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Handheld device maker Palm (Quote, Company Info) is undergoing a change of its name plate as it formally divides its hardware and software divisions.

The company said it would discard its current corporate moniker of Palm, and beginning this fall will be known as palmOne Inc. and PalmSource Inc.

The name change is part of a wider reorganization of the company into separate hardware and software units. One unit, which is the developer of the Palm operating system for wireless devices, will be known as PalmSource Inc. The other unit, focused on making Palm portable computing and communications devices will be known as palmOne.

Devices sold beginning in the spring of 2004 will carry the new palmOne logo. There will also be changes in the company's ticker. The "PALM" symbol will be removed from the Nasdaq and replaced by two new stocks: PalmSource under the ticker (Quote, Company Info) and PalmOne by "PLMO" on the Nasdaq exchange.

As part of repositioning its device hardware unit, Palm in June announced it purchased handheld rival Handspring Inc. (Quote, Company Info) in a $169 million stock swap. The transaction is expected to close this fall.

Part of the reason for the splitting of the hardware and software units is to separate its relationships with its friends and foes. PalmSource's operating system not only runs on its devices, but those manufactured by Sony Corp. (Quote, Company Info) and Symbol Technologies (Quote, Company Info)

As part of the name changes at Palm, it will be discarding the "Palm Solutions" brand and under the palmOne label will be marketing Treo, Tungsten and Zire devices. The name Palm will still be the name of the operating system, but other hardware makers devices using the handheld OS will carry the "Palm powered" label.