A new pair of wireless headphones are about to be announced, and they’re coming from none other than Palm — seriously. For anyone who’s spent a fair amount of time in the consumer tech space, the Palm name is one that carries a lot of weight. The company exploded in the late 1990s and early 2000s thanks to its popular Palm Pilot PDAs. After years of success with those, Palm eventually branched out into the smartphone world and saw equally big success (most notably with its webOS-powered smartphones).
Unfortunately for Palm, its time as a top player in the tech world was short-lived. Following the launch of the iPhone and ample Android handsets, Palm failed to catch up to its competition. The company was eventually purchased by HP in 2010, the iconic webOS platform was shuttered in 2011, and Palm was then sold off to TCL in 2015. Three years after that acquisition, the Palm Phone launched in 2018. It was an ultra-compact Android phone designed to be less distracting than ‘normal’ phones, but the end result just wasn’t good. The Palm Phone was too expensive, had terrible battery life, a bad camera, and was a slap in the face to anyone who cherished the Palm of yesteryear.
Fast forward to 2021, and Palm is getting ready to launch its second gadget under TCL ownership — though it’s not what anyone was expecting. On October 12, the Palm Twitter account Tweeted, “Get ready #PalmCrew! We have something special we’ve been working on for you.” The Tweet is accompanied by the above teaser image, which has the text “We’ve been busy,” followed by an announcement date of October 26, 2021. While Palm doesn’t explicitly mention what it’s announcing, the image clearly shows the outlines of wireless earbuds.
What To Expect From Palm Wireless Earbuds
On the one hand, this announcement shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Out of any consumer tech gadget available right now, wireless earbuds are one of the best niches to exist in. They’re popular, cheap to produce, and can be incredibly profitable for companies if done correctly. People know the Palm name and everyone’s buying wireless earbuds. Why not combine the two together, right?
While this is probably a smart enough move from owner TCL, it’s also difficult to understand the appeal of Palm-branded earbuds. Palm was best known for pioneering mobile communication. The Palm Pilot PDAs revolutionized pocketable computers. webOS introduced many of the smartphone features still present in devices today. How will any of that translate to wireless earbuds? There’s also the fact that the earbud niche is ridiculously competitive. AirPods are the go-to choice for iPhone users, Samsung’s Galaxy Buds are shining stars for Galaxy smartphones, and the rest of the market is filled with options from Sony, OnePlus, Jabra, Anker, and countless others. That’s not to say Palm can’t succeed here, but it’s difficult to imagine what the company will do to make its earbuds stand out from the hundreds of others already available.
Unfortunately, this just feels like a last-ditch effort. TCL needs to make money off its purchase, the Palm Phone was a complete dud, and tackling wireless earbuds is a much safer bet. That’s not to say Palm’s earbuds will be bad, but as someone who happily carried the Palm Pre as their first proper smartphone, seeing the brand take this route doesn’t exactly fill this writer with confidence. Stay tuned.
