Palm Pre- RIP
If you follow tech news you’ve probably heard that HP is getting out of the computer-making business. While it had the more revenue, it had the lowest profit margins of all HP departments. Of course, those computers included Palm devices. Palm was one of the first US cell phones to release a device sold directly to consumers as an unlocked cell phone.
Palm OS, which HP renamed Web OS,only ever made it to two percent of the market (with Android and Apple dominating the rest). It’s release of unlocked cell phones was a huge step forward for the US cell phone industry, but failed to increase the brand’s popularity when unlocked iPhone cell phones are available online.
Unlocked cell phones are rarely sold directly to consumers as cell phone providers make more money by locking customers into contracts by subsidizing phones and holding monopolies over popular devices. Unlocked cell phones undermine all this, as they can be used on any GSM network, modified, and bought without a contract (often for less).
What will happen to Web OS? Some have speculated the software will be picked up by the open source community, although it’s still possibly for HP to sell the brand (though unlikely). Stuck with a no longer supported Palm phone? Upgrade to an unlocked cell phone that will work on your network.
