The once mighty smartphone and PDA brand Palm could be returning in the new year in the form of Chinese made mobile devices.

The speculation comes from news that the Palm.com page, which had previously redirected to hpwebos.com, now redirects to mynewpalm.com. The page includes the Palm logo and the words “coming soon” and “smart move.”

Of note the smart move slogan is the same as that used by Alcatel One Touch, the mobile arm of Chinese tech manufacturer TCL Mobile Ltd.

Confirming the web page speculation, Ars Technica reported that the Palm trademark has been transferred to a company called Wide Progress Global Ltd., a shell company ostensively setup to hide the true owner. The signatory however for the paperwork is one Nicolas Zibell, who is also the President Americas and Pacific at Alcatel One Touch.

The once mighty Palm was acquired by HP for $1.2 billion in 2010. Although by that stage already in decline as the popularity of a new generation of smart phones, led by the iPhone surpassed anything Palm was making, the rot ended up being terminal under HP leadership and the brand was ultimately discontinued a year after the acquisition.

There’s still likely a sentimental fondness for the brand, with some remembering their Palm OS run devices as being their first exposure to PDA’s, and even pre-iPhone smart phones, and some of them were revolutionary at the time. But resurrecting a dead brand doesn’t always work. They would probably have more of a chance than Kodak, who is also moving into mobile devices, but probably not by a large amount. At least (unlike Kodak) the design, distribution and marketing departments are already in place.