HP Sold Palm, iPaq, Bitfone and a Few Other Patents to Qualcomm

Qualcomm Buys Palm, iPaq and other 2,400 Patents and Patent Applications from HP

The manufacturer of the Snapdragon chipsets, which power most Android devices, has increased its portfolio by buying 1,400 US patents and patent applications, as well as 1,000 patents and patent applications abroad from HP.

Just when everyone thought that Palm is dead, buried and smelling putridly, Hewlett Packard’s iconic PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) makes a comeback as part of a major patent sale. Some have already started claiming that Qualcomm wants to bring PDAs back, but since smartphones and tablets are so prevalent, how would that make any sense?

Another theory is that Qualcomm will offer patent protection to any OEMs who buy their chipsets. This would keep such companies as HTC, LG and Samsung away from getting sued by Apple and Nokia all the time. Beefing up on key patents was a move that HP themselves did back in 2010, when they purchased Palm for $1.2 billion. From Qualcomm’s viewpoint, this huge portfolio of patents and patent applications will represent a major selling point for their chipsets.

LG has launched a gigantic smart TV running webOS at CES 2014, and since that new line of tellies uses HP and Palm patents, it will be interesting to see how LG interacts with Qualcomm. LG bought the rights to webOS from HP, but the deal did not include any of the patents that are now owned by Qualcomm.

In an interview with The Verge, an HP spokesperson mentioned that “This does not change our strategy with respect to mobile, and we will retain a license to these patents.” In other words, don’t be surprised if you see a Palm or iPaq device coming from HP in the near future, as retaining the licenses would allow them to do that.

I remember owning a Palm Treo 680 back in 2008, and saying that by today’s standards that was a relic would be an understatement. Over time, I also go my mittens on iPaq devices and other PDAs made by HP, and seeing these making a comeback would be somehow unsettling. HP’s smartphones and PDAs made history at that time, but I’m not sure that bringing back devices under those name would have a major impact on people.

Things are still uncertain as to how Qualcomm will use all these patents, but moving from chipsets to whole mobile devices wouldn’t be easy for them. On the other hand, the patents would work as a defense mechanism, anyway.

If you liked this post, please check the Google Chromebook 11 made by HP that charges over microUSB and the HP Slate 21.

StyleTap brings its Palm OS emulator to Android, only asks for $50

StyleTap brings its Palm OS emulator to Android, only asks for $50

Chrome? Who cares, give us Blazer! For those of you who just can't let go of your legacy Palm OS apps, StyleTap has been delivering emulation software to salve your woes since about 2005. But, if you've been riding the Android train, you've been left out in the cold by the Canadian company. That all changes today with the release of StyleTap for Google's mobile OS. The emulator supports any apps written for Palm OS 5.2 and earlier, as well as programs that use native ARM code. Of course, none of this comes for free. StyleTap wants 50 of your American dollars for the privilege of firing up Giraffe on your Galaxy Nexus. Check out the PR after the break for a few more details and hit up the source link if you just can't wait to get your Grafiti on.

Continue reading StyleTap brings its Palm OS emulator to Android, only asks for $50

Filed under: ,

StyleTap brings its Palm OS emulator to Android, only asks for $50 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceStyleTap  | Email this | Comments

USRobotics PalmPilot Personal review

Image
It's 1996. You might have a cellphone, but it doesn't do much more than make phone calls. You might have a laptop, but it's likely too heavy to carry with you everywhere you go. Or you might only have a phone that's plugged into a wall and a PC that's confined to a desk. That's the environment that gave rise to the Personal Digital Assistant (or PDA), a new type of product that first arrived in the late 1980s but really came into its own in the mid-90s.

1996 also saw the release of the first PDAs developed by USRobotics subsidiary Palm Inc., the Pilot 1000 and 5000, which had more in common with today's smartphones than many of their contemporary devices. They had a touchscreen with only a few physical buttons at the bottom. They had apps you could download. They could sync data with your computer. And they were small and light enough to carry with you at all times. They just didn't make phone calls.

A year later, Palm released the slightly upgraded PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional (with 512KB and 1MB of RAM, respectively), and the ensuing years would see a regular stream of new devices -- not to mention an acquisition by 3Com, and a new spate of Palm OS products from Handspring, a company founded by the folks behind the original Pilot.

But it's those first few devices that come to mind when someone mentions "Palm PDA," and with good reason -- they set a mold that wasn't deviated from much until Palm made the jump into smartphones.

Continue reading USRobotics PalmPilot Personal review

USRobotics PalmPilot Personal review originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Palm UMPC ”Hawk”


Here we have another interesting and still very, very vague future product: A Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) coming from Palm. The community gave it the codename "Hawk" to pay tribute to Jeff Hawkins, one of...