Palm
Pre2

When it shipped in the second half of 2010, the Palm Pre 2 arrived into a radically different world than the original Pre which was a game-changing device. While Palm had stumbled through the original Pre launch and then got purchased by HP, many mobile network operators had committed to the Android platform, Apple was getting ready to break free of its exclusivity deals, and BlackBerry and Windows Phone were still out in the mix as well. There simply wasn't enough of a market, or enough developer interest, to keep Palm's WebOS alive. Things then got even worse. Palm's champion at its parent company HP, CEO Mark Hurd, was replaced by Leo Apotheker, who was fully focused on a disastrous software company acquisition now recognized to be one of the worst tech-industry deals in history. Apotheker wanted to wind up Palm's hardware business entirely and turn it into a licensed software platform. Launched first in France in October 2010, the several-month-delayed Palm Pre 2 had an older processor and specs when it finally hit the US market in February 2011. Reviewers saw it as unable to compete with the speedy development of Android hardware or Apple's focus and refinement. But there was definitely some yearning in the reviews at the time. Palm's WebOS was still smoother and more elegant and felt more futuristic, than 2011's clunky version of Android or the fading BlackBerry OS. If only it had been owned by a competent company. Some of this content was sourced with permission from PC Mag UK