I was reminded of the power of branding on a flight this weekend. But it wasn’t the typical American Airlines, Coca Cola or other popular brands you might see during a flight. And it wasn’t the ever popular iPhone or iPods sprinkled throughout the fuselage.  No, this was a brand reference that only a IT dork would analyze…

During the pre flight check with all of the announcements and requests, the flight attendant dropped in this gem. “The aircraft door is now closed so at this time, we ask you to turn of all iPhones, Blackberrys, PDAs or Palm Pilots…basically, any electronic device that can send texts.”  I chuckled, then made a comment to my wife about what she had said.  Apparently, I was the only one reveling in the fact that she called the group of devices PDAs instead of smartphones, and that she also referenced Palm Pilot as a device that someone might be using to send texts. That really shows you the power of the brand that Palm built. Though it’s popularity waned, their Palm Pilot brand and products were trendsetters at the time.

What it really shows is that HP’s acquisition is far greater than just a slick OS to operate smart phones. If HP plays it’s cards right and pushes the Palm technology to rumored iPad like devices and new smartphones, they too can leverage a still relative brand that is synonymous with what many people think of when they think, mobile communication technology.