Palm Computing in 1994

by Rashi Glazer, B.J. Asirvatham, Tim Mai, Narayana Mani, Paul Rogers
30 Nov 2000

In 1992, Palm Computing was founded to create add-on software for the emerging Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) market. Initial buyers of PDAs were often computer-savvy and enthusiastic about new technologies, and while industry analysts and the press expected PDAs to be the next trend in computing, many offerings failed as badly as earlier pen computers. By working with many different PDA vendors, Palm gained experience with the strengths and weaknesses of PDA products then on the market. Many Palm employees used (or, at least, tried to use) PDA products themselves. Users of Palm's add-on software provided valuable feedback about what they wanted and did not want in a PDA. Palm then developed the Pilot device, and the next task was to create an equally solid marketing plan.