Editing Palm (PDA) (section)

===Initial development===
[[File:Palm Pilot Prototype (2371839286).jpg|thumb|The Palm Pilot prototype.]]
'''Pilot''' was the name of the first generation of [[personal digital assistant]]s manufactured by [[Palm, Inc.|Palm Computing]] in 1996 (by then a division of [[U.S. Robotics]]).

The inventors of the Pilot were [[Jeff Hawkins]], [[Donna Dubinsky]], and [[Ed Colligan]], who founded [[Palm, Inc.|Palm Computing]] in 1992. The original purpose of this company was to create handwriting recognition software, named PalmPrint, and personal information management (PIM) software, named PalmOrganizer for the PEN/GEOS based [[GEOS (16-bit operating system)#PEN/GEOS devices|Zoomer]] devices.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.8bit-micro.com/tandy-zoomer-z-pda.htm|title = The Tandy ZOOMER|date = 2004|last = Hahn|first = Brian K.|access-date = 2014-05-01|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090207122037/http://www.8bit-micro.com/tandy-zoomer-z-pda.htm|archive-date = 2009-02-07|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.grot.com/zoomer/documents/tandy-specs.html|title = Zoomer Technical Info; Tandy Z-PDA|date = 1995-05-09|access-date = 2014-04-30|last = Smithson|first = Brian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.grot.com/zoomer/pictures.html#palm|title = Zoomer Pictures; application screen shots|date = 1996-01-17|last = Smithson|first = Brian}}</ref> Their research convinced them, however, they could create better hardware as well. Before starting development of the Pilot, Hawkins said he carried a block of wood, the size of the potential Pilot, in his pocket for a week.<ref>[https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,987979,00.html Palm-to-Palm combat]</ref> Palm was widely perceived to have benefited from the notable, if ill-fated, earlier attempts to create a popular handheld computing platform by [[Go Corporation]], [[GEOS (16-bit operating system)#"Zoomer" devices; Tandy Z-PDA, AST GridPAD 2390, Casio Z-7000 & XL 7000|Tandy]], and [[Apple Newton|Apple Computer]] ([[Newton (platform)|Newton]]).