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I agree about the many splits that happened to Palm, along with the various flavors that cropped up as well. I think what ultimately killed Palm and the Clie, was their failure to adapt and grow with the times (I know they are still here, but not really contending). While mobile devices switched over to color and a new UI, Palm rested on their laurels for a while before finally conceding by producing a device that utilized color, albeit in a limited capacity. Their main problem then was they didn't take it further and revolutionize their device.
Meanwhile, well before Palm jumped into the color market, Casio produced the Cassiopeia (the main reason I switched from Palm to begin with) and other companies adopted color screens along with the Windows CE OS. Palm had many opportunities to refine their device and enrich what it could do, yet they never did. Sony did a little bit more with the Clie, for that matter it was starting to look really decent towards its end, but they abandoned it. Whereas, Windows CE evolved into Windows Mobile, which evolved an off-shoot the SmartPhone. I suppose that the Palm OS has remained in the Trio, but I haven't really been impressed with it. There's just so many incredible programs available for the PocketPC that I never saw available for the Palm OS.
What am I getting at? I believe a technology should evolve at a certain rate, and if it doesn't it will eventually either perish or become superseded by better technology and be left in the sidelines. I'm aware there is still a very large user-base with Palm devices, but I simply lost interest when it didn't change while it had the opportunity and the rest of the world left it behind. In my opinion, Palm could still make a very strong comeback if they put some thought into revamping their OS, throw in some bells and whistles, and continue to have a platform people can/will develop for.
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