Access replaces Palm OS brand with ‘Garnet’ tag

PalmSource Inc. is getting another makeover. Access Co. Ltd., which owns the operating system vendor, is now in the beginning stages of renaming all products that originally had Palm-based names. When Access purchased PalmSource it made an agreement with Palm Inc. to sell PalmSource’s trademark rights back to the Treo smartphone maker.
Renaming and re-branding are a recurring byproduct of the mergers and acquisitions that have come to dominate the wireless industry as of late. The most notable example is AT&T, which is in the process of replacing Cingular’s brand.
For Palm, it all began as one happy family. Palm Inc. originally made Palm devices and the Palm operating system. The company eventually split into two businesses: one to sell devices and another, PalmSource, to focus on selling the company’s operating system. Then Access, a Japanese company, purchased PalmSource and renamed it Access Systems Americas Inc.
Today Access announced it will be renaming the Palm OS to Garnet OS. A new Access logo will replace previous Palm logos. This is the first PalmSource product to be renamed.
“Access and PalmSource continue to move forward as it becomes one fully integrated company,” said Tomihisa Kamada, Access co-founder and CTO. “The new ‘Access Powered’ logo provides a way to easily identify those mobile phones and other devices that include software from the entire Access product portfolio.”