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Palm is an operating system for personal digital assistants (PDAs). It was first developed by Palm Computing Inc. – a subsidiary of US Robotics. Palm is designed to be used with a touch-screen interface and the OS provides applications for personal information management. Many companies have manufactured devices powered by the Palm OS. In January 2002, Palm set up a wholly-owned subsidiary to develop and license the Palm OS, which was named PalmSource. PalmSource was acquired by ACCESS but Palm then regained its rights to the Palm OS.

The Palm OS, which is an embedded operating system, has been implemented on a wide array of mobile devices including smartphones, gaming consoles and GPS devices. Some key features include a simple environment to launch applications; a monochrome or colour screen with a resolution of up to 480 x 320 pixels and handwriting recognition. It also features technology for synchronisation with desktop computers; sound playback; a security lock; network access; a serial port/USB; infrared; Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections; expansion memory card support; and a standard data format for PIM applications to store data which is accessible to third-party applications.

The Palm OS has gone through many changes since its inception. Starting with the Palm OS 1.0, there were five generations in sequence until the Palm OS 5.0. The next one was called the Palm OS Cobalt and was introduced in February 2004. The Palm OS 6.0 was renamed the Palm OS Cobalt to make it clear that this version was not replacing the Palm OS 5, which by then had adopted the name the Palm OS Garnet.

The Palm OS Cobalt introduced modern operating system features based on a new kernel with multitasking and memory protection. It included a new multimedia and graphic framework, new security features and adjustments of the PIM file formats to facilitate cooperation with Microsoft Outlook. The Palm OS Cobalt 6.1 presented standard communication libraries for telecommunication, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity.

Some of the standard Palm OS applications include the Address programme, the Expense programme and HotSync which synchronizes with the desktop PC. The Palm OS can communicate with the PC via USB on newer models or Bluetooth and IrDA wireless connections besides direct network connections on devices with networking capability. There is also a backup facility for data. A Memo Pad can hold notes of up to 4000 characters. There is also a To Do List application for reminders. The Palm OS contains approximately 15 Preference panels by default. Finally, security can be configured on the Palm device using a password lock or automatic time lock. As of 2006, most new Palm handhelds include Photos, which creates a digital photo album used to view pictures on a Palm OS device.