Palm was one of the early players in the smartphone space, leveraging the company’s experience from the Palm Pilot to create popular devices like the Palm Treo. But after Apple launched the iPhone and Google launched Android, Palm started to struggle.

Rather than adopt Android or Windows like most phone makers, Palm decided to develop its own touch-friendly operating system called webOS… which HP tried to adopt for tablets after acquiring Palm for $1.2 billion.

The HP TouchPad tablet was (kind of) a flop, and HP killed off Palm’s phone division before eventually selling the rights to use the brand name to Chinese electronics company TCL… which has done nothing with the name.

But according to AndroidPlanet, that could change next year.

In an interview with the wbsite, TCL Marketing Manager Stefan Streit said the company will introduce new Palm-branded products in early 2018.

It’s unclear if new Palm devices would have anything in common with older devices sold under that name other than, well… the name. I doubt TCL plans to launch phones with webOS or PalmOS software. But a stylus or QWERTY keyboard wouldn’t be out of the question.

After all, the company’s BlackBerry KeyOne smartphone with the Android operating system, BlackBerry software, and a physical keyboard has apparently been a big success for TCL, with the company selling as many phones as it can make.

via Android Police

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7 replies on “TCL may launch a new Palm smartphone in 2018”

  1. I miss the Palm phone. I liked using my Palm Pilot. I think they had a good idea with the Folio (another company came out with a similar device).

    The device that is shown looks more like a Blackberry than a Palm phone. I liked the PalmOS.

  2. It will be interesting to see what they come up with. I never heard about TCL before I bought a TV by the brand 3 years ago. The TV made such a good impression (in terms of quality and price) that now I only by TCL and Vizio TVs vs. Samsung, LG and Sony which are almost twice the cost for no apparent reason but brand popularity.

  3. super i love it… HI hope to have android, dual sim and big screen not like the BB keyone.

  4. I loved my Palm Pilots, well actually, they we Handspring Visions. I loved them nonetheless!

  5. I wish they did the reverse: dish the Palm name but please, please, please, release a phone with WebOS!!!
    Wishful thinking, I know, WebOS is owned by LG and used in some tellies…

    1. No, webOS has an open-source form… so potentially someone can build a Open-webOS phone…. …

      Though it seems pointless when Android/AOSP is also available open and free.

  6. Give me a qwerty keyboard, a stylus and classic PalmOS and I will buy 10 of these, so I will never be out of good phones to buy again.

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