Palm

Palm, Inc. is an electronics manufacturer that helped popularize the personal digital assistant (PDA) in the early stages of the technology. The company continues to be a leader in the industry, introducing both proprietary hardware like the Centro and Treo series of PDAs, as well as the proprietary operating system, Palm OS.

Fast Facts

1. Stock symbol: PALM (NASDAQ)
2. Annual revenue (2007): $1.6 billion
3. Founder: Jeff Hawkins
4. Year established: 1992
5. Industry: Computer hardware/software
6. Phone: 408-617-7000
7. Fax: 408-617-0100
8. HQ: Sunnyvale, California
9. President/CEO: Ed Colligan
10. Employees: 1,103 (Nov. '06)

Key Dates

• 1992: Jeff Hawkins founds Palm Computing, Inc. and, with help from Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan, invents their first PDA, the Palm Pilot

• 1995: Acquired by U.S. Robotics Corp.

• 1997: U.S. Robotics Corp. acquired by 3Com, making Palm, Inc. a subsidiary

• June, 1998: Original creators become unhappy with 3Com's business direction and leave to form Handspring

• March 1, 2000: 3Com files and IPO for Palm, Inc., and stock prices hit the company record, $95.60, on its first day of trading

• June, 2001: Stock prices reach $6.50 per share

• January, 2002: Develops wholly-owned subsidiary company, PalmSource, to develop and license Palm OS

• August 2003: Hardware division merges with Handspring and renamed to palmOne, Inc.

• April 2005: palmOne purchases PalmSource's share of the Palm trademark for $30 million

• July 2005: palmOne reverts back to Palm, Inc.

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