Palm OS ran on the best-selling handhelds in the world, and Palm decided the software should live in its own company. PalmSource was born as a Palm subsidiary in December 2001. It licensed Palm OS to device makers including Sony, Samsung, Garmin, Kyocera and Lenovo, as well as to palmOne, the hardware company left behind. Palm handed PalmSource shares to its own stockholders in October 2003. This filing, in early 2004, sold about 20 percent more stock to new investors.

Splitting the Palm

Palm split its operating system group from its hardware business so that rival device makers would trust the platform. The bet was that Palm OS could become to handhelds and smartphones what Windows was to PCs, licensed to many brands and earning a fee on each device. The filing named its main rivals plainly: Microsoft and Symbian, both spending heavily to win the smartphone.

Sold to Japan

PalmSource sold shares at $18 in its 2004 offering, after trading on Nasdaq since the spin-off. The new money did not change the trend. Licensees were slow to adopt its next-generation system, and smartphones moved toward other platforms. In 2005 the Japanese software company Access agreed to buy PalmSource for about $324 million. Access later built a Linux-based successor, but Palm OS never regained its lead.

Cover: The Interior of the Palm House on the Pfaueninsel Near Potsdam, Carl Blechen. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a glasshouse of tall palms (Palm OS).