News

The Palm Store, the official webstore of Palm Inc., is now offering a trade-in program. Customers can send in an old Palm OS or Pocket PC model and receive $50 off the price of a handheld from its Tungsten line or the Zire 71.

Obviously, the people who will get the biggest benefit from this are the ones who bought one of the original Zires, which is the least expensive Palm OS model at just $99, and can usually be found for even less. Palm introduced the Zire hoping that people would use it for a while than trade up to more expensive models and hope this $50 trade-in program is a good incentive to do so.

It seems Palm intends to recoup some of the cost from this by reselling the returned handhelds, as these must be functional in order to receive the money. Palm also asks that the cradle and AC adapter also be returned.

The Details

In order to receive the $50, people must buy a new Zire 71, Tungsten T, Tungsten W, or Tungsten C between now and July 14 and send in an old but still working handheld, the UPC barcode from the new handheld, and a claim form before August 21. The old handheld can be from just about any Palm OS or Pocket PC licensee, no matter what its age. A $50 check will be returned in 6 to 8 weeks. The offer is valid only to residents of the United States, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada.