PalmOne spends $30m to drop the 'One'

PalmOne, maker of the handhelds bearing the same name, is to change its name to Palm later this year, the company said on Tuesday. At that time its product line, which currently includes the LifeDrive, Treo and Tungsten and Zire, will be branded under the Palm name.

The name change follows an agreement between PalmOne and PalmSource, the software company that was spun off in October 2003 from parent company Palm. Following the spin-off, Palm changed its name to PalmOne and continued to concentrate on hardware.

At the time the two companies created a third company, called the Palm Trademark Holding company, of which PalmSource held a 55 percent stake. That stake will now be transferred to PalmOne for $30m, the companies said on Wednesday.

As part of the agreement, PalmOne has granted PalmSource certain rights to Palm trademarks for PalmSource and its licensees for a four-year transition period, but the companies have not said what will happen after that.

A new logo will be unveiled later this summer, said PalmOne. It is not clear whether this will entail changing the current practice of using a lower case 'p' and the number '1' in place of the letter 'l'.