How a single operating system once controlled 70 percent of the handheld market

Wars & Conflicts · Published 16 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Before the iPhone and BlackBerry redefined mobile computing, one proprietary system ruled the palm of your hand. From handwriting recognition to seamless desktop syncing, discover the rise and fragmented fall of the software that defined the early era of personal digital assistants.

In the late 1990s, Palm OS was the undisputed leader in mobile computing, capturing nearly 70 percent of the global market for handheld devices. Developed under the direction of American inventor Jeff Hawkins, the system was originally designed for the Pilot series of PDAs. It featured a user-friendly, touchscreen-based interface and essential tools like Hotsync for computer synchronization and Graffiti, a specialized handwriting recognition system.

The history of the platform is a complex web of corporate acquisitions and legal battles. After Hawkins founded Palm Computing, Inc. in 1992, the company merged with U.S. Robotics in 1995. This entity was later acquired by 3Com Corporation, which eventually spun Palm into an independent, publicly traded company on March 2, 2000. The software's evolution was also marked by litigation; in 2006, the Xerox Corporation successfully sued Palm for patent infringement regarding the Graffiti system.

The decline of Palm OS was driven by the shift toward modern smartphones. As competitors like BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone emerged, the company underwent significant restructuring. In 2002, a subsidiary called PalmSource was created to license the OS, and by 2003, it became an independent entity. While the Japanese firm ACCESS Co., Ltd. acquired PalmSource in 2005, the brand name remained with Palm Computing. This fragmentation led to the rebranding of certain versions as Garnet OS. The era finally drew to a close after Hewlett-Packard acquired Palm in 2010, announcing the end of the brand the following year.

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