Palm to Emphasize Brand in Products

Palm will emphasize its brand name over product line names in future handhelds, a company spokesperson told BetaNews on Wednesday. The company introduced two new handhelds earlier in the day that carry similar functions to Palm's former Zire and Tungsten lines, but without any special nomenclature.

"The name Palm TX handheld and Palm Z22 organizer leverage the strong brand equity of Palm while making reference to Palm's popular Tungsten and Zire lines of business and consumer devices," Palm spokesperson Becki Fowler said.

Fowler also spoke to the future of Palm OS on its handhelds, noting the company extended its license for the operating system in May through 2010.

"We have a rich product roadmap of Palm OS-based handheld computers, mobile managers and Treo smart phones that we intend to deliver," she added. "Our Palm OS customer loyalty is extremely high, and we intend to continue to earn that loyalty with great Palm OS-based products."

The company currently has no plans to use Windows Mobile on any products other than its Treo smart phones. Last month, Palm unveiled the Treo 700 running Windows Mobile 5.0, which is expected to debut in early 2006. It will be the first device from Palm not to run Palm OS.