The Palm Pre introduced features now standard on smartphones over a decade ago, but it also signaled the end of the line for one of the most known names in the early days of handheld tech.
Palm pioneered the concept of a personal digital assistant back when only tech-savvy business people or huge geeks carried around the glorified rolodexes decades ago — and took its final, fatal swing at becoming a player in the nascent smartphone market in the mid-aughts.
Palm thought there could be room for three major players — but fate eventually decided two was enough. The Pre’s operating system was also one of the first mobile platforms to easily allow multitasking, as it kept each separate app in its own “card” so you could rearrange them and flick them away. You know, pretty much how an iPhone works. The hardware was also extremely clever, evoking the shape of a large pebble, with a touchscreen across the front and hidden, snap-down full physical keyboard.
But despite the Pre being one of the most advanced smartphones on the market, it was hindered by a few key launch flaws that kept it from gaining traction. The biggest? It launched as a Sprint network exclusive, which severely limited its reach during the buzzy launch window. It took almost a year until the Pre lines were expanded onto the larger Verizon and AT&T networks.
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