Palm Pilot

Intermediate 💻 Tech / IT

Definition

A handheld personal digital assistant (PDA) manufactured by Palm, Inc., that was hugely popular in the 1990s and 2000s for organizing contacts, calendars, to-do lists, and notes. It featured a stylus-based touchscreen and became the dominant PDA before smartphones superseded the category.

Example Usage

Before smartphones, professionals relied on their Palm Pilots to keep track of meetings and deadlines.

Origin

First released in 1996 by Palm Computing, which was later acquired by 3Com; the name combined 'Palm' (the company) with 'Pilot' (suggesting navigation).

Fun Fact

The Palm Pilot's success led to the creation of an entire ecosystem of third-party applications and accessories, making it one of the first truly popular mobile computing platforms.

Source: Definition backfill (hailey)

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