisely started negotiating to work on BeOS long before the sale (during the period where Be was "refocusing on Internet Appliances") and somehow had the rights to work on a BeOS, or something. Their version of events is here.

      For some reason, none of the Be sites is linking to them, and googel does not like them either. I had to find the old slashdot article to find them at all. They also seem to be calling the OS Zeta instead of BeOS. Perhaps the people at Palm have the reverse midas touch w/r/t brands and anyone who has a good brand but associates with them loses it altogether. By the way can you tell I hate the new name and wonder why in the hell they would change the most recognized name in PDAs? Perhaps this is bad karma for trying to crush BeOS on purpose.

      Still if you want you can buy zeta from yellowTab and it does come with lots of software, apparently...

  4. One question? by digitalunity · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With the buyout, will I still be able to get a Visor?

    --
    You can't legislate goodness. Let each to his own destiny, by will of his freely made choices.
    1. Re:One question? by cloudless.net · · Score: 1

      Handspring already stopped making any new Visor sometime last year.

    2. Re:One question? by jalefkowit · · Score: 4, Informative

      You can't get a Visor from Handspring now, and you haven't been able to for a long time. All their organizer-only devices have been discontinued, from the original Visor up to the recent Treo 90. The only way Handspring will sell you a Visor is if you buy a reconditioned unit from them.

      My guess is that PalmOne will continue this level of support for the Visor, but I strongly doubt that they'll start the production lines rolling again, especially when the bare-bones Zire and upcoming Zire 21 models are there for people who want a low-cost, monochrome organizer.

    3. Re:One question? by $exyNerdie · · Score: 1

      With the buyout, will I still be able to get a Visor?

      You can go on the website and see the product line right now...

      See my earlier post before /. posted this story for the link to the website...

      Sig

    4. Re:One question? by falcon5768 · · Score: 1
      you can get a refurb model, which imho is just as good and WAY cheaper.

      I love my refurb edge, fits right in my pocket and its metal so I know it wont get trashed like my old plastic palm did.

      --

      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

    5. Re:One question? by dasmegabyte · · Score: 1

      Still, this HandSpring buyout should be a wake up to anybody who wants to make a lot of money while making quality hardware:

      1) License the rights to a consumer device that's WAY too expensive for what you get.

      2) Sell a nicer product for less money. Make it compatible but upgradable. Do everything that the licensed company SHOULD have done.

      3) Sell your company back to the consumer device manufacturer.

      --
      Hey freaks: now you're ju
  5. Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by Ravensign · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Stage One of Going Down the Toilet: Split yourself into groups of N, and give each sub-company a new name. That way no one knows who the hell they are dealing with.

    Frequently employed when a company's market share or mind share begins to slip, in an irrational attempt to reverse said slipping.

    --
    "Sig free in '03!"
    1. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by mcguirez · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Exactly!

      Reference: See Quantum

      --
      When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras
    2. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by miroth · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, I think stage one goes like this:

      Charge $299 for an Palm-based product which has less than half the processing power and half the capabilities of comparable PocketPC devices, and expect people to buy it.

    3. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by kisrael · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Charge $299 for an Palm-based product which has less than half the processing power and half the capabilities of comparable PocketPC devices, and expect people to buy it.

      Good thing they have an OS and UI that people actually enjoy using.

      Though I just bought a wonder $180 Sony SJ-22; terrific screen and the UI/OS I love. I think Sony is more of a threat to Palm hardware than the PocketPC is.

      --
      SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
    4. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It would be, if it wasn't restricted by the proprietary Memory Stick. If you just want an organizer you can get a cheap one from Sharp. The real reason to buy a Palm OS device is software and expandability, which is limited and expensive due to those sticks.

    5. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by pHDNgell · · Score: 1

      less than half the processing power and half the capabilities of comparable PocketPC devices

      Out of curiosity, what are these capabilities of which I only have half? I've got Internet access via bluetooth through my phone or computer which gives me IMAP and web access (and NTP). I've got a decent video player, mp3 player, several development environments, HP48/49 emulator (that one really finished up everything I needed), many books, automatic backups, syncs with all my Mac desktop software, etc...

      --
      -- The world is watching America, and America is watching TV.
    6. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Palm sells PDAs, where low power means long battery life which means it is superior to PocketPC machines for PDA uses. Yes, you can get a PC in a tiny form factor that will do more stuff, but it will be inferior as a PDA.

      Lower power matters, a lot. Recharging is something that people want to do once per month, not once per day.

    7. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by miroth · · Score: 1

      Upgradable ROM? How much memory does your device have? Does your Palm device have a CompactFlash slot? I have found CF to be VERY useful for expansion cards that let me use 802.11b networks, listen to FM radio, and even use a PCMCIA hard drive (though I haven't seen a practical use for that last one).

      Fact is, as much as we like to hate it, having Windows behind your handheld makes it much easier to expand and communicate when technology changes. Palm OSes will always be one step behind. It's Microsoft who does the innovation in handheld OSes.

      *Prepares for karma destruction*

    8. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by fatgraham · · Score: 1

      "I think Sony is more of a threat to Palm hardware than the PocketPC is."

      but still not as much as their directors it seems

    9. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by alanh · · Score: 1

      My only complaint is the lack of a good SSH client for Palm.

      --
      - AlanH
    10. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      sounds like a great idea for SCO.

      -

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    11. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by hankaholic · · Score: 1

      Honestly, when it comes to handhelds I'd much rather use a less powerful Palm than anything with PC in the name.

      I have no experience with their newer devices, but the fact that the Palm OS has no way of indicating to the user that the system is currently busy (like an hourglass mouse cursor, for instance) is one design decision I love -- it makes it more difficult for developers to feel comfortable leaving the user hanging while the application processes.

      Palm tells developers not to do any processing on the handheld that can be offloaded to a more powerful machine. This design philosophy means that Palm developers have to keep efficiency in mind, and not bloat apps with all kinds of unneeded garbage, and the fact that developers have to work within hardware constraints keeps them from using the "a faster one will be out soon!" excuse from bloating up the software. Handhelds should be wicked quick, and I'd wager that the average machine running PalmOS is tons more responsive than anything you can show me with WinCE installed.

      My Palm V can go for weeks without a recharge and fits easily in my pocket. Try to do that on a PocketPC before you start knocking Palm's offerings.

      --
      Somebody get that guy an ambulance!
    12. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by pHDNgell · · Score: 1

      Upgradable ROM?

      By definition, nothing has upgradable ROM. I've upgraded my PalmOS on machines in the past, though.

      How much memory does your device have?

      More than my phone, less than my powerbook. No number I could put in there makes a difference as it's all very relative. It's got more than enough for anything I've ever tried to make it do.

      Does your Palm device have a CompactFlash slot?
      I have found CF to be VERY useful for expansion cards that let me use 802.11b networks, listen to FM radio, and even use a PCMCIA hard drive (though I haven't seen a practical use for that last one).


      It's got an SD/MMC slot (much smaller). I believe SanDisk makes an SDIO 802.11b card, but I have no interest in such a thing. I get plenty of connectivity via the internal bluetooth. I have no more interest in using my PDA as a radio than I do in using my phone as a PDA. Sure, it can do it, but convergence doesn't always make sense.

      Fact is, as much as we like to hate it, having Windows behind your handheld makes it much easier to expand and communicate when technology changes. Palm OSes will always be one step behind. It's Microsoft who does the innovation in handheld OSes.

      Why is it that people like to prefix opinions with the word ``fact?'' There is nothing factual about anything in that statement. Especially when you talk about MS innovating something. They took their desktop OS and put it on a palmtop computer. To innovate is to ``to begin or introduce something new.'' NewtonOS was new. PalmOS was new. WinCE was just smaller.

      None of this has anything to do with my question, though. What are all these wonderful things I'm missing?

      --
      -- The world is watching America, and America is watching TV.
    13. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by mcguirez · · Score: 1


      Really, Quantum corp is a prime example of
      splitting your effort only to lose your primary
      market. Quantum is only a shadow of what
      they once were (dominent player in the Hard disk
      market). In July of '99 they split into
      two business units with separate tracking
      stocks. At the time the reason given was:
      "We don't want to anchor the rapid growth of
      the tape buinerss with the old-fashioned HD
      unit."

      They sold the hard disk business to Maxtor (who
      is successful now) only to have their DLT
      business languish. Think "negative added
      shareholder value".

      (Disclaimer: shareholder)

      --
      When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras
    14. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by Trongy · · Score: 1

      On the other hand, can you show me a PocketPC device that has inbuilt WiFi and a 400MHz cpu and 64 meg of RAM and that is cheaper than the Tungsten C?

      Chris

    15. Re:Stage One of Going Down the Toilet by Fortyseven · · Score: 1

      I blew my paltry tax refund on a Zire 71 and never regreted it. Although, I think if it didn't have the (admittedly low quality, but very handy) camera built in, I might have held off and got a Clie.

      Runs great, plays my MP3's, takes sneaky pics -- I love it. :P

      From the 'wonderful' things I've heard about PocketPC sync software, I'm glad I didn't buy the one I was looking at.

  6. Is it just me... by geeber · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or is the name "PalmOne" almost an invitation to steal the thing?

    1. Re:Is it just me... by Epistax · · Score: 1

      I think I'll just go to oldversion.com and download the original a la realone.

  7. Palm is so leet by JohnGrahamCumming · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In the graphical form of the name (which you can view on their web site) they
    have chosen to use leetspeak in the form pa1mOne which seems to me to be a horrible mistake (it's also
    worth knowing that palmOne did not buy the sites pa1mOne.com and pa1m0ne.com: pa1mone.com seems to have be
    purchased by an employee of Palm just yesterday and does not take you to palmone.com :-)

    The real mistake though is that should we be referring to the company is palmOne or pa1mOne? It's just
    confusing for no reason. I mean you don't see Microsoft changing its name to M1cro$0ft just to look cool.

    John.

    1. Re:Palm is so leet by kisrael · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This is so awful.

      What the hell is the point? "Palm" had some of the strongest name recongition in the business...it was impressive that they were able to stake out "Palm" (remember Microsot's "Palm PCs"?) Maybe they're worried about Xerox- or Kleenex-style dillution of their name?

      Any way, that l -> 1 switch is awful. I have a touch of synthaenasia, and I'm not alone, so I "hear" the "1" in "pa1m" as "o", so it reads "paom one".

      If this is for real, this is so lame.

      --
      SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
    2. Re:Palm is so leet by potaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Guys, it's not leetspeak: it's a font with serifs.

    3. Re:Palm is so leet by flipperboy · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure it's leetspeak; I think it's just a poorly-designed font.

      I seem to remember older typewriters didn't have a '1' key; you were expected to use the 'l' (lower-case L) to type a '1'.

      Nonetheless, it's easy to see how that could be read as a '1' in the middle; it looks goofy.

      -Steve

    4. Re:Palm is so leet by centavo · · Score: 3, Informative

      The numerical 1 in the logo is intentional, as stated in PalmOne's press release. It is not an accidental font issue.

      http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=156 2& showComments=true

    5. Re:Palm is so leet by JHMirage · · Score: 4, Insightful
      See image here.

      I disagree... there are no serifs on any of the other letters in their logo. Someone was trying to go for the numeral reference.

      Plus, the "p" is lowercase, which is somewhat odd. (Of course, whether they were purposely going for leetspeak or not is unknown, of course.)

      --

      A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself.
    6. Re:Palm is so leet by jandrese · · Score: 1

      I might have thought that...if any of the other letters in there had serifs. How many fonts only put serifs on the lower case "l"s?

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    7. Re:Palm is so leet by Dephex+Twin · · Score: 1

      What is synthaenasia? I didn't see any references to it in a google search and dictionary.com has no idea what it is either.

      Just wondering.

      --

      If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
    8. Re:Palm is so leet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Synae something - the grandparent's spelling is wrong. It's got the same ending as anathstethia (sp) - the stuff they knock you out with before surgery.

      It's a tendency to associate letters and numbers with other sensory input - flavors, smells, colors, etc. In this case, letters/numbers are associated.

      OTOH, I am not syna... and I read it as paom - I think it's just glossing over the 1, giving it a schwa. (Upside down e in dictionary)

    9. Re:Palm is so leet by AnyoneEB · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's when you confuse one sense with another. As the grandparent said, "hearing" something that he sees. I believe Scientific American had an article on it recently.

      --
      Centralization breaks the internet.
    10. Re:Palm is so leet by potaz · · Score: 1

      Yeah actually, I think you're right. When you look at how the 'l' in 'palm' looks like a one, and the 'O' in 'One' looks like a zero, I think they were going for the numerical reference.

      But still, I don't think it was leetspeak they were going for, it looks more like a binary computers-are-cool-and-complicated thing.

    11. Re:Palm is so leet by TClevenger · · Score: 1

      Insert "brown ring of quality" joke here.

    12. Re:Palm is so leet by thesatirist · · Score: 1

      Try synesthesia instead.

    13. Re:Palm is so leet by kisrael · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Sorry, I spelled it incorrectly.
      "Synesthesia".

      Here is the article on it from

      I only have a touch of it...when I was 5 I'd write my name Kirk as Ki4k, (I think because the 4 has an "R" sound) and I would read the promo for "The Fifth Elment", "It Mu5t Be Found" and ask "it muft be found? what the hell is that?"

      "pa1mOne" doesn't trigger quite as much, but it's still really stupid.

      --
      SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
    14. Re:Palm is so leet by tuffy · · Score: 1
      Guys, it's not leetspeak: it's a font with serifs.
      The "l" is the only serif font, so it's probably meant both as an "l" and as a "1". See? It's got "1" and "one" in the logo! It's wacky! It's marketing!
      --

      Ita erat quando hic adveni.

    15. Re:Palm is so leet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it looks more like a binary computers-are-cool-and-complicated thing.

      that's what "leetspeak" is.

    16. Re:Palm is so leet by Nightpaw · · Score: 1

      So that's why you read slashdot and not kuro5hin...

    17. Re:Palm is so leet by kisrael · · Score: 1

      So that's why you read slashdot and not kuro5hin...
      Heh, good point. Though in that case the h after the 5 changes things as bit. Maybe it all rounds down to a bit of a "J" sound rather than F or the proper "sh"

      --
      SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
    18. Re:Palm is so leet by realdpk · · Score: 1

      Holy cow, I do the same thing. Like, exactly the same thing. R=4, S=5, and then I get confused about why I thought it was an f for some reason. I read that article a while back, but I didn't realize it was related (I thought it was mainly a combination of smell/sight or sight/touch, etc?)

    19. Re:Palm is so leet by kisrael · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure it qualifies as a form of it.

      Though I almost feel like a poser talking about it, like geeks who find some odd comfort in thinking of themselves as "a bit autistic, maybe". It really doesn't interfere with my day to day life much, just now and then. With passwords and what not. And I have to be damn careful typing out "Phone number made of letters", like 1-800-M-A-T-T-R-E-S.

      --
      SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
    20. Re:Palm is so leet by Tom7 · · Score: 1

      No, it's not. The l should not need serifs if the stems of the other letters don't have 'em. I can't say for sure if the O is a zero without seeing a real O or 0 for comparison (though it does look squarish in the way you'd expect the O to look), but that l is definitely a 1.

      PS. This name change is stupid.

    21. Re:Palm is so leet by YoJ · · Score: 1

      I took it to be a numerical reference to the word One in the name. Not exactly leet speak, but just as stupid.

    22. Re:Palm is so leet by MisterFancypants · · Score: 1
      Looks to me more like a reference to binary, since the 1 and the 0 are numerical.

      But yeah, it is stupid.

    23. Re:Palm is so leet by kisrael · · Score: 1

      What the hell, -1 Flamebait??

      A useful link to a previously mentioned scientific american article, a clarification of an interesting digression, and one opinion that the 1 in pa1mOne is kind of dumb...a rather uncontroversial opinion.

      Gah, I wish I knew what these moderator's were thinking.

      --
      SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
  8. The sad part is... by Capt_Troy · · Score: 5, Funny

    they probably actually paid a marketing company a million bucks to come up with that lame-ass name!

    Hell, I would have thought one up for 50 bucks. here's a freebie:

    "Shaznasta"

    T.

    1. Re:The sad part is... by cerberusss · · Score: 1
      paid a marketing company a million bucks
      Ha! That's nothing! Oracle changed their logo sometime ago, too. It was the work of a commission with an enormous budget and after many, many manmonths the result was that the 'A' was mirrored.
      --
      8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
    2. Re:The sad part is... by IANAAC · · Score: 1

      Years ago I worked for a health care management company that was bought out by a credit card processing company back in Richmond, VA. This company liked to insert the word One in all it's subsidiary companies' names (CapitalOne, HealthOne, etc.) This TOTALLY reminds me of that.

    3. Re:The sad part is... by PunchMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hell, I would have thought one up for 50 bucks. here's a freebie:

      "Shaznasta"


      That's sweet man! You should do marketing for open source projects, I think. Here's the first guys that need help: Xouvert. ;-)

      --
      I'll have something intelligent to add one of these days...
    4. Re:The sad part is... by cybermace5 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A Markov word generator can do better. Seriously, no better way to discover words that mean absolutely nothing yet sound cool.

      Try these on: Palogica, Unizard, Zaticand, Apprecros. PayPal me my fees.

      Works great for naming countries too. Who would ever forget the name Sertaintritativiroboweakeeterrying?
      (only requires the time it takes to get to the end of the word)

      --
      ...
    5. Re:The sad part is... by sir99 · · Score: 1
      Oracle changed their logo sometime ago, too. It was the work of a commission with an enormous budget and after many, many manmonths the result was that the 'A' was mirrored.
      Mirrored as in backwards? Sounds like a database glitch.
      --
      The ocean parts and the meteors come down
      Laid out in amber, baby.
  9. So much for the importance of branding... by jonr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am more and more convinced that marketers live in a different dimension from the rest of us. One day it is all about "brand name" and talk about it worth in millions, the next day, it is just any old hat.
    Can I now use Palm myself? It is obviously not worth anything to Palm themself... /annoyed

  10. Stupid ? by KingRamsis · · Score: 2, Funny

    PHB types throwing away the natural sexy name "Palm" and instead using "PalmOne"...
    GOD and it took them two freakin years ?????

    Insert mandatory Dilbert joke below my sig.

    1. Re:Stupid ? by goldfndr · · Score: 1

      "Palm" is a sexy name?

      --
      Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks: temporary loans from the Public Domain, not real property ("intellectual" or otherwise)
    2. Re:Stupid ? by KingRamsis · · Score: 1

      relative to "PalmOne" YES I would say it is a sexy name.

  11. I don't know about you by ihummel · · Score: 1

    but I preferred it when they were called Palm Pilots.

    1. Re:I don't know about you by stevel · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Pilot Pen company sued Palm (then 3Com or was it US Robotics at the time?) for trademark infringement - and the agreement was that the name "Pilot" would not be used for the PDAs.

      I'll keep calling my Tungsten-W a "Palm" (though my wife refers to it as "your nag".)

    2. Re:I don't know about you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      After merging with Handspring, they could have called their devices 'Palmsprings'.

    3. Re:I don't know about you by JeffTL · · Score: 1

      I still call 'em that. Indeed, I've lowercased it, and when someone asks me what a PDA is, I say "A palmpilot."

    4. Re:I don't know about you by FredMcGriff · · Score: 1


      yeah right, pa1mOne will work well... and whats so amazing is that 6 years after removing the "Pilot" name, most people still refer to their pda as a "Palm Pilot".

    5. Re:I don't know about you by zerOnIne · · Score: 1

      I'll keep calling my Tungsten-W a "Palm" (though my wife refers to it as "your nag".)

      At least you're (apparently) bright enough to not have it set the other way around.

      *beepbeep* 6PM: Dinner with Your Nag

      --
      09
  12. Two years? by S.O.B. · · Score: 0, Redundant

    They spent two years "in the planning and focus group stages" and all they could come up with was to change from "Palm" to "PalmOne"?

    I'm not saying I can come up with anything better right now but give me two years and I'll bet I can.

    --
    Some of what I say is fact, some is conjecture, the rest I'm just blowing out my ass...you guess.
  13. Palm Pilot ... by JonyEpsilon · · Score: 1

    Perhaps they should have changed the name a bit more - ever since Brian Blessed bellowed "Palm Pilot ... sounds like a wanking device" on a TV out-takes show, I've felt Palm wasn't such a good name for a company.

  14. Well by LittleBigLui · · Score: 2, Funny

    there IS an "e" at the end of "one". You know, they have an e-backend in their nu.Name.

    --
    Free as in mason.
    1. Re:Well by killthiskid · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's a good thing they didn't just take one year to come up with that name or else it might have sucked!

    2. Re:Well by nalfeshnee · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and it could have come out exactly like another company which redid its corporate image relatively recently, with the RealOne player. Or indeed, the big hw/sw house which now calls itself SunOne for certain purposes.

      Oh, shit.

      *g

      Nalfy

      --

      -- Despair is an operating system that ANY human being can run, sort of a psychological JAVA --

  15. Probably to help send more spam by Sabalon · · Score: 1, Funny

    I had a palm, and when I got rid of it I tried to get off all the palm mailing lists. I still got spam after spam no matter how many times I logged in to change my profile "if I no longer wanted the e-mails."

    I guess that too many people have blocked *.palm.com so they need something new to spam from.

    No...I'm not bitter :)

  16. I guess they figured hey... by OfficerNoGun · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...it worked so well for Real. I mean, realOne is just such brilliant, usefull software. Hopefully they don't add the bloat, that what makes them nicer the windows mobile devices (for business purposes). Because I swear to god if my palm starts beeping and buzzing, and I pull the thing out of my pocket so it can tell me "whats cool for August" I'll smash the thing to little pieces.

  17. PalmOne? by Mike+Schiraldi · · Score: 1

    PalmOne?

    Does this mean they're going to take Handspring's OS, change a few strings, add some placeboware, call it a revolutionary new product, and go headfirst into IPO?

    Or maybe i'm confusing them with someone else...

    1. Re:PalmOne? by slimak · · Score: 1
      Does this mean they're going to take Handspring's OS...

      I don't think they have to "take" it since the Handsprings run Palm OS - being that i'm not up to speed on the PDA market, it is my guess that the handspring aquisition is probably for hardware technology and marketshare.

  18. Hm, wildly successful brand name...LET'S CHANGE IT by argStyopa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't understand why companies INSIST on doing this? Is this some sort of corporate fear that their brand name is watered-down by ubiquity?

    It seems that companies who are so successful that their name BECOMES the product would be happy.

    I watched this happen to Digiboard. They were THE standard product in their line but then went & changed their name to Digi International. D'oh.

    --
    -Styopa
  19. Palm now run by 1337 h4xx0rz. by ahector · · Score: 2, Funny

    pa1mOne?! Are you kidding me?

    --
    sig
    1. Re:Palm now run by 1337 h4xx0rz. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i noticed the same thing, except i think the O looks like a zero - so it's pa1m0ne

  20. May I suggest TCFKAP? by heironymouscoward · · Score: 2, Funny

    After the famous musician who was formerly known as Prince, and who was retagged "his formerliness" by a well-known music magazine...

    The Company Formerly Known as Palm has also decided upon an unpronouncable glyph as their name. But it makes much sense, since in any case they will soon become a division of Sony and their name will be recast in Hirigana.

    ParmOS, I saruta you!

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature
  21. Quick Change The Name! by ellem · · Score: 5, Funny

    PHB::According to Johnson's report I see we have market share and brand name recognition. What's our plan?

    JOHNSON::Do nothing sir.

    PHB::Do nothing? You idiot Johnson YOU'RE FIRED! Cravenstone what do you have?

    CRAVENSTONE::Let's change our name sir.

    PHB::Excel-lent....

    --
    This .sig is fake but accurate.
  22. What is it with ONE? by ShieldWolf · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why do Microsoft competitors keep using the word ONE?

    Netscape ONE
    Sun ONE
    PalmOne

    Is this synergy, coincidence, or lame marketing?

    --
    just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
    1. Re:What is it with ONE? by borgdows · · Score: 1, Funny

      because it's better less lame than using the word .NET

    2. Re:What is it with ONE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe they are all financed by BankOne...

    3. Re:What is it with ONE? by VistaBoy · · Score: 1

      Um... what about Pepsi One? Or "An army of One?" Or that movie "The One?"

    4. Re:What is it with ONE? by jalefkowit · · Score: 4, Funny

      They're predicting how many employees they'll have left in three years :-)

    5. Re:What is it with ONE? by solarrhino · · Score: 1

      I think it's an attempt at subliminal suggestion: Netscape Won, Sun Won, Palm Won. I'm mostly kidding, but I really think Microsoft did the same thing. During the Windows 3.x years, before Windows was an established winner, you started windows by typing "win" on the command line.

      --
      "Lord, grant that I may always be right, for Thou knowest that I am hard to turn" -- A Scots-Irish prayer
    6. Re:What is it with ONE? by ylikone · · Score: 0
      Well, everyone else is using X. They might have been:

      Xscape
      SunX
      XPalm

      --
      Meh.
    7. Re:What is it with ONE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Maybe all your examples are from the same marketing company?

      Somewhere relaxing on a beach is some drunk marketing twit who pulled "One" out of his ass, and after selling it to seeminginly hundreds of PHBs he now has half a billion dollars in the bank.

      I'm going to be ill.

    8. Re:What is it with ONE? by smatt-man · · Score: 1

      Here is an unofficial answer, plus some half-a$$ logic... Apple uses 'i' and not to be outdone by a cute naming convention, they needed to come up with something. 'i' is the Roman symbol for 1, or One. Coincidence... I think NOT! iMac iPod iPalm? Doesn't quite work.

      --

      ---
      Lousy rotten karmic retribution.
    9. Re:What is it with ONE? by batkins · · Score: 1

      Because the Matrix has them.

    10. Re:What is it with ONE? by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
      Because this will make it easier for Microsoft to integrate the brand names once they buy them out.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
    11. Re:What is it with ONE? by g0at · · Score: 1

      Tea and SCOne(s)?

      heh.

      -ben

    12. Re:What is it with ONE? by Cryp2Nite · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's the same focus group over and over and over and over... again.

      I'd appreciate it if you could drop me an e-mail if you're willing fill-in for me some time. The pay is pretty good but it's getting tedious, I could use some time away from the responsibility....

    13. Re:What is it with ONE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Zing!

    14. Re:What is it with ONE? by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      lame marketing.

      i-anything, e-anything, anything.net, Xtreme-anything..

      it's just lame marketing, you see, your average marketing company doesn't really employ people because they go their own ways. rather people who are 'good' with going with the flow as the mass is the flow, of course it only works for crap..

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    15. Re:What is it with ONE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget there's only a RealOne.

    16. Re:What is it with ONE? by shnarez · · Score: 1

      They're all using the same company for their renaming strategies, which is using the same shell script to generate the new names...

    17. Re:What is it with ONE? by linuxtelephony · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It has to do with name recognition "theories". Mainly just copycats.

      When the cellular telephone networks were being built out, one enterprising company came up with the Cellular One (or CellularOne) name. Many non-wireline carriers got permission to use that name. Before 1990, and possibly a few years after, the Cellular One brand name was the most widely recognized brand name for cellular phone service in the country. Even markets not served by a Cellular One carrier recognized that name over the names of the carriers serving the market.

      The first company I personally noticed using a "One" in their name for nationwide promotions was "Carpet One". They even had a cute logo that was supposed to be a corner of a roll of carpet, but that looked amazingly similar to some of the cellular one logos with "radio waves".

      Now, using "One" in a name is so common that it is no longer unique. That combined with the virtual nonexistance of cellular one as a brand in the US means the coat tails these people are trying to hold on to no longer exist. Palm is a little late to the game.

      One more personal observation. Cellular One as a brand was more recognized in the wireless industry than any of the other players, including AT&T, Bellsouth, and others. And, the only reason you just about don't see Cellular One anymore is the massive consolidation of wireless carriers. In many cases the transition was slow. It started with "Cellular One - a XYZ company", then it becase "XYZ Company - Cellular One", and finally it became just "XYZ Company".

      --
      . 62,400 repetitions make one truth -- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
    18. Re:What is it with ONE? by ftg888 · · Score: 0

      Simple go into a store... and PALM---one... and run away really quickly..

    19. Re:What is it with ONE? by British · · Score: 1

      Wasn't there also LinuxOne?

      There's also the Mini One, which is a stripped-down version of the Mini Cooper.

      Adding "one" seems to devalue things.

    20. Re:What is it with ONE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot RealOne

    21. Re:What is it with ONE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like Micros~1?

  23. Pr0n? by cspenn · · Score: 1

    Does anyone else think this sounds somewhat... well... pr0n-like?

    Chris
    I pimp this: Student Credit Cards & Credit Tutorials

  24. Strange decision by ultraw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Would it not have been wiser to keep the name "Palm"? They don't want any of the two spin-off's to benefit of the name. But doesn't the PalmSource company benefit from the sales that are generated by "PalmOne"? (Note that this assumtions hold true to a certain level the other way around, but not that strong.)

    Therefor, i find it a bit silly. The split was made by the board that will control both company's (they did not sell one division as far as I know) and the new controlling company. The controlling company name is irrelevant, as no-one outside the Palm-offices and the financial world will know, or needs to know it.

    It would be better to keep the name for the hardware division. They had a strong name, and I guess that they did a bad move. And two years to come up with "PalmOne"? For crying out loud...

    As a sidenote, as a belgian, I guess that I'm not worried, as long as the name change does not influence the taste of a glass Palm beer.

    1. Re:Strange decision by WoTG · · Score: 1

      I'm not certain, but I think the long term plan is to spin off the hardware side completely. I.e. separate controlling entities, stock, and everything else. Rumours are out there that one (or both) of the business groups will be bought out rather than distributed as stock... which would clean up the whole situation even more easily.

      As an aside, I think both halves of the business are comparable in size, so maybe we should refer to it as a 'split' when possible...

    2. Re:Strange decision by ultraw · · Score: 1

      But then again, the situation stays the same:

      Palm is a strong brand name, and the "palmsource" division benefits from the sales of the "palmone" division. No hardware sold, no software needed. Therefor, it would have been better to keep the name for the hardware division, as the software benefits from it.

      Ah, anyway, they must have had a good reason to change the name. It is a very honest decision that is made (not giving the strong name to either of the divisions). Strange however that "honest" can be used in association with a big multinational firm. Maybe we should encourage this, as it is a rare fact...

      (and indeed, "split" is a better word, but remember that I'm not a native English speaking person, so sometimes I have to improvise :)).

  25. The final end of the Beos team by gristlebud · · Score: 1

    Is this the final, last gasp of the Beos team that went to palm? By spinning the Palmsoft into their own company, they must fend for themselves as an independent profit center. It also means that others can develop their own OS for plams, and market them to palm-clones, and potentially to Pa1mOne themselves.

    Interestingly, the remnants of Be have more than doubled in the past quarter; see the chart here

    --
    OK...
    I can do this. I am, after all,
    a superhero!
  26. A million bucks? by Smeagel · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Are you kidding me? Way, way over a million bucks I'm sure. 2 years of searching? Hell my university spent 1.5 million for a month of searching to change their color from red to...dark red. Many many millions were spent on making this name longer, and I hope they realize people will still refer to them as Palm. PalmOne reminds me of a bank.

    1. Re:A million bucks? by Capt_Troy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yea, I'm sure you're right. One company I worked for paid a marketing company like 50K to come up with the term:

      "iLink"

      Which if course is what Sony calls firewire. It's even trademarked I believe. Well, our execs went nuts, they loved it and are still living in blissful ignorance.

      T.

    2. Re:A million bucks? by Alan · · Score: 1

      PalmOne just reminds me of RealOne. It's lame either way.

    3. Re:A million bucks? by jea6 · · Score: 1

      LOL We had iLink Express once. Didn't pay anyone, though.

      --

      sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
    4. Re:A million bucks? by netsharc · · Score: 1

      Quick, somebody name his piece of software/gadget "FakeOne"!

      Ha, "FakeOne", maybe an audio guide on how to fake the perfect orgasm for girls? Or is that "perfect the fake orgasm".

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
    5. Re:A million bucks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You work for Goodrich?

    6. Re:A million bucks? by Capt_Troy · · Score: 1

      Nope. Apparently the iLink fiasco we went through is not uncommon :)

  27. Aww Damn! by NoData · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, there's goes my bet on what the new Handspring, Palm merged company would be called:

    "PalmSprings" of course!

    Sure, you laugh now, but their new office digs woulda been SWEET.

    1. Re:Aww Damn! by BigGerman · · Score: 1
      "HandOne"

      targeting rapidly expanding PDA-wireless-porn market?

    2. Re:Aww Damn! by argStyopa · · Score: 1

      Of course, then they could have come out with the PalmSprings device powered by solar cells.

      Name it the PalmSprings Eternal.

      --
      -Styopa
    3. Re:Aww Damn! by not-my-real-name · · Score: 1

      I heard a while ago that Fairchild and Honeywell were thinking of merging. The combined company would be called Fairwell Honeychild.

      --
      un-ALTERED reproduction and dissimination of this IMPORTANT information is ENCOURAGED
    4. Re:Aww Damn! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I saw a standup comic on TV once who offered this one:

      "...Harley Davidson Motorcycles, Upjohn Pharmaceuticals and Tiger Beat Magazine may merge and form a new company called 'Beat Up John Davidson'"

      No, I'm pretty sure it wasn't Carrot Top.

  28. How fucking pathetic... by avalys · · Score: 2, Funny

    Two years to come up with that!?
    What's the difference? Do they think people are going to buy more of their crappy, outdated and unimaginative products because they stuck a "One" at the end of their moniker? I doubt their daydreams are going to come true:

    Husband: "Edna, look here at this here Palm pee-da thingy. I should get one of those."

    Wife: "I don't know Clarence, it looks like those Sony and Microsoft ones over there have more features."

    Husband: "Maybe you're right. I don't want a second-rate product."

    Salesman: "Actually, they just changed their name to PalmOne."

    Husband: "Well shit! That settles it. Give me twenty!"

    --
    This space intentionally left blank.
    1. Re:How fucking pathetic... by Coyote67 · · Score: 1

      Why the hell was this modded up. Obviously this person has no idea about what they are talking about when it comes to Palm powered devices these days. Pound for pound palm makes some of the best handhelds on the market, and if you compare them feature by feature to Wince/Pocket PC machines you will see that they have surpassed them in features, price, and soon in expandability.. As it stands Palm and Sony make THE best handhelds with the best feature set.
      Do some research before you start trolling.
      Btw, the word fuck or shit doesn't improve your troll factor either.

      Yes I know it doesn't run linux. But not everyone wants linux on their handheld.

    2. Re:How fucking pathetic... by avalys · · Score: 1

      I own a Sony PDA and I love it. Had you paid any attention in reading my post you'd notice that I only insinuated that Palm's PDAs sucked, not the Palm OS itself. The last time I looked for a PDA (a few months ago), the PDAs sold by Palm were all copies of what Handspring and Sony had already done many months ago.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank.
  29. palminfocenter has more... by kisrael · · Score: 4, Interesting

    more information from including the logo....my favorite quote

    "The new name is characterized in two colors - deep red for the word 'palm' and vibrant orange for 'One,' reflecting the subbrand colors for the company's Tungsten line of solutions for mobile professionals and business and its Zire line of solutions for consumers and multimedia enthusiasts, respectively."

    Come on, from Pro/Personal, III, V, Zire, Tungston, m, these guys have changed branding more often than their underwear. This is what they want to bank on?

    No explanation given for the lame l->1 conversion.

    --
    SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
    1. Re:palminfocenter has more... by The+Fun+Guy · · Score: 4, Funny

      When you click on the link the parent poster provides, the first thing you see is this:

      "Welcome Slashdot visitor! You have been redirected to a ligher version of our article in order to conserve bandwidth and keep the site running smoothly for everybody."

      Clearly they are doing their best to avoid being Slashdotted, while not shutting out the Slashdotters completely. As intelligent and reasonable as this is, it still strikes me as amusing.

      "Welcome Mongol horde visitor! You have been redirected to a ligher version of Rome in order to conserve food and water and keep the city running smoothly for everybody."

      "Welcome O Pioneer! You have been redirected to a ligher version of Ohio/Illinois/Missouri/Kansas in order to conserve land rights and keep the state running smoothly for everybody."

      --
      The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
    2. Re:palminfocenter has more... by tuxedo-steve · · Score: 1

      ... and now, thanks to the +5 moderation of your comment, 10x as many Slashdot users are going to check out the linked site.

      The net bandwidth used will probably be greater than what it would have been if they didn't provide a low-bandwidth page specifically for Slashdot-referred connections.

      Oh well, it's the thought that counts.

      --
      - SMJ - (It's not just a name: it's a bad aftertaste.)
    3. Re:palminfocenter has more... by frause · · Score: 1

      Yet nothing about the "1" and "0". That's the bit that you are wondering about... What were they thinking?

  30. I'm lost for words... by stardeep · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > After almost two years in the planning and
    > focus group stages, the company's Board of
    > Directors and executives decided on PalmOne.

    I can only chime in with previous posters and express my utter, utter bafflement at this. I can't believe how some people earn their money! (I use the word 'earn' very loosely.)

    When is this marketroid-driven insanity going to stop?

    --
    Sentimentality is merely the Bank Holiday of cynicism.
    - Oscar Wilde
    1. Re:I'm lost for words... by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
      How could this take so long? One word: "Commitee"

      If you want to kill the chance of anything happening in a short amount of time, ESPECIALLY in marketing, send it to commitee.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
  31. Pronounciation? by utahjazz · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one tempted to pronounce palmone like:

    pal-MOH-nee

    1. Re:Pronounciation? by gatkinso · · Score: 1

      Well, I was thinking "pal-MOAN"...

      --
      I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
  32. I don't get it... by selderrr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    it's probably me, but why in heavens name change name ? What's the benefit, except for companies for MS who have som uch cash they have to find obnoxious ways to hose some (hey, there's an idea for a new poll !)

    Reminds me of the company Smiths, not named 'Lays'. Thay had a brand recognition at coca-cola level and yet some execs decided to wipe it all.

    I really should have paid attention during marketing classes i guess.

  33. Handspring's OS is Palm OS by cloudless.net · · Score: 2, Informative

    Handspring is a hardware company, and it uses the Palm OS.

    1. Re:Handspring's OS is Palm OS by hyperstation · · Score: 1

      your photo blog is cool :)

    2. Re:Handspring's OS is Palm OS by glenrm · · Score: 1

      No. Handspring merged with Palm. And now they are called pa1mOne. Look for HAND on the NASDAQ.

  34. Everyone misunderstands the branding change by Feathers+McGraw · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everyone's reading PalmOne like it was pronounced Palm-WON, but it's really pronounced Pahl-MOH-nay, which clearly is designed to appeal to the modern, hip Euro-style elite. Ooh, la la.

    1. Re:Everyone misunderstands the branding change by metamatic · · Score: 1

      I think I'm going to be insisting on calling it "p.a. one m. one" myself.

      --
      GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
    2. Re:Everyone misunderstands the branding change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      P A one moan.

    3. Re:Everyone misunderstands the branding change by Spunk · · Score: 1

      Perhaps they will be running zoo-vair.

  35. Hmm... by Xformer · · Score: 1

    So, now we can refer to them collectively as Palm* ?

    On 2nd thought, we could already, but it makes more sense now.

    --
    All I want is a kind word, a warm bed and unlimited power.
  36. "One" is the new "dot" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sun One, RealOne, PalmOne. Just you wait, there'll be FooOnes all over the NASDAQ in 6 months time.

    Apple will be next with the AppleOne $SERVICE.

  37. What to do??? by winstarman · · Score: 1

    "Hey guys, our handhelds are doing poorly compared to the Handsprings, what should we do???" Just buy em - then you can acquire the cool hardware, repackage it and then slap a cool new name on it. new name - same crap. anyone know how I can run linux on my visor?

    --
    Hard loop..... huh?

    Dynamic Designs
  38. This is great! by nizo · · Score: 4, Funny

    PalmOne's ticker symbol will change from the current PALM to PLMO.
    Dibbs on the PALM stock symbol so I can unload millions of shares of my fly-by-night IPO on the uneducated masses!

  39. Zzzz.... by Frobozz0 · · Score: 1

    .... and the world goes back to what they were doing. I'm glad they spent two years to change some capitalization and add 3 letters on to the end of the name.

    In the infamous words of Adam Sandler: "Who were the marketing wizards that came up with that one?"

    --
    "Politicians find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the people."
  40. Changing name = increased overhead by dmitri2060 · · Score: 1

    "Costs are too low due to increasing productivity. New logos, new letterheads, new business cards for all employees More friction on the wheel of progress, yeah."

  41. Re:Hm, wildly successful brand name...LET'S CHANGE by .com+b4+.storm · · Score: 1

    I don't understand why companies INSIST on doing this? Is this some sort of corporate fear that their brand name is watered-down by ubiquity?

    Really! My favorite example...

    Borland - A couple of years, ago, they changed their name to "Inprise" to sound more business-y elite, or something. This resulted in a lot of flak, so they decided to compromise by keeping the Borland name on certain products. So you had "Inprise Borland C++Builder 4 Standard". Yeah, that rolls off the tongue nicely. It was definitely worth throwing away years of respectable brand name recognition. Of course, you notice they are now Borland again.

    --
    "Wow, you're like some kind of superhero able to ward off happiness and success at every turn."
    -- Ryan Stiles
  42. Business Geeks? by silverbax · · Score: 1

    Just when you think maybe true business suits have successfully infiltrated the technology market, something like this happens. Note to techies running coporations: There is a reason that Nike hasn't become NikeOne and Wal-Mart isn't Wal-MartOne...

  43. FuckedCompany.com by mumblestheclown · · Score: 2, Funny
    this article reads like a parody from FuckedCompany.com, or 1999, or something.

    PalmOne and PalmSource?

    Why not just HyperGlobalMegaMart?

    Did they take out a super bowl ad too?

    Pardon me while I go PalmOne.

    1. Re:FuckedCompany.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you forgot ".com" on the end of the corporate name. Like "FreeRoofingTile.com Inc."

    2. Re:FuckedCompany.com by hankaholic · · Score: 1
      Pardon me while I go PalmOne.
      That is hilarious! I just knew there was a masturbatory reference being made by somebody about this.
      --
      Somebody get that guy an ambulance!
  44. they were so close to a better name by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    PalmNeo might have been "the one"

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  45. Quote from article by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 4, Funny
    Part of the difficulty facing the company stemmed from the use of the name "Palm" for more than one thing

    I have the same problem. Gypsies always give me strange looks when I take a tropical plant into the caravan to have my fortune told, and I've been waiting for my hand to produce coconuts for 34 years now.

    --
    When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
    1. Re:Quote from article by MyHair · · Score: 1

      and I've been waiting for my hand to produce coconuts for 34 years now.

      Don't wait, just masturbate more vigorously.

    2. Re:Quote from article by pmz · · Score: 1

      Don't wait, just masturbate more vigorously.

      Thus a paradox: as the coconuts grow, a person's ability to masterbate lessens, thus making the coconuts shrink, masterbastion intensifies, cocnonuts reappear, then disappear...oh the disapointment!

  46. RealOne by Kenshin · · Score: 1

    I think their "inspiration" came from RealPlayer changing its name to RealOne. Hell, look at the front page of their site and you see the RealOne player on the screen of the Palm.

    But honestly... WTF was wrong with the name "Palm"?

    If it ain't broke, DON'T FIX IT.

    It doesn't make sense.... I hate the business world.

    --

    Does it make you happy you're so strange?

    1. Re:RealOne by taped2thedesk · · Score: 1
      But it's RealOne, not Rea1One.

      I don't intent to be mean, I love palm and purchased more handhelds from them than I care to counts... but I think somebody's kid got a hold of the memo and changed the l to 1. PalmOne might have been ok, but I don't think I can continue to recommend a company that has replaced a letter with a number in it's name, and keep a straight face.

  47. People DO buy it by Balthisar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'll admit I prefer the Sony Clie line, but the Palm OS has one thing going for it that the /. crowd can appreciate: it doesn't run any version of Windows.

    Oh, and it syncs with my Macs with no problem.

    Oh, and it does just about anything a WinCE (or whatever it's called today) device can do. It only takes software. You need that on a non-Palm device, too.

    Honestly, if I could put a color screen on my still-working Newton and shrink it to a reasonable size, I'd probably use it instead. Unfortunately it's now just a curious toy that I don't use for anything.

    --
    --Jim (me)
  48. Silly move, if you ask me by fudgefactor7 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Palm" was easy, simple, and only 4 freaking letters! Plus their ticker was PALM! Hello?! Going to PalmOne is longer, dumber, and not as intuitive, plus their ticker changed...

    Bad idea.

  49. What the press release really said: by MightyTribble · · Score: 3, Funny

    OUR BRAND PROMIES IS SO WAL UNDERS2D BY DA MARK3TPLAEC TAHT DA CONCEPT OF ONE IN OUR NU NME WAS IMEDIAETLY COMPELNG11!!11!! WTF LOL ONE IS A POW3RFUL ADITION 2 TEH INSTANT BRAND R3COGNITION AND IEDNTITY OF DA PALM TEH1!!!1 WTF RED/ORANGE COMBINATION IS A BOLD D3PARTURE FROM TEH BLU3 TAHT PALM HAS USAD FOR MANY YEARS AND BUILDS ON OUR NU SUBRANDS AN3RGY ANTHUSIASM POWER AND INOVATION COM3 ACROS MUCH STRONGAR IN OUR NU COMBINATION

    OUR!1!1!1!! NU NME ALSO SIGNALS A NU BGINNG AT PALM1!!1!!!! OMG WTF BUILDNG ON OUR MOMENTUM IN TEH HANDH3LD COMPUTNG SPAEC WORLDWIED AND COMPLEMANTNG IT WIT TEH AXPACTAD INT3GRATION OF DA AWARD-WINNG TR3O LIEN OF SMARTPHONES FROM HANDSPRNG WIL GIEV PALMONE TEH BROAEDST PORTFOLIO OF HANDHELD COMPUTARS AND SMARTPHON3 PRODUCTS LAD BY DA MOST AXPAREINC3D TEM IN DA INDUSTRY 11!!1 WTF LOL

    (I didn't write this - I got it from a Palm message board. Still funny, though.)

    1. Re:What the press release really said: by Fulg · · Score: 1

      Hehe... JeffK? :)

      --
      gcc: no input sig
    2. Re:What the press release really said: by mrscorpio · · Score: 1

      Even JeffK bows down to the aol translator! (http://ssshotaru.homestead.com/files/aolertransla tor.html)

      Chris

  50. Net result by Rogerborg · · Score: 1

    When the dust settles, there will be fewer engineers, and more marketeers and obscenely overpaid CEO's at the cloven companies. Because, as we all know, it doesn't matter how good your product is, as long as you have decent market segmentation, and an CEO with a zillion share options.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  51. The REAL reason... by jazman · · Score: 3, Funny

    Of course the real reason for the change of name to PalmSource is that they've discovered 80 lines or so of C code in PalmOS that matches code in the heart of the Linux kernel, no, the edges, no, the utilities, and they've decided to take a leaf out of SCO's book and sue IBM, no, Linus, no, everyone who even mentions Linux to try to prop up a dwindling market share.

    Quick everyone, buy Palm shares cos they're about to shoot through the roof!

    1. Re:The REAL reason... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would be funny if SCO would decide to rename itself to SCOne...

      because we can then pronounce it Suck-one

  52. Let the joking begin... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Evidently coming in close second was the name HairyPalm. Yuk Yuk Yuk

    1. Re:Let the joking begin... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Palm plus One equals None?

  53. It's the Economy, Stupid by ackthpt · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    OK, granted if they had the foresight to know Gray Davis would be running for his life with the Ahnold hot on his heals in a freewheeling recall, they could have capitalized on name recognition and called themselves: Palminator

    But, alas the economy is in a malaise, the war for Hearts and Minds (Registered trademark of the Bush strategy) in Iraq is turning rapildy into the kind of mess Mogadishu became (for pretty damn much the exact same reasons his papa went in there.) and peoples expectations just aren't up to the pre-2000 HYPE. We're all a bit over-dazzled and need to return to more mundane, oatmeal and beans kind of approach. Nothing too fancy, we don't trust it anyway, after WorldCon, GlobalDoubleCrossing and ENSCAM, Wall Street appreciates a company with an unimaginative name. That they took years and focus groups and probably spent millions of dollars, simply shows the right approach. At least that money isn't being thrown away in stock options to the worker-bees.

    Now all they execs have left to do is pat themselves on the back for such an intelligent, careful move and give themselves big fat raises.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  54. In an attempt to increase my stock with my wife... by gatkinso · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...I have decieded to rename myself GeoffreyOne.

    --
    I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
  55. New Marketing Strategy: by rmpotter · · Score: 1

    They hope to Palm One off on every one that can find.

    --
    Is this sig nificant?
  56. All we need is PalmOracle and PalmArchitect now by joldc · · Score: 1

    mmmm,

    PalmOne (Neo)
    PalmSource (The Source)

    Who knew The Matrix runs on under 16MB?

  57. Better alternatives by TrebleJunkie · · Score: 2, Funny

    Darn, I thought maybe they'd go with RedPalm.

    Or, because of the buyback/out/up of Handspring, call it PalmSprings. That'd be cool.

    --

    Ed R.Zahurak

    You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.

  58. about Prince by jcsehak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    He had valid reasons for it - his label was in control of the name "Prince" and was being bitchy about it. That's why on that triple-CD set he has "slave" written on his cheek. So he changed his name so he could release music during the dispute, and after it was settled, changed it back. I don't know why he didn't just tell people that, but I figure there were legal reasons.

    Palm, on the other hand, are simply dumbasses.

    --

    c-hack.com |
    1. Re:about Prince by Mad+Marlin · · Score: 1
      So he changed his name so he could release music during the dispute ...

      Why didn't he just drop his stage name for his real name? Is it something incredibly stupid for a pop star, like Johnathan Pinkerton Jr.?

    2. Re:about Prince by cpeterso · · Score: 1


      because then we would not still be talking about his name change.

    3. Re:about Prince by jcsehak · · Score: 1

      Could be legal reasons. His contract could've specified "Prince or Johnathan Pinkerton Jr (or whatever it is)." It also could've said "Prince or any string of letters organized to describe the artist originally born as Johnathan Pinkerton Jr (or whatever it is)."

      --

      c-hack.com |
  59. Interesting? by missing000 · · Score: 1

    How so?

    The idea that calling palm two names both starting with palm will lead to people not knowing "who the hell they are dealing with" is stupid.

    Who would know that PalmOne is the same as Palm? I assume it would require advanced skills like 'reading'

    1. Re:Interesting? by The+Lynxpro · · Score: 1

      I totally disagree. This is not like splitting up Atari Inc. (back in 84) into two different Ataris (Atari Corp. and Atari Games). In that instance, Warner Communications (later Time Warner, then AOL Time Warner, and soon to be just "Time Warner" again) sold off the consumer division to Jack Tramiel and co. who renamed it Atari Corp. and vowed to become just a computer company. Warner then sold the majority interest in the arcade division to Namco, and it became Atari Games. But in 1985, the videogame industry rebounded with Nintendo introducing the NES in the US. Tramiel's Atari Corp. decided to get back into the game (so to speak) and started marketing the 2600 and 7800. Complicating matters was that Atari Games wanted a piece of the home market to themselves. They were barred from using the "Atari" brand in the home market; they only could use it in the arcades. So they became an NES licensee known as Tengen. So you had post-1984 Atari arcade titles appearing on the NES (and then the Sega Genesis) but not for Atari consoles such as the 2600/7800/and XE Game Systems which infuriated the owners of those systems. The two Ataris finally licensed the post-1984 titles so owners of the Atari Lynx system got plenty of Atari Games titles to play with. In the case of Palm, you have PalmOne (or Palmone, Palm1, but not PalmOlive) the hardware company and PalmSource the operating system company to power new iPod models. Its not like PalmOne is going to start building PocketPC models or on the otherhand, Apple acquiring PalmSource. It just doesn't compare to the previously mentioned Atari confusion...

      --
      "Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
    2. Re:Interesting? by Jonavin · · Score: 1

      They've created a "Palm Trademark Holding Company" company to be co-owned by PalmSource(55%) and palmOne(45%). The new company will get all the rights to the Palm trademark and will license it to the two companies. This is suppsoed to clear up any legal issues with the "Palm" brand.

      I guess they also own the "Palm Powered" mark used by all PalmOS device makers.

    3. Re:Interesting? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like they're standing around holding more than their trademarks, if you know what I mean....

    4. Re:Interesting? by The+Lynxpro · · Score: 1

      somehow what I typed in there got rearranged... I meant for it to read that it wasn't like PalmOne would build PocketPC models or Apple would come in and buy PalmSource to give new iPods the PalmOS. I apologize for any confusion that might have caused... Heh heh, PalmOlive...I made a funny...

      --
      "Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
  60. corporate circle jerk by smoon · · Score: 2, Funny

    enhancing shareholder value by paying consultants to piss on you.

    --
    "But actually trying to use m4 as a general-purpose langage would be deeply perverse" --ESR
    1. Re:corporate circle jerk by Esion+Modnar · · Score: 1
      enhancing shareholder value by paying consultants to piss on you.

      I think I saw something like this in Dilbert. So after two years of brainstorming a new name, they go:

      "I got it!"
      "Whatcha got?"
      "Palm is a catchy name, but it needs a hook..."
      "OK..."
      "We add one to it."
      "One what?"
      "One. O-N-E. One. PalmOne."
      "Right. How much we paying you, anyway?"

      This is typical of corporate executive types. While everybody else is doing real work, they're pulling down six- and seven-figure salaries, they're sitting in their offices with their PowerPoint slides and pulling their puds with stuff like this.

      --

      They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
  61. Re:Hm, wildly successful brand name...LET'S CHANGE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm pretty sure that for digi, it was a trademark dispute. Some other company already owned the mark, but digi didn't know that. So, they changed the name to prevent nasty things from happening.

  62. They did not call it Palmion? by BigGerman · · Score: 1

    I am so disappointed.

  63. Ugly, ugly site by BenjyD · · Score: 1

    So all this planning has resulted in:

    1. A bad name - it's longer, ambiguous (is that Palmone as in Danone?) and loses much of the recognition factor. Just call the hardware company Palm and who cares what the OS company is called?
    2. A truly nasty colour scheme This is not a pretty site (or sight).

    Way to go Palm*.

    1. Re:Ugly, ugly site by LauraW · · Score: 1
      ># A truly nasty colour scheme This is not a pretty site (or sight).

      It looks fine to me.

      Did I mention that I'm color blind?

  64. It doesn't matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The box for my PDA has a logo of a Q with a T inside it - and I prefer it that way !!

  65. Crazy Apple Rumor by Erik+K.+Veland · · Score: 1

    Not content with staying with the current trend, Apple, who a few years back simplified their name Apple Computers to just Apple, has innovated once again by rebranding as appleTwo.

    --
    "I tend to think of OS X as Linux with QA and Taste", James Gosling, creator of Java
  66. Tungsten T-3 by boris_the_hacker · · Score: 1

    I wonder if this change in name will delay the launch of the next tungsten model [set to debut late september]?

    I really hope not as I have been holding out for one....

    Oh well, good luck to them!

    --
    chris at darkrock dot co dot uk
    http colon slash slash www dot darkrock dot co dot uk
  67. Name wouldn't fly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    You would definitely be struck down by National Beverage Corp. on that one since "Shaznasta" is clearly just a feshizzle nizzling of their Shasta brand name.

    1. Re:Name wouldn't fly by Methuseus · · Score: 1

      Wait, National Beverage Corp? When's NBC (the TV network) gonna sue them for having their initials?

      --
      Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, though I'm not yet sure about the universe. - A Einstein
  68. PalmOne by pcp_ip · · Score: 3, Informative

    PalmOne - a unisex fragrance for geeks from ClavinKlein

  69. Re:Palm? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is this Flaimbate?

    Why would people still use Palm when devices such as the Tandy TRS-80 Model 102 still exist and are 4 times as reliable? Palm's are made by US Robotics, a modem company.

  70. Glad to see.... by jayrtfm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Glad to see that the marketing group who came up with "New Coke" finally got another client.

    1. Re:Glad to see.... by hankaholic · · Score: 1

      Where are the mod points when you need them? In terms of the comments-to-laugh ratio, this is the best story I've read in ages ;-)

      --
      Somebody get that guy an ambulance!
  71. Re:In an attempt to increase my stock with my wife by maharg · · Score: 1

    shouldn't that be

    G3offreyOne ???

    --

    $ strings FTP.EXE | grep Copyright
    @(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
  72. impressive... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ...it took them TWO YEARS to come up with "PalmOne". I mean, really....

  73. Handspring Treo lives on... by henele · · Score: 1
    My guess is that PalmOne will continue this level of support for the Visor, but I strongly doubt that they'll start the production lines rolling again, especially when the bare-bones Zire and upcoming Zire 21 models are there for people who want a low-cost, monochrome organizer.

    I remember reading at the time of the aquisition that the Handspring brand will still be used to label the Palm-based Smartphone Treos - a market Palm(One) tried to enter but failed, but which Handspring has a good foothold, in both recognition and product...

  74. With the current spreading rate... by mst · · Score: 1

    ...of the *One disease, I predict that the Harry Potter series will soon be renamed "hermiOne".

  75. You don't understand by FromWithin · · Score: 1

    You see, they haven't just tacked on a "One". What they've done is cleverly considered the results of their focus groups. Palm owners commented that their friend's Palm was so good that they wanted one too.

    And so the company changed it's name not to "p-ah-m wonn", but to "Pal moan", with the emphasis on the "Oh".

    It's worth every penny of the pointless millions they spent on it, I guarantee you! I don't think I consider myself worthy of purchasing such a device whose creators have a such high order of intelligence. No, sir.

  76. "Palm Powered" by UberOogie · · Score: 1

    Make your own joke.

    --
    "Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life." -- Marcus Aurelius, _Meditations_, Book 9, 37
  77. How about "Palmolive"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're soaking in it!

  78. What a crap name. by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    I'm SO FUCKING TIRED of all this rebranding crap. Just proves that management spend more time fucking about with logos these days than innovating. If I was a Palm shareholder, I'd be fucking LIVID.

    --
    That was classic intercourse!
  79. Re:Hm, wildly successful brand name...LET'S CHANGE by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    Hmm, it's certainly possible but I rather doubt it. Digiboard had been operating for years under that name, only changed the name after the founder JS left the company and it moved to big fancy new building in EP. Methinks it WASN'T a trademark dispute, OR it was a case of Digi incompetence and someone stole their brand name out from under them.

    --
    -Styopa
  80. I've figured it out by chasingfightclub · · Score: 1

    Is it just me or did Palm decide to hire Prince as their new marketing director? Next stop on the crazy train that is the company formerly known as PalmOne... "@#$*^%". I kind of like it personally.

  81. When I saw their new ticker symbol by CamShaft · · Score: 1

    I couldn't help but think:

    Thats right kids!
    It's new PDA Log, from PLMO!

    What rolls down stairs
    Alone or in pairs
    Rolls over your neighbor's dog.
    What's great for a snack
    And fits on your back
    It's log, log, log!

    It's lo-og, lo-og,
    It's big, it's heavy, it's wood.
    It's lo-og, lo-og,
    It's better than bad, it's good.

    Everyone wants a log,
    You're gonna love it, log
    Come on and get your log,
    Everyone needs a log...

    BY PLMO!

  82. Seems like a bad move by Mad-cat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    On a marketing basis, this doesn't seem like a wise decision.

    First, you already have excellent name recognition.
    Second, you have to change all of your existing advertisement methods.
    Third, you lose the product standard. What if Xerox became Xenix or something? We don't "Or-Something" or documents! We Xerox them.

    Of course, most people have probably already said this.
    I hope they kept their old trademarks. They'll probably regret this down the line.

  83. On the bright side... by CatOne · · Score: 2, Funny

    They're taking example from Sun who is so good at branding that it virtually guarantees people understand what you're talking about.

    Except instead of naming an umbrella of 100 unrelated products under the One brand, they're renaming the entire company!

    Sheer genius. Let's see if Geoffrey Moore can write a book on this phenomenon.

  84. Re:What is it with ONE? Or 1 for that matter? by arth1 · · Score: 1
    Netscape ONE
    Sun ONE
    PalmOne

    Is this synergy, coincidence, or lame marketing?


    The latter. Don't forget AmigaOne either...

    You'll shake your head when you visit their site and see the logo. It's not just palmOne, but pa1mOne with the numeral 1.
    How very 1337 of them.

    Regards,
    --
    *Art
    All your Pa1m is belong to us!
  85. so? by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1


    I still call the doohickeys that the company produces "PalmPilots", even though they dropped that name years ago...

  86. Wow by PiGuy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Good thing they didn't skimp and only take one year to come up with it; it might have sucked.

    (w/ apologies to Scott Adams)

  87. hideous color scheme by BigBir3d · · Score: 1

    Seen here.

  88. what'sa da matter witha Palm? by hendrix69 · · Score: 1

    I figured PalmOne should be pronounced like the Italian name Corleone: Pal-Mo-Ne

    --
    The power of Christ compiles you!
  89. i would have called by m1chael · · Score: 0

    it palmheld. but hey, if you want to mess with sony go ahead ;P

    --
    I know you are psychotic, but please make an effort.
  90. Numbers Baaaaad by JohnLi · · Score: 1

    We have a rule here in the New Orleans music scene. Numbers in your name = Bad. They all wind up sounding like an OTC drug name.

    --
    The / in /. would be more accurate if it leaned to the left. http://www.metricnut.com
  91. The new name is not PalmOne. by scrawny · · Score: 1

    According to their new graphic, it is the l33t3r pa1mOne, which suddenly looks like palimony to me.

  92. Marketroids making work for themselves by semanticgap · · Score: 1

    A good way to justify your existense is to do stuff like change company name or split divisions. It generates a lot of work within the company in every department, your name becomes better recognized within the company (you get to make "the announcement" on a company-wide conf call), and in the meantime during all this commotion you continue to get a paycheck. Of course the reality is that company is going down the toilet.

    I once worked in a company that changed its logo color from green to blue, and then spent a few months contemplating changing back to green, but decided not to.

    Palm was a nice innovative company a few years back, but has now obviously succumbed to the executive incompetence plague that so many other companies in US, so unfortunately, are infected with...

  93. Colors! by GarfBond · · Score: 1
    If anyone else hates the colors, here's an explanation for why they picked what they did (from http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=58 17):

    The new name is characterized in two colors - deep red for the word "palm" and vibrant orange for "One," reflecting the subbrand colors for the company's Tungsten line of solutions for mobile professionals and business and its Zire line of solutions for consumers and multimedia enthusiasts, respectively. The lower-case treatment of the company name gives the word "palm" visual emphasis.
    If you visit Palm's (whoops, palmOne's) product page you'll notice that they this is actually true, Zire is orange and Tungsten is red. It's too bad they look sorta garish when juxtaposed next to each other.

    Zire 21, Tungsten E, and Tungsten T3 (that might be a spring release) are all lined up for release soon! At least palmone seems to be back on track.

  94. now, if they only drop the OS by penguin7of9 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Palm hardware is fairly nice: compact, light, long battery life, and the applications are pretty decent as well.

    But PalmOS is becoming a drag on the company--PalmOS was OK for underpowerd 68k-based handhelds, but the 175-400MHz RISC handhelds of today would be much better off running a more modern OS; none of the restrictions, flakiness, and limitations of PalmOS are justified by the hardware it runs on anymore. Neither PalmOS 5 nor PalmOS 6 look like they are going to fix the grave deficiencies in PalmOS.

    One can only hope that, with this split, the Palm hardware group can look to other options in terms of software: Symbian, Linux, etc. They can even keep running the existing Palm applications, which people are used to. But the OS has to go.

  95. Very dumb by gilesjuk · · Score: 4, Funny

    You can use the phrase "they're trying to PalmOne off on us" now.

  96. It's usually personal ego... by dpbsmith · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...when someone ascends to a high enough position that they CAN change a name, they DO change the name. It's a way of assuring themselves that they're actually in charge.

    It's simple: if you only issue orders that have a rational reason, you can never tell whether your subordinates are obeying them because you actually hold power, or simply because the orders make sense.

    On the other hand, if you issue orders that are irrational, you can tell whether or not you actually have power, but if people obey them it will hurt the company which, in the long run, could affect your career.

    The only safe way to demonstrate your authority is by issuing an order that is _arbitrary_ and has no significant effect for better or for worse.

    Of course, there's always a cover story about how the new name, color scheme, typography, etc. "projects a more contemporary corporate image." (In the case of a magazine, whenever a new editor takes over they always revamp the typeface and the amount of whitespace around things, and the stated reason is always "to help you find information faster.")

    See Antoine de Saint Exupery's "The Little Prince"--the part where the Little Prince visits the tiny planet with the king who can command the sun to set, but only after checking an almanac to make sure that he issues the command at the right time.

    1. Re:It's usually personal ego... by CableModemSniper · · Score: 1

      That's an interesting explanation. It also seems to make sense. Maybe I'll pick up this book.

      --
      Why not fork?
  97. PalmWhatever by slark · · Score: 1

    I still refer to any device that runs PalmOS as a Palm Pilot. So there.

  98. Also could not believe ticker change... by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I agree 100%, to move from a ticker name like "PALM" is just idiotic, never mind the name change.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  99. Re:Hm, wildly successful brand name...LET'S CHANGE by pauljlucas · · Score: 1

    Although in this case it was a product (the Lucent WaveLAN 802.11b card). They changed that descriptive, even cool name to "Orinoco." Sigh...

    --
    If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
  100. Ticker symbol by Ed+Avis · · Score: 1

    PLMO wants to play with you!

    --
    -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
  101. Re:Attention mods by The+Fun+Guy · · Score: 1

    "Just a reminder: you are not required to mod lame humor up as "Funny" just because the poster has a low ID number."

    Ah, young grasshopper, you are still under the impression that Grandpa expects you to laugh at his jokes, regardless of wether you think they are funny or not. The truth is, Grandpa tells his jokes because *he* thinks they are funny, and actually doesn't much care wether you laugh or not. Neither reaction will either inhibit or encourage his future joke telling, nor the quality of said jokes.

    Moderators, please ignore this one, off-topic as it is. I would have responded to this by e.mail, but Anonymous Cowards are, well, Anonymous.

    --
    The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
  102. Sounds familiar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    PalmOne's ticker symbol will change from the current PALM to PLMO. Sister company PalmSource, which will be the operating system business, takes ticker symbol PSRC. According this report by CNET News.com's Ina Fried, the two companies will be publicly traded, but they will also be controlled by a new holding company.

    This just sounds too damn familiar. Let's see, separate OS co., PalmSource; Holding co. controls operations, etc.
    Reminds me of SCO Group, SCOSource, Canopy Group, etc.
    Will they follow SCO's litigious business plan format? Let's hope not.

  103. Bad names virus! by GoRK · · Score: 1

    Warning!

    A new virus is on the loose that apparently causes people to think up stupid names. You are likely infected if you have changed the name of your business recently to present a "hip new image" or if you have started a fork of a major open source product and changed its name.

    If you are contemplating either of these actions at this time and wish to make sure you do not accidentally select a stupid name, please seek treatment from a state-licensed therapist to insure you are not infected with this virus.

  104. Ubiquity..... by lysium · · Score: 1
    Ask Frigidaire that same question with regards to the icebox in your kitchen. When your product/company names becomes ubiquitous, you lose the trademark over it. Then Seoul Shack, of Fort Lee, NJ (an imaginary, yet enterprising, group of businessmen) can start manufacturing "Palm devices" for 20 dollars.

    From my own support experience, all PDA devices, from Visors to Pilots to Blackberrys to Zauruses, are all called "my Palm" or "my Palm Pilot" by the average user. While this may not be the reason for the name-shift, I am sure they are aware of the threat.

    -----------

    --
    Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
    1. Re:Ubiquity..... by frause · · Score: 1

      Ok, I can sort of understand this. But "pa1m0ne"? Come on? Are they serious? That logo looks real cheap.

      And why keeping the Palm-part, if that is the reason? People will still say "my Palm" or "Palm Pilot"

      Another "new" logo I don't like is Pioneer's. The old one with the tuning fork in the Ohm-sign looked real good and told something about their products. (at least their sound related products. Amps and stuff. I don't really know what else they do) Their "new" logo looks like some ice cream company or something.

      The name/logo is an very important thing. But I'm sure someone has calculated that changing it is profitable.

  105. No fingers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's something amusing about Palm forming a holding company. -- garyZ

  106. I don't suppose they announced a *reason* for it? by mwood · · Score: 1

    "I can't find PALM! Have they been delisted??? OMG, WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!"

    "Here's one. Oh, wait, it says Palm One, is this some el-cheapo ripoff? Excuse me -- where are the real Palms?"

    Beats me why these people go on and on about brand recognition and then throw their brand down the toilet every couple of years so they can start all over again with a new one.

  107. Re:Hm, wildly successful brand name...LET'S CHANGE by Sloppy · · Score: 1

    Here's another one I don't understand: "Mailboxes Etc" became "UPS Store". WTF?!?

    --
    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  108. typical corporate double-speak by Archfeld · · Score: 2, Insightful

    hell LIVID is a better name. While your use of verbage might get you mod'd down, the core of your post is RIGHT ON THE MONEY. Someone got MiLlIoNs for this 'effort'. They will spend millions more re-branding signs for what benefit ?? Confusing an already fragmented market ?? This is a HUGE waste of capital and if the management of the company wasn't brain-dead corporate drones they'd be firing someone. Instead they are lining up like bobble-heads to approve it and waste company value. No wonder Palm's market share is slipping again....

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  109. That's deep... by frause · · Score: 1

    You are seeing pa1m0ne and thinking palm2...
    Palm born again...

  110. Uh what? by retro128 · · Score: 1

    It took them two years to decide they wanted to add a "One" to their name? What exactly do they hope to accomplish by changing the name, anyway?
    Everyone's still going to call them "Palm"

    --
    -R
  111. Re:Stage One of Making PALM Investors Really Rich by Rimbo · · Score: 1

    Actually, historically when a company splits in two the combined value of the two companies is worth more than the single company was. Take Ma Bell as the best example of this -- even if Lucent ends up worth nothing, there's SBC, PacBell (now a wholly owned subsidiary of SBC), AT&T, Bell Labs...

    And when two companies merge, typically the combined company is worth less than both companies were. Think AOL/Time Warner.

    One of the brightest moves Coca-Cola ever made was to split their core syrup/merchandising operation (KO) from their bottling operation (CCE). CCE ends up bearing the brunt of the market's ups and downs, and KO is a gleaming star of profit and happiness. I think we'll see a similar thing with Palm; the hardware end of Palm will have to deal with current market ups and downs, and the OS division will probably be the steady performer.

    The moral of the story is that this is a good move for investors. As we UNIX geeks know, there's something to be said for having some small special-purpose entities that you can combine in just the right ways than one monolithic entity.

  112. As forseen by prophecy by babbage · · Score: 4, Informative
    Coming to the story late, I see everyone griping over either [a] "why are they ruining a perfectly good name?", and [b] "what's with the digits 1 and 0 in the logo?" Both are fine points to argue over -- or have everyone argue the same side of the argument, as Slashdot readers are wont to do :) -- but there was actually a reason for this, as an article written last week on Brighthand.com foresaw:

    When it comes to names, few companies are as unlucky as Palm. Several years ago it was forced to abandon the name Pilot -- as in Palm Pilot -- when Pilot Pen Corporation claimed ownership. Now it's being asked to leave the name Palm behind as well. While it's not unusual for a company to change its name (in fact, Palm did it once before when it shortened its name from Palm Computing), the reason behind Palm's upcoming name change is unique. And it has something to do with what happened to Apple Computer.

    [....]

    [....] Apple Computer in the 1980s was much like Palm today; it built the computers and wrote the software to run them. And it owned the market. But Microsoft came along with its operating system, MS-DOS, and licensed it to computer manufacturers. The rest is history. Apple now has 3% of the market while Microsoft has gone on to become one of the biggest and most powerful companies in the world.

    The similarity with Apple did not escape Palm management. So it began a concerted effort to license its operating system, called the Palm OS, to other companies -- something Apple failed to do early on. Handspring, Kyocera, Samsung, Sony and others jumped on the Palm OS bandwagon and incorporated it into its handhelds. While this staved off the encroaching threat from Microsoft and established Palm OS as a platform, Palm still had a major problem. Licensees worried that Palm, as both maker of the Palm platform and user of the Palm platform, had an unfair advantage when it came to devices. So Palm addressed their concerns by dividing Palm, Inc. into two business units, Palm Solutions Group, which would make handhelds, and PalmSource, which would develop and license the Palm platform. They created a "Chinese wall" between the entities, with the Solutions Group becoming a licensee of the platform from PalmSource, just like other licensees.

    [....]

    Palm realized there was only one solution: split the company into two independent businesses, and give all rights to the Palm name to PalmSource, which it will then license to other companies.

    Which leaves the Solutions Group with an unenviable task: change its name -- with no reference to Palm -- and hope that consumers follow. And with the PalmSource spin-off expected to be completed this fall and new handhelds from Palm rumored for October, we expect the new name to be announced very soon -- possibly even this week.

    So this was, for better or worse, a necessary move, and while the name may not be great, they may not have had many other options. As some of the recent Mozilla spinoffs have seen, coming up with a good, unique name can be a royal pain in the ass these days (Chimera, Firebird both having been forced to change & possibly change again...). There are worse things they could have done than go along with the $foo-"one" meme that's so trendy these days...
    1. Re:As forseen by prophecy by jomas1 · · Score: 1

      Thank you for posting this. I thought I was alone in wondering why people did not understand the name change. BTW, most people won't care or notice that Palm is now PalmOne and PalmSource. These people still think all handhelds (Clies, Ipaqs, IQues etc) are Palm Pilots. If you don't believe me, show a non-techie your Ipaq and they'll probably say "Hey that's a nice Palm Pilot".

  113. Rich people by pmz · · Score: 1

    This is more proof that rich people spend lots of money, because they can.

  114. Kudos to Palm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The "One" part makes all the difference in the world! I'll take two of everything.

  115. pa1mL0st by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It took two years to come up with this? If I screwed around with one line of code for two years, I'd probably be fired.

  116. palm one of what? by buridan · · Score: 1

    didn't anyone tell palm what it means to palm one?

    jimmy, go palm one of those palms.....

  117. Palmone? Wasn't that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wasn't Palmone something that gave you perfect fingertips, and it washed your dishes, too?

    Oh, wait, that was Palmolive.

  118. Re:WTF kind of reatrd are you? by Craig+Ivey · · Score: 1

    Your tone hurts my feelings. It really does.

    --


    We're here to give you an OS, not a religion.
  119. Re:CKone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Funny stuff.

  120. Upon closer inspection by mausmalone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Upon closer inspection it appears from their logo that the new name will actually be pa1mONE. That's the number 1, not the letter l. Wonderful. If that isn't cause for a DDOS attack, I don't know what is.

    Not to start a flame war over the incorrect use of irony, but isn't it ironic that their name, which is meant to show their solidarity and dominance, uses a term for "one" twice?

    And if you disagree with my use of "irony" as a word, please replace "ironic" with "hilariously coincidental," pretend I said it the whole time, and don't flame me for it.

    Isn't it odd that we get uptight about the use of "irony" but we allow people to write "lol" in posts and get away with it. "lol" isn't even a word. Without capitalization or periods, it's not even a proper acronym, but it's totally acceptable.

    Well, there's another post that's gonna be modded down for being off-topic. Damn my train-of-thought writing style!

    --
    -=-=-=-=-=
    I'd rather be flamed than ignored.
    1. Re:Upon closer inspection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You, sir, are the classic definition of a weisenheimer.

    2. Re:Upon closer inspection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't it odd that we get uptight about the use of "irony" but we allow people to write "lol" in posts and get away with it. "lol" isn't even a word. Without capitalization or periods, it's not even a proper acronym, but it's totally acceptable.

      omfg stfu foad ggf gfy roflmao fyi otoh iirc ianalbipootv lol kthxbi

  121. Another great name... by mausmalone · · Score: 1

    Another great name: Danger Hiptop. Say it,... it just rolls of the tounge. It sounds Dangerous, and Hip. shocking, that.

    So what the heck is this T-Mobile Sidekick BS? Was having "Danger" and "Hip" in the same name too frightening for the elderly? Or did they change it just because it wasn't their name?

    --
    -=-=-=-=-=
    I'd rather be flamed than ignored.
  122. I propose s1ashdotOne by mausmalone · · Score: 0

    because the 1 instead of the l makes it even harder to say to people.

    "Go to slash-dot-one-dot-org with a one in it."
    "What?"
    "slash-dot-one-dot-org... with a one at the beginning... why is this so hard?"
    "So it's '1/.1.org'? I'm soooo confused!"

    --
    -=-=-=-=-=
    I'd rather be flamed than ignored.
  123. Re:Hm, wildly successful brand name...LET'S CHANGE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i think palmone is better than palm as a name. the name palm confused a lot of ppl so people frequently called it palm pilot instead. but palmone kinda sucks too (is it somehow a rip-off of the realone player name?).

  124. Rhyming by SeanAhern · · Score: 1

    One of my favorite comments was from a random article from Google News. It pointed out that "palmOne" does not rhyme with "bologna". I'm gonna get the chuckles from now on every time I see a product stamped with "palmOne".

  125. wait a second by nuggetman · · Score: 1

    correct me if im wrong... wasnt Handspring founded by the two guys who originally founded Palm and then left?

    --
    ...and that's all there is to it.
  126. Didn't Borland try this with Inprise? by judoMan · · Score: 1
    I don't understand the facination with changing business names. Didn't Borland try to do this with Inprise, only to crash and burn?

    -jm

  127. Sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So a company that is having money problems spends all that money to change there name from 'Palm' to 'PalmOne'.

    You know the sad thing? It doesn't really surprise me.

  128. Graffiti 2 sucks tho by Vengeful+weenie · · Score: 1
    Well I've been using a new Tungsten C for a couple of weeks. The unit is fantastic, the one downer: Graffiti2 (aka Jot).

    It's inaccurate, slow and constantly gets confused. I used to be able to keep minutes on the thing, but no more, because the strokes just don't pick up fast enough. Forget about PocketPCs, boycott Xerox!

    1. Re:Graffiti 2 sucks tho by kisrael · · Score: 1

      Well I've been using a new Tungsten C for a couple of weeks. The unit is fantastic, the one downer: Graffiti2 (aka Jot).
      Gah, that does suck.

      I forgot about that. I'm glad the SJ22 has had a sip of that particular kool-aid.

      F@(|# Xerox and their petty ass lawsuit. Graffiti was at least 10 times better than their unistrokes crap...the brainstorm that these one-stroke characters COULD LOOK REAL LETTERS is so much smarter than the hyroglyphic crap Xerox was playing with, it's a real innovation and I hope Xerox burns in hell.

      --
      SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
  129. I don't want "innovation". by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    I don't deal with convicted monopoly abusers.

    I want stability.

    I choose carefuly my service providers amongst companies with some integrity.

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
  130. www.pa1mOne.com doesnt work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What i think is kinda messed up is that they changed it to pa1mone with the number 1 ... like we all know ... but the url is palmone.com .... and if you TRY pa1mone.com it goes to like a temporary network solutions page. YOu THINK that would have been important to have the url.

    -joe