Is Palm about to be resurrected as an Android smartphone?
It’s been awhile since we last heard from Palm. Feels like it was only a few years ago the company launched the WebOS-powered Palm Pre handset, a smartphone that ultimately failed to make headway in a mobile market dominated by Android and iOS.
Not too long after that, the company eventually called it quits, finding itself acquired by HP who later made a failed attempt at launching its own branded tablet line featuring WebOS called the TouchPad (later the subject of some pretty sweet fire sales).
That’s not to say WebOS didn’t have some really good things going for it. Google would later pick up WebOS designer Matias Duarte to help pretty up Android for their Honeycomb release as well as subsequent versions of the OS. In 2010, ownership of WebOS would change from Palm to HP, then later to LG where it now remains. This wasn’t intended for their smartphones, mind you. But rather to help bolster functionality of their smart TV line.
For those that haven’t been keeping up, the Palm name — once synonymous with PDAs and early smartphones — actually fell into the hands of TCL Communication’s Senior Vice President Nicolas Zibell back in October. TCL is responsible for building televisions and low-cost Android handsets for various carriers around the world under their Alcatel brand.
Exactly what TCL plans on doing with the Palm brand is anyone’s guess, but if you head on over to the old Palm.com site, you’ll find a redirect to MyNewPalm.com, a new teaser site with a looping video that appears to be hyping the release of a new Palm device/s along with the Alcatel brand slogan “Smart Move.”
It really wouldn’t be too far fetched to believe they’re planning on relaunching a Palm smartphone under the Alcatel brand, possibly making everything official at CES 2015 next week.
Our hands-on with Alcatel’s OneTouch Idol X+ announced earlier this year
Given Alcatel’s expertise with Android (and LG still owning WebOS), we wouldn’t be surprised to find a new Palm smartphone, this time powered by Android on the showroom floor. Of course, we’ll be on hand at the event bringing you guys the latest, so stay tuned.