Palm: The Rise and Fall of a Legend

"I was there, when the Pilot landed. It was the summer of 1996, and the US Robotics Pilot 5000 had just arrived in the bootLab (‘boot Magazine' was the then-newly-launched precursor to Maximum PC). With unprecedented ferocity, we editors were fighting gladiator style for dibs on reviewing this tiny bit of pocket-sized plastic with its dingy monochrome screen. Not even the latest uber-PC or 3D graphics card generated such editorial lust."

Although it feels like ancient history now, it was only a few years ago that neither the iPhone, nor Android, existed and the smartphone wars were fought between the likes of Palm, Microsoft, and RIM. It's amazing how fast things change. This article, written by Chris Dunphy - a fellow I had a good natured rivalry with back in 2001 - covers the inception of Palm, the effective dissolution of Palm (some might say multiple times), and everything in between. It's an excellent read and gives some insight into what Palm did, and didn't do, right.