Folding smartphones have been teased from several companies, and we’ve seen a few different takes on the form factor already. This past week, however, news regarding how both LG and TCL intend to handle folding phones, and they have wildly different takes.
Three years after a series of CEO changes at HP led to the implosion and ultimate death of webOS as a smartphone and tablet platform. The Palm brand was sold to TCL in 2014. Known for reviving BlackBerry, TCL crowdsourced smartphone ideas for Palm and the possible end result was leaked today.
It’s been an interesting ride for BlackBerry over the years as the company has moved out of the public spotlight over the past several years. Last month TCL announced a new partnership to build BlackBerry phones, and at a closed press event at CES 2017, the company has now revealed what is in store for BlackBerry, including giving us an early look at some unreleased hardware.
As suggested last week, it seems that TCL, parent company of Alcatel Onetouch, has indeed purchased the rights to the Palm trademarks from HP and plans to launch new devices under that banner. What new devices, exactly, is still a mystery, however.
Today TCL CEO George Guo said that he believed the existing value of the Palm brand had piqued the company’s interest in acquiring the trademarks, though it seems it did so without much of a plan for the future. The executive said that the Palm name will be brought back to the market, but TCL is hoping that the public will provide ideas for products it can produce under the brand.