Palm Pilot
The Palm Pilot has been the standard of the PDA industry. Generally speaking, competitors will measure their success by how many more features than the best Palm PDA they offer, how much less expensive than a Palm PDA phone they can sell their PDA for, and how much sleeker their cases are compared to the Palm PDA cases. Additionally, the race is on to see which can beat the speed with which the Palm PDA can forge a remote access to a desktop system, and how many more peripherals they can connect their gadgets to, when compared to the Palm PDA USB cable abilities.

The first Palm Pilot came off the assembly line in 1996. Even though other PDAs had been in existence before Palm PDAs, the name “Palm Pilot” soon became the general moniker for all PDAs, much like most facial tissues are known as Kleenex even though only that particular brand is able to carry that name. A Palm PDA was supposed to be the bridge between handwriting and computing, yet in the size of a gadget that would comfortably fit into a coat pocket. This original PDA & Palm OS (which is the actual operating system specifically designed for the Palm Pilot) was supposed to be a Microsoft Windows look alike since most everyone owning a computer was rather familiar with this concept and the inventors of the Palm Pilot figured that this would ensure their success more than anything. After all, creating a sense of familiarity with a new gadget is always an uphill battle.

When you opened your Palm PDA case and turned on the device, you were greeted by the various Palm PDA software options available to you: the address book, calculator, date book, to do list, hot sync option, and of course a variety of other options that became available during later incarnations. When it comes to upgrading the PDA, Palm has always attempted to be on the cutting edge of technology, and by allowing bigger, better, and faster software packages to become associated with their gadgets, they were able to quickly surpass the Palm One PDA. This in turned earned the company the reputation of being the cutting edge, and many a manufacturer had to work hard simply to keep up with Palm. PDA diagnostic repair performed by licensed workers, Palm PDA teacher education programs and such simple items as a rechargeable Palm PDA battery all put the company and the device on the forefront of the industry – simply because Palm thought of them first and then did not hesitate to follow through in the creation of them.