Palm Releases Security Update for webOS

Earlier today, Palm released Palm webOS Update 1.0.4 which addresses security issues in the new mobile operating system.

Palm webOS 1.0.4 does not add any new applications or features to the Pre, but does raise the Sprint configuration to version 1.6. The nature of the security issues that are being addressed with the 1.0.4 update have not been specified.

You can download the Palm webOS 1.0.4 update over the air to your Pre by using the Updates application. For more information, visit the Pre software update page.

What's Up with Palm on AT&T?

I was just looking at the AT&T website, and I noticed that there are no Centro or Treo 750 smartphones available for sale. I'll admit that both devices, the Palm OS 5 Centro and the Windows Mobile Treo 750 aren't new devices by any definition, but you would expect that AT&T would still have some units in stock.

I have read some Internet rumors that said that the Palm webOS powered Eos smartphone would be arriving on the AT&T network sometime around the end of the year, but nothing specific. I have also not read anythign that would indicate that Palm is halted the sale of the AT&T smartphones.

Windows Mobile customers can still get the Palm Treo Pro as an unlocked device and use their existing AT&T 3G SIM cards with the device if they wish.

I'll have to keep an eye on this one.

Palm Reports Q4 and FY 2009 Results

Palm, Inc. today reported that total revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009, ended May 29, 2009, were $86.8 million. Gross profit was $20.1 million and gross margin was 23.1 percent. These results include the effects of subscription accounting treatment required by GAAP. In accordance with this methodology,revenues and cost of revenues for the Palm Pre smartphone are deferred and recognized over the product’s estimated economic life.

On a non-GAAP basis, Adjusted Revenues in the fourth quarter totaled $113.2 million, Adjusted
Gross Profit was $30.4 million and Adjusted Gross Margin was 26.8 percent.

“The launch of Palm webOS and Palm Pre was a major milestone in Palm’s transformation; we have now officially reentered the race,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We have more to accomplish, but the groundwork is laid for a very promising future here at Palm. Our senior management team is capable, motivated and focused on execution; there is a large group of developers waiting to build great applications for Palm webOS; and we have a new product pipeline that we think will set a standard for the industry.”

The company shipped a total of 351,000 smartphone units during the quarter, representing a 6
percent increase from the third quarter of fiscal year 2009 and a year-over-year decline of 62
percent. Smartphone sell-through for the quarter was 460,000 units, down 5 percent vs. the third quarter of fiscal year 2009 and down 52 percent year-over-year.

In addition to the prepared statements that where posted on Palm's website, there where a few other items of interest that I took away from listening to the conference call.

• Palm is continuing to wrap up production of the Pre to meet demand
• US penetration for smartphones is 19%, 11% globally
• A user experience that delights the customer was mentioned twice
• The Mojo SDK program is being expanded; everyone will have access by the end of September
• Palm plans to continue to roll out fixes and software enhancements to webOS that will be free to Pre customers
• The Pre did not go on sale during Palm's Q4 period
• Canada's Bell Mobility is the next carrier to begin shipping the Pre

I'm really surprised that both Palm's CEO and CFO where talking about building hardware and software products that delight the customer. That has been a long standing requirement at Palm, and it seems that even through the transition of senior company management, new hardware platforms, and a new mobile operating system, at the core, Palm is still the company that wants to be simply, easy to use products to market. I'm glad to see that delighting the customer is still very much a part of the company's DNA.

Palm still has a lot of work cut out for them, but after a long and hard road that started two years ago, we finally have a Palm that is really up to the challenge of building some new powerful solutions that we haven't seen in a long time from the company.

You can read the full Q4 and FY 2009 results document on the Palm website.

iPhone OS 3.0, webOS 1.0.3 and New Apps

I'm a fan of both Apple and Palm. That is why I'm using a MacBook to write this blog and record my 1SRC Pre|Switcher podcasts. My phone of choice is the Palm Pre smart(er)phone.

This weekend looks like it is going to be a busy one. Just in the last few days, I've gotten my hands on new software for both my Apple iPod touch and my Palm Pre.

On Wednesday, Apple released the iPhone OS 3.0 update for existing iPhone and iPod touch devices. I also received copies of DataViz Documents To Go and SplashData File Magic. I'll have reviews of iPhone OS 3.0 and both both applications soon.

Palm Pre customers will also want to download and install the webOS 1.0.3 update to their phones using the Updates application. If you also use MotionApps Classic on your Pre to run all of your old Palm OS applications, you should read the Classic FAQ before performing the upgrade.

Classic 1.1 Released With Some Bumps In the Road

Along side the Palm webOS 1.0.3 update that went out Friday, MotionApps also released the 1.1.05 Classic update for webOS. Classic is a Palm OS 5 emulation package for webOS.

Classic 1.1 has some nice enhancement baked in, such as:

• sound support
• pinch/zoom feature
• improved keyboard behavior
• improved process of Palm OS application and data loading
• enhanced preferences and overall greatly improved stability

The update, unfortunately, didn't roll out as smoothly as MotionApps would have liked. A note quickly appeared on the MotionApps blog that read:

"We have received reports from some users that they are experiencing issues with Classic after installing the webOS 1.0.3 update on their Pre which at the same time updated Classic 1.0 to Classic 1.1.

If you are experiencing any issues when running Classic after webOS 1.0.3 update, please see an FAQ entry we have posted with a fix."

The fix, as reported in the FAQ, includes the deletion of the "ClassicApps" folder on the Pre's storage volume that appears when you mount the Pre to your computers desktop.

The article also states that early adopters of Classic should also delete the Classic ROM Updater application as it is no longer required because the feauteres have been migrated into the Classic 1.1 update.

Classic can be downloaded to your Pre by using the App Catalog program on your Pre. If you chose to use Classic beyond it's 7 day trial period, you can purchase Classic for $29.99 from the MotionApps website.

Palm webOS Update 1.0.3

On Friday night, Palm launched webOS 1.0.3 as an over the air (OTA) update for their Pre smart(er)phone. To download and install Palm webOS 1.0.3, use the Updates application on the Pre.

webOS 1.0.3 does not install any new application on the Pre, but does address some of the issues that have cropped up during the Pre's first full two weeks on the market. According to Palm, the webOS 1.0.3 update includes fixes for:

• Power performance in areas where wireless coverage is sporadic or unavailable has been enhanced.
• Non-SSL Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) mail servers are now supported.
• Events created in Google calendar that contain a symbol or accented character in the event name can now synchronize.
• Changes made to Google events on the phone now sync with Google online within a few minutes.
• The sync interval for Google events has been decreased from every few hours to every 15 minutes.

This update will also change the Sprint configuration version from 1.4 to 1.5, however, there is no mention as to what this change intails. I have read some speculation on the Internet that this update changes how the cellular radio works. I have not seen any change in coverage or signal strength after the update was applied to my Pre.

You can read the complete list of webOS fixes address in the 1.0.3 update on the Palm website.

People Love Their Pre Smartphones

We tend to get a little fanatical about mobile technology around a site like Smartphone Fanatics. That said, people really love their new Pre smartphones! One example is a review from Jenny Levin, a librarian in Chicago, IL.

Ms. Levin has posted a review of the Pre on her blog, The Shifted Librarian, which has been written from the point of view of a Palm Treo or Centro owner who is considering the jump from Palm OS 5 to webOS.

"When I picked up my new Palm Pre smartphone last week, one of the store employees said, “You must have been waiting for this phone for a long time.” He could tell I was excited about it. I told him I’d been waiting for this phone for nine years, six of them on Palm Treos and a Centro, waiting for the next leap.

And now that I finally have it, I can say that while it’s quite clearly a first generation device, I love it. This post will explain why, but it won’t be a comparison of the iPhone versus the Pre. I’ve only played with an iPhone a couple of times, so it wouldn’t be fair, plus everyone knows I’m not a fan of Apple, so I can’t really be objective about this. So instead, this will be a review of the Pre from the perspective of a Treo/Centro owner wondering if she should upgrade, because that’s the question I’m getting asked the most. Back in 2003, I started a popular page called What’s on My Treo 600 that listed all of the apps I used and as a result, I heard from Palm owners for years (and occasionally still do), so this is an area I know well.

In fact, a lot of my issues with the Pre come from features the Treos/Centros did better, but I’ll also describe what’s new, both the good and the bad. As a result, this will be a long review, so skip this post if you’re not interested in smartphones or the Pre."

Keep reading...

Ms. Levin and I share many of the same views about the Pre. Long time Treo users will find that some of the nice little refinements from Palm OS 5.4.9 didn't make it into webOS 1.0.2; however, the big wins like multitasking and Synergy really make it all worth while. And yes, there have been issues with webOS 1.0.2 and the Pre including the erratic signal strength issue, weirdness with the Touchstone charging base, and Exchange and Gmail syncing issues. The good news is that Palm is aware of all of these issues and is working to resolve them. (There are some perks to be a Palm discussion forums moderator.)

You can read the full review over at The Shifted Librarian website.

Thanks to Geri for this tip.

Palm Responds to iTunes Third-Party Support Note

Yesterday, John Paczkowski of the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital blog, reported that Palm has issued their own statement about the Pre's ability to use the webOS Media Sync feature to sync with Apple's iTunes jukebox software.

“Palm’s media sync works with the current version of iTunes,” Palm spokesperson Lynn Fox told me. “If Apple chooses to disable media sync in a future version of iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we could consider.”

I really hope this doesn't turn into a battle of wills. Once the technology is put out there, the hacker community is going to find ways around whatever road block that Apple tries to throw up to defend the walled garden that is iTunes.

In my opinion, it is clear that Apple will end up fighting a cold war with Palm or the hacker developer community similar to the one that pits Apple against the hacks that have been jailbreaking iPhones since 2007.

The long and short of it, if Apple's iTunes users and iTunes Store customers want to sync media to the Pre smartphone, someone is going to cook up a way to do it. So why not just let Palm's customers sync up with iTunes.

Besides, Apple doesn't think that the Palm Pre is a real threat to iPhones sales. Or do they?

[Via AllThingsD.com...]

Pre's iTunes Sync Feature Can Break at Anytime

I think we all saw this coming. I'm surprised, actually, it has taken Apple this long to bring it up.

AppleInsider.com is reporting that Apple has posted a new Knowlege Base article (6/16/09) stating that the iPod and iPhone maker doesn't test for third-party media player compatibility with it's software and that the new Palm Pre smartphone may no longer be able to sync with iTunes as Apple upgrades the software over time. In article HT3642, Apple states:

"Apple designs the hardware and software to provide seamless integration of the iPhone and iPod with iTunes, the iTunes Store, and tens of thousands of apps on the App Store. Apple is aware that some third-parties claim that their digital media players are able to sync with Apple software. However, Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players and, because software changes over time, newer versions of Apple's iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players."

AppleInsider also writes:

"Whether or not this is likely to happen with the Pre is difficult to tell. The feature works by identifying the smartphone in its hardware ID as an iPod and would require that Apple detect the difference between the Pre and a genuine iPod. Many of Palm's current engineers -- as well as its new CEO Jon Rubinstein -- are former Apple employees who have worked on the iPhone or iPod and are familiar with iTunes' current methods of recognizing plugged-in devices."

We will have to wait and see what happens. Apple and Palm have been dancing around each other like boxers in the ring. Will this become a slugfest similar to the games that Apple players with the hackers who jailbreak iPhones; with each side upping the ante? No one really knows for sure, but it has become clear that with Palm having people who have worked on the iPod and iPhone on staff, Palm should be well equiped to counter any unintentional or otherwise, breaks between the Pre and iTunes.

[Via AppleInsider.com...]

Capturing Palm webOS Screens

Sometimes a picture really is worth 1,000 words. I just found out that you can capture a screen image of what is being displayed on your Pre with a simple keystroke command.

If you press the following keys in order, a picture of the screen will be written out to the Photos application on the Pre. The command is:

Orange key + Shift key + P key

To execute the command press and hold Orange, Shift, and then P. When you do, a new category will be shown in Photos called "screencaptures". From there, you can do whatever you want with the photo. The above photo was taken on my Pre as a test.

Pre Journal: Leather Side Case, Touchstone

Just a few days ago, I was talking about accessories for my new Palm Pre. A week later, I now have two.

First up is the Palm leather side case. This is the belt clip case for the Pre. (Palm also has a leather slip case.) So far I like the case. The Pre fits snugly in the case and Palm has included a little ribbon to help lift the Pre out of the case, reducing the risk that you will drop the Pre while removing it from the case. That is a really nice touch as I had almost dropped my Treo 755p a few times while using the older Palm leather Treo case.

The second accessory that I purchased was the Palm Touchstone. This is the super cool, if not super expensive, wireless battery charging dock for the Pre. (I purchased the cheapest of the three Touchstone kits.) There where two reasons that helped chanage my mind about Touchstone.

The first is the microUSB door on the right side of the Pre. There is this tiny little piece of plastic that holds the door to the body of the Pre. I had visions of accidentally snapping that thing off the phone while I was fiddling with the USB cable to either charge up the phone or sync media of files on to the device in Drive mode or Media Sync mode.

The second reason has to due with my complaint that Palm chose to go with the glossy finish on the Pre over the matte soft touch paint that was used on the Palm Treo 750 and 755p. You see, the Touchstone requires that you use a different back plate than the stock Palm back plate that comes with the Pre. The replacement Palm back plate that ships with the Pre has that soft touch paint that I like so much. So the phone is, in my opinion, easier to hold and feels nicer too. Oh, and the matte finish doesn't pick up fingerprints like the glossy version does.

I could have lived without the matte finish on the Pre, but I would have gone nuts if the microUSB door had broken off my Pre. If that had happened, I would have had to file an insurance claim with Sprint because it would have driven me nuts to have the port exposed.

All in all, I'm happy with my purchases, and I hope you will be too. Both accessories, the leather side case and the Touchstone charging base are available from Sprint (retail location and online) and at Palm's online store. As I understand it, both Palm's and Sprint's warehouses have ample supply of both accessories at this point.

Missing Sync for Palm Pre Beta

Mark/Space has announced that there is a new public beta build for The Missing Sync for Palm Pre available.

The Palm Pre is now available. For those who are proud owners of this wonderful smart phone, we want to let you know that The Missing Sync for Palm Pre will make your Pre and Mac close companions. We even have a version for the PC on the way.

For a short while, The Missing Sync for Palm Pre is available as a fully functional Beta version, free to download for a limited time. Give it a try and find out how easy it is to take your stuff with you - from your Mac, onto your Pre.

Sync Address Book and iCal or Entourage - from your Mac to your Pre, and vice-versa - over Wi-Fi. Sync happens even when Pre is sitting on a Touchstone charger. Plus, transfer music, bookmarks, ringtones, videos and photos fast over the Pre's USB cable. And, bring documents and files with you - like Word, Excel and PDFs - to view on your Pre too.

To learn more about The Missing Sync for Palm Pre, or to download the free demo, head over to the Mark/Space website.

Pre Journal: Acura HFL Working

Like California, Connecticut has a hands free driving law, and so today I had a chance to pair up my new Palm Pre with my Acura TSX. The good news is that the Acura is an amazing accessory for the Pre!

I was able to quickly pair up the Pre with the Acura's Handsfree Link (HFL) and was able to make phone calls and stream music stored on the device to the car's radio system. It was pretty easy to do.

If you are not sure how to pair up your new Pre with your Acura, just follow the directions in the owner's manual, and you'll be up and running in no time at all. Just make sure you aren't driving the car while you are trying to pair up the phone!

Rubinstein to Lead Palm, Colligan Steps Down

Palm announced today that CEO Ed Colligan is stepping down from his CEO role and will be leaving Palm. Mr. Colligan has worked at Palm for 16 years. Taking over for Mr. Colligan is Jon Rubinsein, who joined Palm in October of 2007 to help reinvigorate the company.

"I am very excited about taking on this expanded role at Palm," said Rubinstein. "Ed and I have worked very hard together the past two years, and I'm grateful to him for everything he's done to help set the company up for success. With Palm webOS we have ten-plus years of innovation ahead of us, and the Palm Pre is already one of the year's hottest new products. Due in no small part to Ed's courageous leadership, we're in great shape to get Palm back to continuous growth, and we plan to keep the trajectory going upward."

"I'm very proud of what Palm has accomplished so far," said Colligan. "We pioneered two major product categories and I believe we are on our way to defining the standard for the mobile web. I'm extremely proud of our team, and grateful to have played a role in turning Palm around. I know that Jon, the Board and the Palm executive team will do an incredible job driving Palm to new heights."

Mr. Rubinstein takes over as Chairman and CEO of Palm on June 12, 2009.

The full press release can be read on the Palm website.

Pre Journal: Palm Touchstone

As the launch weekend for Palm's Pre smartphone comes to a close, I wanted to share some additional information about what is the coolest accessory for the Pre, the Touchstone charger.

The Sprint store I was at on Saturday morning didn't get a shipment of Touchstone chargers. Neither did the Best Buy I went to this afternoon. So I started looking at Palm's website thinking I might place an order directly with them.

The funny thing is, Palm is selling not one; not two; but three Touchstone bundles, which I think, is a little miss leading if you are not paying attention to what your getting, what you want to purchase, and what you need to pay to get it.

The $70 Touchstone kit that we've heard about as we went into the weekend is the entry level kit. It comes with the dock and the new back plate for the Pre. There is no power adapter or extra cable in that kit. The $80 kit only comes with the dock, power adapter and cable. The last, and most expensive kit at $140 includes the new Pre back plate, the power adapter, the USB/charge cable, and two docks. Seems to me, it would be great for power users (no pun intended) if Palm had a kit that include the back plate, the dock, and the power adapter and sold if for $90-100. It seems to me that they are really trying to stear you to the $140 kit which really has the parts that I want; but it's just at the wrong price. I can appreciate the fact that Palm is cash strapped, so are we all, but really? An extra $140 for a docking solution? Yes, it is very cool, no doubt. I guess we can justify the purchase of the $140 kit if we use the $100 rebate check we get from Sprint for the Palm Touchstone Dual Location Charging Kit. At least that way, we can say the kit was $40. To be fair, the $70 kit will be fully functional if you use the power adapter and cable that was bundled in with the Pre. The downside is that you will need to pull the USB cable off the Touchstone when you want to sync the Pre to iTunes or side load other media or documents on the Pre when it is in "drive mode." You can also purchase the various parts separately if you wish.

Another option to get the functionality that you want without breaking the bank it to purchase the base Touchstone bundle, for $70.00, and then purchasing a Palm Travel microUSB cable, which only costs $15.00. That might out for me.

The good news is that Palm is providing free standard ground shipping on all order that are over $49.00. If you are thinking about buying Touchstone, that shouldn't be hard to do.

You can check out all the Palm Pre accessories at the online Palm Store.

Pre Journal: Get the Palm Pre User Guide

If you where lucky enough to get your hands on the Palm Pre yesterday, you will know that there is no printed User Guide in the box.

To get you started, Palm includes a getting started guide in English and Spanish, and there is the Help application on the Pre itself. But if you really want to learn about your Pre, like I do, then you will want to download the Pre User Guide from the Palm Pre Support website.

There is a lot of good information in there. For example, you can charge your Pre by connecting the microUSB cable to the wall charger (fastest way to charge your Pre) or you can connect the microUSB cable to your computer (much slower than the wall charger option). There is also a specific note in the guide about connecting the Touchstone charger via cable to your computer.

"You can also charge your phone battery by connecting your phone to your computer using the USB cable. Charging this way takes much longer than using the AC charger. Do not, however, connect the Palm Touchstone charging dock (sold separately) to your computer."

Pre Journal: Migrating Your Data

Still scratching your head trying to figure out just how exactly you are going to get your personal information out of Palm Desktop, iCal and Address Book, or Microsoft Outlook running on your home PC? Palm's got ya covered!

Palm webOS together with Synergy is nothing like Palm OS and Palm Desktop.

Check out the Palm support site for details on how to move your personal data into the Palm Pre smartphone.

Update: I have changed out the link to the Palm support site with a much shorter and manageable link:

www.palm.com/migrate-pre

Pre Journal: Caseless Pre

The new Palm Pre wasn't the only thing in short supply during yesterday's launch event. The Sprint store I was at only had vehicle and home chargers for Palm's latest mobile wonder. So what are all these new Pre owners suppose to do without cases?

Surely, you can use the cloth slip case that Palm includes in the box with the Pre, however, personally, I like a little bit more protection than that.

You can order Palm's leather side case for the Pre from their website. It is currently selling for $39.99. I think I'm going to see if I can wait for a good accessories bundle from Palm, Sprint, Amazon, or Best Buy.

Until then, I discovered that my BlackBerry Curve 8330 belt holster case is a good fit for the Palm Pre. Sarah, a very nice lady that I met while waiting in line at the Sprint store, also discovered that the BodyGlove side loading leather case was also a good match for the Palm Pre. If you can stomach the idea of toting your new Palm Pre around in an "unofficial" case, you should try the BlackBerry or BodyGlove cases. The good news is that your local retail outlet should have these cases in stock!

You can check out all of Palm's Pre accessories at the online Palm Store.

Palm Pre First Impressions

What a day June 6, 2009 has been! Today is the day that the totally new Palm Pre smartphone began shipping. The Pre is truly an amazing phone and it’s heart and soul is Palm webOS.

The Good

I’m not the first to say it and I won’t be the last. Throw everything you know about Palm the company, Palm OS, and the the old non-Windows Mobile Treo smartphones out the window. This is not your father’s Palm, Inc. There is an entirely new management team at Palm and it comes shining through with the Pre and Palm webOS.

The Pre is smaller than the Treo 750/755p, though the most recent Windows Mobile phone from Palm, the Treo Pro, is thinner and taller. The Pre feels great in your hand. I found it much easier to hold than my Apple iPod touch. When compared with my recently deactivated BlackBerry Curve 8330, the Pre is almost the same size when the keyboard is closed. (When the Pre keyboard is open, the Pre is about an inch to an inch and half taller than the Curve 8330.)

I was completely and totally blown away by the phenomenal screen on the Pre. When I picked up the demo unit this morning at the Sprint store I thought that it was one of those plastic display shells...until the Quick Launch bar moved! Even now, some 12 hours later, I’m still amazed by how bright and vivid the screen is! My Saturdays are often filled with lots of family activities and today I found myself outside for most of the afternoon. Direct sun light shouldn’t be a problem for most people. During a t-ball game, I was able to work with my recently imported Google contacts, read email, and review some Word document attachments. All in all, the screen is just fantastic and is every bit as good as the screen found on the iPhone and iPod touch.

The Pre, like some of it’s distant cousins the Tungsten T, T2, and T3, has a slider that reveals a full, hardware, Qwerty keyboard. The keys are very similar to those used on the Treo Pro and Centro smartphones. I found the keys on the Pre to be about equal size across the BlackBerry Curve 8330, Treo 750/755p, and the Treo Pro. I like the Pre’s keyboard because the keys are big enough for me to type on and they jelly-like keys keep your fingers or nails from sliding off the key caps. Some of the early reviews warned of a problem pressing the keys on the outside of the keyboard because of the ridge around the keyboard. I can see why some people have written that about the Pre. After typing out text messages, emails, and updating my address book, I can say that I’m not going to have a big problem with it. Results will vary, obviously. As for the sliders itself, I’m OK with it for now. The jury is going to be out on the slider easily for 6-12 months. The slider is firm and snaps open and closed. But the thirty or so times I opened and closed the slider is no indication on how it will work over the long haul of daily usage. For now, I’m satisfied with the slider and this is coming from someone who is not a fan of sliders.

The 3.0MP camera and speaker phone work well, however, I only played with them for a few minutes. Since I find myself spending at least a quarter of my work week in meetings, I’m glad to see that Palm has kept the ringer switch that has been so popular on the Treo and Centro on the Pre. Folks who like to use their phones as media players should also be happy to learn that the Pre uses a standard 3.5mm headphone jack which is located at the top of the device.

Palm webOS looks great! The graphical elements embody the user interface that Palm OS fans have been demanding for years. The fonts used in Palm webOS are stunning! The fonts are as crisp as you would expect on the printed page. Palm’s web browser is just as good as Safari on the iPhone/iPod touch.

People who have used the iPhone and iPod touch will be able to use the gestures built into Palm webOS with a minimal learning curve. The gestures that you are familiar with in Safari for the most part work the same way in webOS. Transitions from portrait to landscape mode is fluid and responds well.

Palm has paid tribute to Palm OS in webOS. One such way is the inclusion of the Quick Launch bar that I mentioned briefly already. People familiar with Palm’s older Palm OS handhelds and Treo smartphones will quickly realize that the the Quick Launch bar is the digital version of the old hardware keys. Since the Pre only has the center button on the face of the device, Palm felt it was important to customers to have a speedy way to access their most used applications. Like the old hardware buttons, the digital buttons are also customizable by dragging icons out of and into the Quick Launch bar. You are limited to four buttons; the fifth button, the Launcher button, can not be changed out.

There are lots of other cool features in webOS that I haven’t yet really played with including the Backup application, Bluetooth devices, Media Sync with iTunes support, and Palm Desktop data migration. (There is a one-time, one-way migration option for Palm Desktop and Outlook users to push data into their Pre phones. Stay tuned for more on that later on.)

The Not So Good

The Pre is Palm’s most eagerly awaited smartphone. But it is not without things that I find really annoying. First up is the case itself. This is probably the worst Palm phone of all time (at least of all the Palm devices that I’ve owned or used; and that is over 30) for collecting finger prints and other smudges. You will want to find a nice soft cloth to keep at home or in your office so you can clean down the phone’s display area. I’m going to seriously consider getting a screen protector for the Pre when they become available from third-party accessory makers.

The door on the microUSB port used to charge and connect the Pre to your computer as a USB mass storage device is really hard to get open the first few times. Once you do get it open, you will have a hard time getting the door to lay perfectly flush with the right edge of the phone. Pre comes with 8GB of on-board memory, After loading some data and a few apps from Palm’s App Catalog, I have 7.2GB of usable storage space left. There are no memory expansion slots on the Pre. I would have liked to seen the Pre ship either with more built-in memory, say 16GB, or have a microSDHC card slot. Now that we know that Pre will sync with iTunes in a similar manner as the iPhone or iPod, 8GB seems a bit cramped. I can easily fill up my iPod touch’s 16GB of storage space when I’m traveling for work with music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and applications. I think that for the demanding Palm user, 8GB of non-expandable memory is going to be a problem. To get around this, Pre owners should consider streaming their music or videos if possible. (This is an area of the Pre that I haven’t really delved into yet; syncing with iTunes and streaming media to the Pre.)

In Conclusion

To sum up the Pre, I think many Palm fans are going to be happy with it. Yes, Palm webOS is completely different from Palm OS 5 and the Palm Desktop and HotSync Manager software no longer work. I think that once you migrate your data to the Pre, those applications won’t be missed except to the die hard Palm Desktop users.

The Pre’s hardware is organic and modern. It looks and feels great in your hand. Personally, I would have liked it if Palm continued to use the soft touch paint that was used on the Treo 750/755p and the “enhanced” Sprint Centros. I liked the “gripability” of the soft touch paint and it would have helped cut down on the collection of fingerprints and smudges along the side and back of the device.

All-in-all, I think you will be happy with the Pre. If you have never used a smartphone before, you will definitely want to take advantage of Sprint’s in-store training on the device. Seriously, new Palm customers should take the 15 minute class. It is free and well worth your time if you want to get the most out of your new phone.

The Pre is available now from Sprint retail locations and select authorized resellers, including Best Buy. With a new or extended 2-year service agreement with Sprint, the new Palm Pre sells for $299 with a $100 mail-in rebate.

For more information, visit the Palm website.

Pre Journal: A List?

The manager is saying that they have pre-order list. I may not be getting a Pre today!

Sent from my BlackBerry Curve
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberrycurve8300

Pre Journal: 1 Hour

There is just one more hour until the Palm Pre goes on sale for Sprint!

While we wait, Reggie from 1SRC.com, just emailed me that the PreSwither website has gone live! Check it out at:

http://www.preswitcher.com/

Sent from my BlackBerry Curve
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberrycurve8300

Pre Journal: Onsite at the Sprint Store

I'm on site at the Sprint store and I'm first in line. Since I'm a mobile gadget fanatic, that is a good thing.

Sent from my BlackBerry Curve
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberrycurve8300

Pre Journal: Moble Blogging

I've just configured SPF for mobile blogging!

Sent from my BlackBerry Curve
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberrycurve8300

Pre Journal: Weather Check

I just checked the weather (on my iPod touch) to make sure that all the rain that was falling all day and night yesterday has moved out of the area. It has, and that is great news because I was not looking forward to being cold and wet this morning. It's 57-degrees under partly cloudy skies, but I can see some nice blue streaks in the sky as dawn is breaking in Connecticut.

Pre Journal: MotionApps Classic for webOS

I just checked the MotionApps website and Classic, the Palm OS 5 emulator for Palm webOS, is now available for sale.

As I understand it, a demo version of Classic, which is good for 7 days, comes bundled on the device. To activate it, to plug-in your Classic serial number at the MotionApps website when you order the software to unlock the full version.

I suspect that Classic will be my first purchased third-party Palm webOS application.

Learn all about Classic over at the MotionApps website.

UPDATE:

Here is a simple diagram of what is going on inside your Pre when you are running a Palm OS application in emulation mode in Classic.

Pre Journal: This is Nuts!

It's just after 4am here on the East Coast and I'm up getting ready to get my Palm Pre. Things on my checklist include:

1. Charge up my Treo 755p so I can transfer apps
2. Sync my BlackBerry Curve to Outlook
3. Backup the Curve before deactivation
4. Shutdown corporate email access (no client for the Pre...yet)
5. Sync Outlook to Google account for Synergy sync

I can't believe that I'm up this early on a Saturday morning for a phone! This is nuts! I guess that's why I'm a Smartphone Fanatic!

Are You PREpared for the Pre

With the Pre going live in just over 24-hours, have you PREpared your plan to get your new Palm smartphone? I spoke with Jimmie over at GadgetsOnTheGo and he's got his plan mapped out. I've already picked out a spot on the sidewalk at my local Sprint/Nextel retail location. I'll be camping out at 6am to make sure I'm first in line to score one of the short supply Pre phones.

What are your Pre plans for tomorrow? Drop us a line in the comments section below.

My Palm Pre OCD Has Started

I must have been fooling myself thinking that I may not get a new Palm Pre smartphone right away. Palm has a new gadget about ready to come out and I've got that itch that can only be scratched with a new device, so let the Palm Pre OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) begin!

What changed my mind? A few things. I was at a local Sprint store and talked to someone there who had used the Pre and they said that it was "amazing." This same personal also said "that the browser is just as good as the one on my iPod touch."

I also received word from an anonymous source that Palm has pushed out an OTA ROM update that brings webOS to version 1.02. The specifics of the updates where not identified.

This all leads up to my decision to sit out in front of my local Sprint store starting at 6am on Saturday morning. The good news is that there is a Dunkin' Donuts next door (coffee for the Sprint emloyees, a Diet Coke for me).

UPDATE: My wife just tryed to explain to me that there is no clinical "pre OCD." To which I replied that the object of my current gadget OCD is called, the "Pre." It's a good thing that she's cute. I have changed the title of this post to My Palm Pre OCD.

David Pogue Reviews the Palm Pre

David Pouge of the New York Times, has review of the Palm Pre smartphone. Mr. Pogue writes:

"You’ve seen that movie, right? The one where a pair of lovable, sad-sack losers team up to defeat the smug, athletic golden boy? If not, you’re about to. It’s called ‘‘Palm Pre vs. iPhone.’’ The star of this summer blockbuster is Palm. Over the years, this once-great company lost its talent for everything but making business blunders. Pundits were predicting Palm’s passing—but then the new Palm Pre appeared.

The Pre’s all-new operating system, called Web OS, is gorgeous, fluid and exciting. It shares some iPhone ideas — pinch or spread two fingers on the screen to zoom in or out, for example, or flick a list item sideways to delete it — but has its own personality and ideas."

I'm a fan of both Palm and Apple, and I'd rather not see them beating each other to a pulp. The smartphone space is massive and there is plenty of room right now for both the Apple iPhone and the Palm Pre to be successful. For me, I really like the idea of having a nice physical keyboard. I'm not sold on the slider, but hey, that's probably why Palm is already getting ready to roll out the next Palm webOS smarpthone, the Eos.

Read the full review on the New York Times website...

[Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net...]

To Pre or Not To Pre

It's Tuesday night, and the Pre goes on sale in just 4 days; Saturday morning at 8:00am. The question is, are we going to Pre or not? Palm webOS looks like a fantastic mobile operating system; the kind that Palm OS users have been waiting years for.

For as cool as the Pre is, I'm still worried about the form factor. After having used the Tungsten T, T2, and T3, I've decided that I'm calling it quits with the slider design. (I spent more time with the device's slider open than not. So much so that it became a pain to deal with.) I'm also concerned that 8GB just isn't enough storage space for a device that we now know that will sync directly with Apple's iTunes jukebox software. (A 16GB Pre or a Pre with a microSD card slot would have made me feel better.)

At the end of the day, does the feature richness of Palm webOS win the day? Or will my hang ups about the hardware cause me to shy away from the device?

Right now, I'm on the fence. I can totally see myself in line at the local Sprint store at 6:00am to get a new Pre. Then again, with the rumors running rampant on the Internet that Sprint retail locations and big box stores are going to have less than six devices in stock is really putting a damper on things. Why get up at 5am to get in line at a store that may not even have a Pre smartphone in stock?

Let my know what you are going to be doing on Saturday by clicking the Comments link below.

NotifyLink Coming to webOS

NotifyCorp, a wonderful middleware platform that brings wireless PIM and email to your existing IT infrastructure, is at it again. A teaser billboard on the Notify website simply states that they are coming to the webOS party "soon."

That's great news for small to mid size businesses that don't want to deal with the added costs or stress of trying to support multiple devices, carriers, mobile operating systems, and any email/collaboration system that isn't Microsoft Exchange Server, Lotus Notes, or BlackBerry Enterprise Server. (Not that those big email systems are easy to manage either!)

I have been a Notify administrator for over two years and the system is working flawlessly. I can't wait to get my hands on a Pre and load the Notify client on it!

To learn more about NotifyCorp and their NotifyLink Enterprise Server, check out their website.

New Palm webOS Features Demonstrated

Palm's PR department dropped us a line earlier today to let us know about some of the cool new features that are going to be included in Palm webOS, the new mobile operating system that will power Palm's Pre smartphone.

Palm Unveils More webOS Details: Palm Media Sync, Twitter Integration, App Catalog

CARLSBAD, Calif., May 28, 2009 -- Today at The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) introduced attendees to the latest features of the Palm® webOS™ platform, including Palm media sync, the integration of Twitter in universal search, and a beta version of its App Catalog. Jon Rubinstein, Palm executive chairman, and Roger McNamee, Palm director and co-founder of Elevation Partners, debuted the new webOS features, which will be available on the new Palm Pre™ phone when it launches June 6 on Sprint’s mobile broadband network.

Palm Media Sync

Palm media sync is a feature of webOS that synchronizes seamlessly with iTunes, giving you a simple and easy way to transfer DRM-free music, photos and videos to your Palm Pre. Simply connect Pre to your PC or Mac via the USB cable, select “media sync” on the phone, and iTunes will launch on your computer desktop. You can then choose which DRM-free media files to transfer.

“We designed Palm media sync to be an easy and elegant way for you to take the content you own and put it on Pre, and it’s just one of the ways we think you’ll be amazed by webOS,” said Rubinstein. “We’ve had an overwhelming response since we introduced Pre at CES, and with availability just days away, we can’t wait to let everyone see firsthand what the excitement is all about.”

Pre also acts as a mass storage drive, letting you side-load your media content. Once connected to a computer using the USB cable, Pre will appear as a drive on the computer desktop. You can drag and drop music, photos or video files onto your Pre, or drag files from your Pre to the computer. And, just like a digital camera, Pre works directly with your computer’s default desktop photo software to seamlessly import photos captured with Pre’s built-in 3-megapixel camera.

In addition to listening to music transferred from your desktop, you can use the on-device Amazon MP3 store to purchase individual songs or full albums over-the-air. You can search by artist, song and genre, and preview and purchase music files. You can then download purchased tracks when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Twitter in Universal Search

Palm also announced that Twitter search is integrated into webOS universal search. Universal search is about finding what you want quickly, whether it’s an on-device contact to call, a place you’re trying to get to, or a Wikipedia article for encyclopedic information. Just start typing and Pre will figure out if you’re looking for a contact, an application, or even let you search the web via Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia and now Twitter. Universal search uses Twitter’s search service to sort through real-time current events and news, so universal search now covers every aspect of search on the web: general info, location, encyclopedia, and news.

Twitter’s ability to show what’s going on right now is a perfect fit for what universal search and Pre are all about. You don’t have to be a Twitter user to benefit from Twitter in universal search. It’s available for all users, even if they don’t have an account, so anyone can keep on top of real-time news and the latest trends.

App Catalog

Rubinstein and McNamee also gave conference attendees an advance look at the beta version of the App Catalog, which will be available on Pre at launch. The beta version will feature applications from developers such as AP News, Citysearch, Fandango, Pandora and uLocate.

“We’ve received excellent feedback from participants in the Mojo SDK early access program and look forward to the SDK’s public release. Developers are very enthusiastic about the platform’s ease of use and industry-standard development model,” said Rubinstein. “We’re excited to launch Pre with the beta version of the catalog, which will give a taste of how the overall webOS ecosystem will work.”

The App Catalog was demonstrated at the conference using Fandango’s webOS application, which takes advantage of Palm Synergy™, a key feature of webOS. It also uses Pre’s location-based services to find theaters near you, and lets you watch trailers, buy tickets, add showtimes to your calendar and get directions to the theater. Also included in the beta App Catalog will be Pandora, which makes use of the platform’s multitasking capabilities, running elegantly in the background while you’re using other applications. It highlights a unique aspect of the notification bar that lets you know what song is currently playing, and control pause and play without having to go back into the application.

The Palm Pre phone will be available from Sprint on June 6 for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and $100 mail-in rebate. More information is available at www.sprint.com/palmpre and www.palm.com.

You can check out some of these new features in action on the All Things Digital videos page.

Greatest. Pre. Commercial. Ever!

If you haven't seen this Pre "commercial" of Roger McNamee poking fun at himself, you are doing yourself a disservice.




And just remember kids, the Pre eats iPhones for breakfast!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about or why I think this video is so funny, you have to go back and watch this video of Roger shortly after the Palm Pre was unveiled back in January at this year's CES show.

Palm to Appear at All Things Digital

Jimmie over at GadgetsOnTheGo.net is reporting that Palm will be making an appearance at this year's All Things Digital conference. Walt Mossberg, of the Wall Street Journal fame, has been quoted as saying:

"The Palm guys are coming, they not are only going to come and talk in more detail about the Palm Pre than you have seen before, but they're actually going to introduce some things that haven't even been speculated, that the Palm Pre is going to be able to do, that haven't even been speculated on the blogs and they're going to show some cool features."

Let's hope that this appearance at "D" is better than Palm's last high-profile appearance when they wanted to talk about their last "new" device, the Palm Foleo.

[Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net...]

BGR Posts First Impressions of the Palm Pre

BoyGeniusReport.com has a Palm Pre first impressions article up this morning.

Of the new smartphone, BGR writes:

"The screen is really responsive and blends right in with the casing — awesomely executed and the capacitive touch is so damn beautiful. We’d rate it just behind the iPhone but in front of the T-Mobile G1 as far as screens go."

That's some really good news about the display on the device that will reboot Palm. However, BGR isn't as excited about the slider keyboard and exterior shell. Again, the author writes:

"The Pre feels really good in your hand in terms of size and shape, but there’s a real plasticky aura about it. Additionally, things aren’t looking good for that QWERTY either. When you try and type on the top row of keys, your finger hits the bottom part of the front piece and on top of that, you often hit multiple keys at the same time while typing."

You can read the full article and check out some photos of the device on the BoyGeniusReport website.

Rumor: A Pair of AT&T Phones Get Leaked

Engadget is reporting that AT&T has some new phone goodness headed our way for the back half of 2009.

If the frenzy around the Palm Pre coming to Sprint in just about 9 days doesn't make your head spin, Palm fans should get ready for the Palm Eos which is expected to show up on AT&T. Eos is expected to replace the last Palm OS smartphone currently on the market, the Palm Centro. From the slides that Engadget got their hands on, we have now officially leared that Eos' code name was the long rumored "Castle" smartphone.


Andorid fans should get ready for the new HTC Qwerty slider, Lancaster. This GSM "consumer social messageing device" should get the under 30 crowd lining up at their local AT&T stores in early August if the rumors are correct and everything falls into place between now and then.

You can read the Palm Eos and HTC Lancaster articles over on Engadget.

Palm Pre Documentation Leaked

With less than two weeks to go before the Palm Pre smartphone goes on sale from Sprint, all of the Pre's documentation has leaked out on to the Internet.

SprintGurus.com has managed to get their hands on the Pre's Getting Start and User Guides as well as the Pre Fact Sheet and Features Guide.

Can't wait to get your hands on the Pre? You can download the documentation from the SprintGurus.com forums. (Warning: Registration required to download.)

Pre Gets Detailed In Leaked Sprint Guide

The Sprint Palm Pre launch guide for business customers has been leaked and in the process, even more details about the Pre have been detailed.

In the 23-page document, we learn that:

• Pre has a SRP of $549.99
• Support for Exchange Server EAS for PIM data synching
• Inviting people to meetings is not supported from the Pre
• Global Address Book lookup is supported
  
• Support for SSL encryption of Exchange Server email
• The Touchstone charger will cost $69.99
• A Palm vehicle charger ($31.99) and travel charger ($34.99) will also be available
• The current 450 minute Sprint Everything Data plan will be available for $69.99/month
• You must purchase a voice and data plan; SERO plans will not be allowed
  
• Pre will be an exchange only phone, no repairs will be done on site
• Documents To Go will be bundled in ROM to provide viewing capabilities
• Documents To Go will include editing capabilities in a future release (date TBD)
  
• You will be required to create a Palm profile account (required for multiple services)
• Software will be installed OTA only
• Palm will provide an OTA backup application/service
• A "kill pill" can be issued from a customers Palm profile web page

The leaked Sprint launch guide offers and interesting list of details that haven't previously been talked about by Palm or Sprint. The inclusion of Documents To Go is a major plus. That is one application that I can't live without and it my daily "go to" application.

I also like the idea behind the Palm profile. It sounds a lot like the now defunct MyPalm portal where customers where able to install applications to their device over the air (OTA), including the then beta Palm Backup application. From the new information gleaned from this document, it does sound as if the information that Palm learned from the beta tests of the MyPalm portal and Backup application will be leveraged to make the Pre and Palm webOS expereince even better for customers.

There is a lot to like about the new Palm Pre. I'm definately excited to get my hands on one of these phones and take it out for a test drive.

[Via PreCentral.com Forums...]

The Pre Gets a Release Date

Palm and Sprint have finally revealed that Saturday, June 6th, will be the official launch date for the Pre smartphone. The Pre is first device to be powered by Palm's new mobile operating system, Palm webOS.

"Sprint today announced pricing and nationwide availability for the highly anticipated Palm Pre phone, offered exclusively from Sprint. Palm Pre will be available nationwide on June 6 in Sprint stores, Best Buy, Radio Shack, select Wal-Mart stores and online at Sprint.com for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate. Running on the new Palm webOS mobile platform, Pre brings together your important information from where it resides – on your phone, at your work or on the web – into one logical view."

“The argument that you need one phone for work and another phone for play, or that you have to make compromises between business and lifestyle productivity, is over,” said Dan Hesse, president and CEO of Sprint. “With Pre, compromises of the past are history.”

“The Palm Pre takes full advantage of Sprint’s Everything Data plans,” said Avi Greengart, research director for Consumer Devices at Current Analysis. “The Pre has been expressly designed for multitasking among multiple web pages and applications. It also builds on Palm’s heritage in PDAs by managing your digital information – whether that’s on a corporate server or on the web.”

“Pre is truly a new phone for a new web-centric age,” said Ed Colligan, Palm president and chief executive officer. “We’re a mobile society, and we want our people, calendars and information to move with us. With Pre’s exquisite design and the unique webOS software, running on Sprint’s fast broadband network, we’re changing the perception of what a wireless phone can be.”

Also debuting with the Pre is the Synergy synchronization engine that is built in to Palm webOS.

The new webOS platform introduces Palm Synergy, a key feature that brings together your personal and professional calendar, contacts and e-mail into one centralized view, making transitions between work and personal life smooth and easy to manage.

With Palm Synergy, users get:

• Linked contacts – With Synergy, you have a single view that links your contacts from a variety of sources, so accessing them is easier than ever. For example, if you have the same contact listed in your Outlook(3), Google and Facebook accounts, Synergy recognizes that they’re the same person and links the information, presenting it to you as one listing.
  
  
• Layered calendars – Your calendars can be seen on their own or layered together in a single view, combining work, family, friends, sports teams, or other interests. You can toggle to look at one calendar at a time, or see them all at a glance.
  
  
• Combined messaging – Synergy lets you see all your conversations with the same person in a chat-style view, even if it started in IM and you want to reply with text messaging. You can also see who’s active in a buddy list right from contacts or e-mail, and start a new conversation with just one touch.
  

Pricing and Availability

The Palm Pre phone will be available from Sprint on June 6 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year service agreement on an Everything Data plan or Business Essentials with Messaging and Data plan. An array of compelling accessories also will be available for Pre, including the Palm Touchstone charging dock. The Touchstone™ Charging Kit, which includes the Touchstone charging dock and Touchstone back cover for Pre, will be available June 6 for $69.99. The Touchstone charging dock and Touchstone back cover also are available separately for $49.99 and $19.99, respectively.

For more information, visit the Sprint website at http://www.sprint.com/pre. You can read the full Sprint press release on the Sprint website.

Rumor: Wal-Mart to Sell the Palm Pre?

I was reading an article on the Reuters' website this morning and an article on Wal-Mart caught my eye. In the article, Reuters was reporting on how "Wally World" was revamping their electronics department in an attempt to bring in customers who had been formerly shopping at the now defunct Circuit City stores.

At the end of the short article, the following was written:

"Wal-Mart executives said the stores would soon offer Palm Inc's Pre smartphone, a highly anticipated gadget. The retailer also is adding to its selection of higher-end televisions by manufacturers Sony Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, and broadening its array of movies, the newspaper said."

It has been a long time since I've been in a Wal-Mart electronics department and I didn't know if Wal-Mart has partnered with Sprint for retail sales. I'll have to stop by one or both of the local stores to see if they carry Sprint phones. If they don't, either the unnamed Wal-Mart executive was wrong or this could be an indication that a GSM Palm Pre might become available sooner than we originally though in the US. My personal guess is that a GSM Pre will go on sale here in the States late in 2009 at the earliest, with the first round of GSM Pre smartphones going to Vodafone first.

Read the full Reuters article...

Rumor: Palm Pre Set to Launch on June 7th

I just saw this over on BoyGeniusReport.com. If it is true, it looks like the Palm Pre will launch in just under a month on June 7th.

"We’re prefacing this by saying we’re definitely not 100%, but it looks like Palm could be gearing up for a round of meetings that will lead up to the day we’ve all been waiting for — Palm Pre launch day. We just received what an anonymous tipster claims to be an internal Palm memo regarding some meetings that will take place in early June. According to the document, the meetings will conclude on Friday June 5th with what is labeled 'LAUNCH LUNCH!'"

Back in February I was predicting a lunch of the Pre on either May 17th or the 24th. More recently, though, we heard some rumors that Palm and Sprint might push back the launch of the Pre to ensure that there was sufficient inventory in the supply chain and that there may have been some early production problems on the Pre manufacturing line. (I can't confirm either of those rumors.) At any rate, it looks like the Pre is go for June 7th. I really can't wait to see how the Pre's email stands up to the BlackBerry email system. I've been using a BlackBerry Curve 8330 since December and I have really become addicted to it's virtually instanatious email delivery. Will the Pre cause me to dump my CrackBerry? We'll soon find out.

[Via BoyGeniusReport.com...]

Bell Mobility Exclusive Carrier for Palm Pre

Palm and Bell Mobility in Canada have announced that Bell has been selected to be the exclusive carrier of Palm's new Pre smartphone powered by Palm webOS. The Pre will be released in Canada during the second half of 2009.

"We're excited to bring Pre to Canada with Bell Mobility," said Brodie Keast, senior vice president of marketing for Palm, Inc. "We've seen enormous interest from mobile operators worldwide and fully expect to continue to expand distribution for Pre, putting it within reach of more and more customers."

"Bell is excited to be only the second carrier in the world to announce the 3G Pre," said Adel Bazerghi, senior vice president of Products for Bell Mobility. "With the unique user experience of the world's first webOS phone, running on the country's largest 3G network, we're confident that Canadians will embrace Pre as the phone for their lives today."

You can read the full Palm press release, which includes the specifications for the Bell Mobility Pre, on the Palm website. Pricing for the Bell Pre was not announced today and the release date was only indicated as "in the second half of 2009."

Will Palm Get Its 'Mojo' Back with webOS and Pre?

RedmondDeveloper News has written an article on the growing grassroots support for Palm's new mobile operating system, webOS.

"As smartphone developers await the release of devices based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.5, tinker with the recently released Google Android SDK, and pine over the one billionth iPhone app downloaded, a grassroots movement by some influential developers is pushing the adoption of an alternative mobile platform.

A burgeoning community of developers are investing time and resources on a device and platform they've barely seen from a company that was, until recently, written off for dead: Palm Inc. While many observers are skeptical that Palm can make a sizable dent in the mobile market, hundreds of developers are eagerly awaiting the release of the company's new webOS and the Palm Pre mobile device.

These developers have signed up to participate in dev camps that are slated to take place on the first weekend after Palm releases webOS and Pre. These camps are being organized by the developers and are not under Palm's purview, nor Sprint's, the carrier designated to sell the device in the United States, according to the organizers."

I believe that Palm doesn't have to dominate the mobile phone market to make a fair amount of money. The mobile phone space is really big and it doesn't have to be one vendor takes all. I also think that Palm really does have a solid foundation with Palm webOS and it can be the vehicle, together with some new hardware, to jump start the company and make it a major player in mobile computing again.

Read the full RedmondDeveloper News article...

More On a Possible "Foleo II" Device

While looking for more information on the rumor from this past weekend that Palm might be mulling over their options on releasing a redesigned Foleo running Palm webOS, I found this interesting article over on JKOnTheRun.com. Mr. Kendrick writes:

"Lots of companies are currently working on Google Android netbooks and there have been whispers of how great a WebOS-based netbook could be, even though not a single device with that OS is actually shipping yet. This obsession with netbooks and how to make a great one has me thinking that there’s no reason Palm couldn’t produce one, and right now.

Just hear me out. A netbook that is designed from the ground up to be a cloud machine could be easily produced using high-end PDA components. The main requirements would be a decent processor, very long battery life and an easy-to-use OS. Enter Palm."

I think that this is a really cool idea. I've been using a Dell Mini 9 since late November (2008) and I have mixed feeling about it. Yes, it is light and super portable. I liked the Foleo's exterior finishing better than the glossy lid on Dell's netbooks. I also like the fact that I can run Windows XP on the Dell netbook, but with only about 2.5 hours of battery life, I'm not going too far without my AC adapter. (I often can't go to a full morning's or afternoon's worth of meetings without having to break out the charger. Ugh!) There are only a handful of applications that I use my Dell Mini 9 for: note taking and word processing in Microsoft Word 2003; checking my email in Microsoft Outlook 2003 (I do have access to corporate email via a web mail portal but I prefer Outlook or my BlackBerry); calendaring; and web surfing with FireFox or Internet Explorer.

Now, here comes Palm with a "Foleo re-mix" taking the best concepts of the Foleo and combining it with the flexibility of Palm's new webOS platform, and you can have an ultra-portable device that can easily provide the kinds of features I'm looking for (word processing, email, calendaring, and web browsing) in a device that can run at least 8 hours with the screen set to a reasonable brightness level with Wi-Fi enabled. That would be a perfect device for me.

You can bet I'll be keeping a close eye on this rumor as we continue to move through th rest of the year.

You can read the full JKOnTheRun.com article here...

[Photo credit: JKOnTheRun.com]

Rumor: Sprint Still Toying with Pre Pricing

A recent article posted over on BoyGeniusReport.com suggests that the Sprint is still considering the pricing for Palm's Pre smartphone.

"Pricing is supposedly still being discussed but the probable points are as follows: New customers with a 2-year contract, $199.99. Existing customer upgrades, $299.99. Outright, $999.99. Yes, seriously."

Ouch! A thousand dollars to purchase a Palm Pre free and clear? Yikes!

[Via BoyGeniousReport.com...]

Rumor: The Foleo to Become a webOS Netbook

Calling all Foleo Fanatics! I just read an interesting post over on Palm InfoCenter that was posted by Ryan.

"Rumor: Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research, asserts in a note to clients today (via Tech Trader Daily) that Palm intends to produce a $399 netbook that will run WebOS. The speculation is not without precedent as Palm has stated on numerous occasions that the WebOS will power a family of products and has said in the past that a Foleo followup is not out of the question.

Chowdhry is saying that the device will basically be a revised version of the Foleo and will be powered by an ARM chipset and will use a Gobi 3G wireless chip from Qualcomm for an estimated 8-10 hour battery life. He says the project is being designed by three ex-Apple iPod guys."

Shortly after the Foleo was canceled, company officials indicated that the Foleo might return one day in the future. Here is to hoping that day has gotten a little closer.

[Via PalmInfocenter.com...]

Rumor: Palm to Launch a webOS Blitz in 2009 With Eos

PhoneNews.com is reporting that they have received confirmation that Palm will be launching a second webOS phone in 2009. The Palm Eos, if the rumors are true, will replace the last Palm OS smartphone, the insanely popular Centro.

Palm fans should expect to see the Palm Pre go live later this month on Sprint. Expect the Pre to show up in it's GSM/UMTS duds on Vodafone before the end of the year. And now we should expect to see the new Eos show up on AT&T and Sprint (GSM and EVDO, receptively) before the end of the year.

Take all of this with several gains of salt. Palm themselves have not talked about the Eos publicly yet, but the Centro needs to be replaced and I'm sure that Palm is more than ready to update their popular phone with something that is even more hip and inexpensive.

If all of this is true, I'm feeling really good about Palm's chances to stage a come back this year. w00t!

Get the inside scoop as reported by PhoneNews.com on the AT&T Palm Eos and the Sprint Palm Eos.

[Via PhoneNews.com...]

Image courtesy of Engadget.

Palm's Pre Gets Handled by Angelina Jolie

Dieter Bohn over at PreCentral.net is reporting that Angelina Jolie has been spending some "quality time" with Palm's upcoming smart(er)phone, the Pre.

"Being a Palm Pre blogger is tough, yo. One minute a tipster has you headed to your local shop to check out the latest Playboy for an article about the Pre, the next you're hunting down pictures of Angelina Jolie. These are but some of the services we provide [at PreCentral.net]."

Read the full article over at PreCentral.net...

(Mr. Bohn states that the photo has been altered to add the Palm Pre.)

This article reminds me of another celeb showing off her new Palm.


(Claudia Schiffer and the Palm Vx special edition. This photo hasn't been altered.)

Palm webOS Video Gallery

Clemens Schuchert, the editor of PUGcast the Blog, has assembled a large collection of YouTube videos of the many various Palm Pre and webOS videos that have been posted to the service.

The videos, which cover the Pre, webOS, and MotionApps Classic, have been assembled from a variety of sources including Palm's 2009 CES unveiling of the Pre and webOS, media interviews with Palm and Elevation Partners, and MotionApps.

Can't get enough of the Pre and webOS? Make sure you checkout PUGcast the Blog.

Palm Treo Pro Is On the Way

I have received word that Palm has shipped out a Sprint edition Treo Pro to me to take out for a test drive. Stay tuned for a review in the near future. I'm looking forward to playing with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional that has the brand spankin' new Pocket Internet Explorer 6.1 baked in.

Unlocked Palm Centro Now $199

Palm, in an emailed newsletter, has announced that customers of Palm's online store and pick up an unlocked Centro for a cool $199. Palm sells the unlocked Centro in three colors: Ruby Red, Glacier White, and my favorite, Cobalt Blue.

The Centro is a full-featured smartphone that brings the well respected ease of use of the Palm OS to a respectable price point without having to sign a 2-year contract or extension with AT&T or T-Mobile.

To start shopping for your new Centro, visit the Palm online store.

Briefly Noted: iPhone Apps, Smartphone OCD

This is just a quick note to talk about what is on my mind right now.

iPhone and iPod touch Software
I just downloaded three interesting applications form the Apple iTunes App Store: SplashNotes Outliner (link), WootWatch (link), and Cellfire Mobile Coupons (link). I'll let you know which ones stay on my iPod touch and which ones get the bit bucket after I've had some time to play with them.

More Smartphones
Many of my readers know I suffer from smartphone OCD. It has been about five months since I purchased my BlackBerry Curve. I'm starting to get that itch to smartphone again. This time I'm looking at the Palm Treo Pro (Sprint edition) or the T-Mobile G1. I like the looks of the Treo Pro body design, 320x320 display, and built in Wi-Fi. But...I haven't had a chance to play with the G1 yet. And let's not forget that DataViz Documents To Go is now available for Android phones, whcih includes the G1.

Rumor: Pre Gets a Launch Date

PhoneNews.com claims that they have the inside track on the real release date for the new Palm Pre smartphone.

"According to internal memos circulating within Sprint Retail Stores, Sprint has implemented a vacation freeze during the month of May for all front-end employees and has begun the process of employee training with the Palm Pre in preparation for one of two launch windows.

The first window involves Sprint receiving retail units of the Pre around late April to early May in preparation for a preliminary May 17th launch.

The second window involves Sprint receiving the same units in the aforementioned timeframe, but depending on the unit level received for stocking and sales, the launch would then be postponed to June 29th if the initial shipments are deemed too low to begin initial sales in May."

[Via PhoneNews.com...]

Rumor: Palm Pre Launch Date

ComputerWorld is reporting that an Everything Treo forum member has posted that Palm and Sprint could be launching the new Pre smartphone as early as April 15 or 16.

"Reports circulated on a Palm Inc. user forum that the highly anticipated Palm Pre smartphone would be available on Tax Day, April 15, but a spokesman for the Pre's wireless carrier would only say that the device would ship in the first half of the year.

A posting by someone identified as "Inittowinit" on the Everything Treo forum claimed that a Sprint Nextel Corp. customer-service representative on Saturday said that the Pre would be available on April 15 or 16 and that it would cost $300 after discounts with a two-year agreement. However, the poster added that the April date seemed too early, given the absence of any Palm advertising for the new smartphone."

Read the full CW article...

[Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net]

Palm Treo Pro comes to Telus in Canada

Earlier today Palm announced that its Treo Pro smartphone is now available at TELUS in Canada. With its smartly designed high-resolution color touch screen and full web-browsing capabilities layered on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Treo Pro is the ideal smartphone for business users and consumers.

Treo Pro offers TELUS clients simplicity and productivity - including TELUS mobile email, TELUS Navigator, Wi-Fi, web and 3G network capabilities - to meet the needs of businesses and consumers alike. Treo Pro's thin design blends style and functionality with an LCD touch screen, one-touch buttons and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Similar to the recently released Treo Pro for Sprint here in the United States, the Telus Treo Pro will also feature Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional.

The Telus Treo Pro can be purchased for as low as $149.99 with a 3-year voice and data plan activation with a minimum $20 monthly service fee.

For more information about Treo Pro at TELUS, visit the Palm website or www.telus.com.

Palm's Pre Smartphone in Sprint's New TV Ad

Jimmie over at GadgetsOnTheGo.net posted the new Sprint ad, in which the Palm Pre makes an appearance, posted to his website.

I kind of like this ad. I don't know why, it just strikes me as being funny. Not the laughing-so-hard-you-fall-out-of-your-chair funny, but funny none the less. Ok, enough of this money business. Just check out the commercial and let's hope that we will be able to get our hands on the Pre before the end of May.

More Details on Palm OS Emulation on webOS

Earlier this week Palm geeks everywhere where happy to learn that there would be third-party support for emulating Palm OS 5 on the new webOS platform thanks to the efforts of MotionApps.

SlashGearTV.com has some footage from the CTIA Wireless show of the the Pre's product manager showing off MotionApps' Classic running on webOS.

What I find really cool about this is that we can have our cake and eat it too. webOS is the much needed shot in the arm that is required to help reboot Palm and fling them back into the spotlight as an innovator in the mobile computing space. But who want's to be out there in webOS with not of the great software that you have been using for the last decade? For me, old habbits die hard, and I want to be able to have my Handmark Astraware games and DataViz Passwords Plus.

If you watch closely in the demo, you will learn that there is full 5-way nav support in Classic and Palm and Motion have worked together to ensure that the keyboard is fully integrated into the emulation environment. There was no word on whether or not you could continue to HotSync information and applications into Classic (my guess is no), but there was an icon called HotSync ID, which I'm guessing is a way to program your old Palm OS device's HotSync ID into the Classic environment. When you mount the Pre in USB drive mode to your Mac or PC desktop computer, you will be able to copy Palm OS applications (.prc files) and databases (.pdb files) int the classic folder and they will become available in Classic.

There was one other interesting morsel briefly mentioned in the demo. The person running the demo indicates that they worked with the developer of the popular medical package, epocrates, to come up with a new over the air (OTA) installer for the software. Holy smokes!! Sounds like MotionApps could be building in wireless support for Classic that might allow Classic to access the Pre's cellular radio to get wireless Internet access for your old Palm OS applications. How cool is that?! Pretty cool, huh? MotionApps plans to release more details as we get closer to the release of webOS and the new Palm Pre. The Palm product manager for the Pre indicates that Palm wants to make sure that customers will have the ability to run all of their favorite Palm OS applications on day one when the Pre goes on sale for Sprint.

For more details, keep checking the MotionApps website. Click the link below to watch the SlashGear video.

Palm Working Hard to Position Pre As the Anti-iPhone

Palm and their Pre launch partner Sprint have been working to show the mobile phone industry, specifically, end users, that the new Palm Pre is everything that the Apple iPhone is and more when it comes to third-party applications.

AppleInsider has an article of interest to Palm fans this morning.

"While third-party apps are being trumpeted as the iPhone's strength, key Palm Pre demos this week were designed to highlight their restrictions by taking advantage of those precise things that Apple won't allow.

At Sprint's press lounge during the CTIA Wireless Association's annual event, Palm stressed the advantages of the new webOS platform at the heart of the Pre by running presentations of carefully selected third-party software live on sample phones.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Palm also underlined Apple's refusal to permit interpreting code within third-party apps by showcasing an emulator that does just this. Mobile software developer MotionApps released an app known as Classic that, much as with Apple's own Classic that was present in Mac OS X until Leopard, recreates the entire working environment for an older operating system. In the case of webOS, it lets Pre users run PalmOS apps near full speed and as just one of any other, native apps that can be running at the same time."

Palm really surprised us when they showed off the Palm Pre and it's new mobile operating sytsem, webOS. webOS is the successor to the venerable Palm OS which has had a long service life over the last decade powering Palm's original PDA product line and then making the jump to the company's Treo and Centro smartphones.

The Pre and webOS are considered a make or break product launch for Palm. The more I learn about this new hardware and software dymamic duo, the more excited I am to get my hands on the hardware and software.

Read the full article on AppleInsider.com...

Palm Talks webOS SDK, Cloud Services, and Palm OS Emulation

Earlier this evening, I received an email from Palm announcing an expanded software development kit (SDK), their plans for cloud computing services and integration, and yes, Palm OS emulation is coming to webOS!

"Today at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Palm announced its webOS Early Access Program for developers. The Mojo SDK, previously available only to a select group of partners, will now be provided to a broader set of interested developers that apply for access at the Palm Developer Network website here: http://developer.palm.com. Initially, access to the program will be limited as the tools and systems continue to be refined and improved, with general availability scheduled for later this year. Additionally, Palm announced its plans for integrating cloud services into the new platform and an application from MotionApps that will allow legacy Palm OS applications to run on webOS devices."

Check out Palm's full press release...

This is totally awesome! Palm is finally starting to talk about the things that have been driving me nuts since January!

Palm OS 5 Emulation Coming to webOS

PreCentral.net is reporting that Palm indeed does have an ace up their sleeves for their new webOS mobile operating system that will debut on the Pre smart(er)phone.

"I just finished getting a great Palm Pre app walkthrough from Palm (video coming soon!), but this couldn't wait for the upload to finish. There was one app that Palm didn't want to talk about (but we suspect will be revealed tonight) the "Classic" icon you see above with a logo of a Palm device and a decidedly "Mac OS 9 Classic" feel to it.

Don't blink: Palm looks as though they are going to support PalmOS apps on the Pre and webOS via some sort of emulation app!"

PreCentral also reports that the emulation layer is being provided by MotionApps. The Classic icon is the third icon in the third column.

Read the full PreCentral.net article...

Given the fact that today is April 1, you might write this off as an April Fool's Day joke. The folks at PreCentral are on record as saying this is no joke. I'm really looking forward to this development and taking the new emulation environment out for a spin.

[Thanks to my anonymous tipster for the heads up.]

TealPoint Removes TealOS, Suspends Sales

You may recall back in January, TealPoint software made some serious buzz for themselves by releasing a new skin/launcher for Palm OS 5 devices called "TealOS." The point of TealOS was to mimic the look and feel of Palm's webOS operating system.

Earlier today, Teal has suspended the sale of TealOS and removed the software download links from their website. Customers who had previoiusly purchased TealOS can continue to use the software, however, no new licenes will be sold.

Vistor's Teal's TealOS web page will see the message:

"IMPORTANT! - A Palm's request, we have stopped selling TealOS on Monday March 30 at 5:00 PDT. Copies purchased prior to this, however, will continue to function."

There was a ground swell of support for TealOS by fans of Palm OS 5. Being a long time support of Palm OS I can understand the enthusiasm behind such a product. However, Palm is literally fighting for it's life and can't afford to have their software so closely copied. There can also be some confusion about what TealOS is and customer's not understanding that webOS and TealOS are not the same thing. At any rate, I hope that Palm's request to Teal to suspend the sale and distribution of TealOS is an indicataor that the Palm Pre, powered by the new webOS is on the verge of being released.

If you completely missed TealOS, you can still read the documentation and view a YouTube video of TealOS in action on the TealPoint website.

Palm Q3FY09 Wrap Up

Palm held their quarterly earns conference call last week and the revenue numbers didn't look good. According to Palm, they won't look good at the end of next quarter either. Eric Savitz over on Barron's Tech Trader Daily blog as a nice summary. Mr. Savitz writes:

"For investors in Palm, the company is now in a sort of spring training period - what matters is getting ready for opening day. No one really cares if the Yankees have the best record in in the Grapefruit League; and likewise, the Street has decided to simply ignore the absolutely nightmarish numbers Palm posted for the February quarter. Palm has one more free pass ahead; May’s report will be even nastier still, and investor won’t care unless there is an acceleration in cash burn. Palm is a company that, by design, is going down in flames, with every hope of rising Phoenix-like from the ashes."

I've loved using Palm's products over the last 10 years so I've always been a glass half full kind of guy when it comes to Palm. Regardless of what happens, Palm is betting the farm that the Palm Pre smartphone and it's new mobile operating system, webOS, are going to a hit. During the conference call, Palm's executives continue to stick to their guns and are porting that the Pre will ship before the end of the first half of this year.

Back in January, many expected Pre to ship in February, and then again by March 15th. That hasn't happened. I'm sure Palm and Sprint are both scambling to get this phone out the door. The challenge is that the phone and the software need to have a flawless execution once it gets into customer's hands. During 1SRC Podcast 205, I talked about the Pre likely shipping in late May as did the Treo 700p and 755p smartphones did. However, Mr. Savitz summerizes the situation a little bit differently by writing:

"The Palm Pre is expected to ship before the end of June; some analysts think it happen before the end of the May quarter, but most figure it will be later than that."

Let's hope that Palm and Sprint have that flawless launch. There is a lot riding on Pre and webOS.

You can read the full Barron's artilce on the Tech Trader Daily blog.

Rumor: Palm Pre Launching in Q2, 2009

The folks over at PhoneNews.com have gotten their hands on what appears to be the Sprint product road map through Q3, 2009. Of particular interest to Palm fans is that the Pre is scheduled to launch in Q2. If position in the grid has any meaning, and I don't know if that is true, the Pre could ship in the middle of the quarter. Do I hear May anyone?

Read the full article on PhoneNews.com...

Tweaking TealOS for More Productivity

Fellow Palm community blogger Clemens Schuchert, over at PUGcast The Blog, has written another good article about tweaking TealPoint's TealOS application launcher for Palm OS devices like the Treo 755p, Centro, and the recently retired Palm TX handheld.

Mr. Schuchert writes:

"Tealpoint's Palm Pre immitation of webOS for the PalmOS platform, called "TealOS", is a nice peace of software and once more a comittment of an long lasting software company to the Palm community. I am overwhelmed by Tealpoint's update activity, releasing two to three updates per day.

As I have indicated last time, TealOS could be a security issue for those working with password databases and sensitive data in general. Coming back to their update policy, I found a nice workaround and new implementation within the latest updates on how to handle sensitive data.

Last week, I proposed to exclude security applications such as Secret, Splash ID, etc. from being displayed as cards in order to prevent misuse of sensitive data. But there is more you want to prevent from being captured as card and put on the desktop. Applications, such as Card Reader, Hotsync, file explorers, weather applications, settings, JVM, Kamera, SMS, Backup applications, tools and utilities are run once for a particular purpose and are not intended to be displayed as card on the desktop. Firstly, every card (screenshot) will take precious RAM and secondly the more cards one have the more it slows down the system.

Why not thinking the other way round?! Instead of excluding 30 applications, why not explicitly alowing just the few of applications to be placed as cards, which you really want to have on the desktop for fast access?"

Keep reading Tweak TealOS for More Productivity by Inverted Thinking...

If you haven't already done so, you should also read Mr. Schuchert's article about TealOS security tweaks.

Palm Treo Pro Now Available on Sprint

Today the Palm Treo Pro went live, finally, on Sprint's wireless network. Sprint customers join those of Alltel (EVDO) and AT&T (unlocked GSM) in all of the yummy Treo Pro goodness.

For those who don't know, the Treo Pro is Palm's latest Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 device. The Treo Pro for Sprint sports the latest software updates from Microsoft which includes Pocket Internet Explorer 6.1 . In addition to software updates, the Treo Pro also includes a 320x320 touch screen, a 2.0MP digital camera, Wi-Fi and GPS radios, voice dialing, a microSDHC card slot, and a microUSB data sync and charging port. For a complete listing of the Treo Pro's specifications, visit the Palm website.

The Treo Pro can be orderd on the Sprint website for as little as $199.99 after a $250 instant rebate and a $100 mail-in rebate and a qualifying two-year service agreement. Customers who do not wish to extend their contact will need to pony up $549.99. The Palm Treo Pro will also be available at Sprint's retail locations.

To purchase your Palm Treo Pro, visit the Sprint website.

Smartphones, Cellular Networks Disappoint Customers

Last week, during the Palm/Sprint Pre event, an industry customer return rate of 20% was cited for PDA smartphones. Over the weekend, The New York Times ran an article about spotty 3G wireless network coverage. A smartphone is only as good as the network it is on. If you don't have cellular coverage you might as well have left your phone back in your office. The same is true for the feature that manufacturers pack into their phones. The fact of the matter is that most customers don't read the thick user manuals that come with their phones. The result is that customers never realize the full potential of their smartphones.

For example, Mr. Richtel writes for The New York Times:

"Oh, the things modern mobile phones can do. They are music-playing, video-taking, direction-providing multimedia powerhouses. But many people have trouble getting them to perform their most basic functions, like making phone calls."

"The resulting technological glitches have given many owners of fancy new phones the urge to throw them out the window and onto the highway."

The rest of Mr. Richel's article goes on to talk about customer's dissatisfaction with their cellular carrier's 3G wireless networks.

I think that articles like the one that appeared in The New York Times and statistics like the one Sprint quoted last week show that carriers and manufacturers have a real problem to deal with.

There is no one silver bullet that will fix this issue for any of the parties involved. Apple, Palm, and Sprint have taken some positive steps. Apple, leading the charge for easy to use devices, has been leveraging their retail Apple Store locations to help educate customers with one-to-one training sessions. You can make an appointment with one of Apple's Geniuses who will teach you how to use Apple's products. Can't make it down to an Apple store? No problem. Apple has a number of short tutorials on their website that explain how to use the iPhone. If people are unwilling to read the user guide, they are likely willing to watch a short video. I haven't read any statistics on how well Apple's videos have been received. Sprint's Ready Now program aims to offer a similar service when you stop in their stores to buy a new phone.

In store training is good, however, I think Palm is working to make the Pre, powered by their new webOS operating system is also making positive strides to making smartphones easier to use.

The webOS, according to Palm, will have an "instinctive user interface" and "intuitive and unobtrusive notifications" is suppose to make using the Pre easier to use. The first Palm smartphone that will use the webOS, the Palm Pre, will go on sale later this year. Palm used to have a motto of "Delight the customer." Any smartphone maker and wireless network operator that can pull that off will stand to gain significant market share.

Customer frustration with their phones and the carriers they sign a 2-year service contact with is a real problem for the industry. Customers are looking for technology that is simple to use. The good news is that companies like Apple, Palm, and Sprint are moving in the right direction. Hopefully by the time our 2-year contacts are up, things will have improved.

You can read the full New York Times article on their website.

Notes from the Palm/Sprint Pre Event

Yesterday afternoon I attended Palm and Sprint's Pre event. The following are my notes from the presentation which featured David Owens, Director of Consumer Acquisition for Sprint, and Matt Crowley, Product Line Manager at Palm.

The show's host was quick to clear the air about the Palm Pre's availability date and pricing; that information was not going to be discussed on this webcast.













Some of Sprint's customers are too young to remember the Treo 300?! Zoinks! A statement like that tells me that Sprint and Palm are going to targeting teens with the Pre. Or, more accurately, the paying parents of teens. If customers want to enjoy the full benefits of the Pre's capabilities, subscribing to a Sprint Simply Everything plan is recommended.

Sprint also indicated that not all of their service plans will be available for the Palm Pre. Expect Sprint to offer the Individual, Family, and Business Simply Everything plans which start at $99.99 a month with the Palm Pre.

Sprint will also be encouraging their customers to partcipate in their Ready Now program. If you are not familiar with Ready Now, I wasn't until I watched the webcast and I'm a Sprint customer, it is a program where you can work with a sales associate one-on-one to select your phone, set it up, and then have them teach you how to use it. This may seem like a waste of time for smartphone fanatics like us, but there is a huge pool of customers who find "PDAs" too complex. 20% was tossed out as the generic industry number for the return rate for PDA smartphones. This return rate was mentioned because most people find smartphones too complicated and don't want to read a 267 page user guide.

The Palm Pre Smartphone

When the Palm Pre was developed, it was designed with a polished river stone in mind. There are no sharp edges on the Pre. Everthing is rounded.











Contact information can come from Google, corporate Exchange servers via Exchange ActiveSync, or Facebook for example. Palm's Crowley did indicate that data was stored in a local database on the Pre. That should be good news for people who are worried about losing access to their PIM data when the phone is off or when they are in a wireless coverage dead zone.













The Synergy data synchronization engine works with email, calendar, and the address book. There was no update as to how the Pre will sync with Microsoft Outlook on a PC desktop computer or how customers will be able to migrate data out of Palm Desktop and into the Pre. There are a few ways to move data around now on the Mac and Windows PCs today, but they require that you know how to export and import data using a comma separated values file (.csv files) or a paid utility that pushes data from Palm Desktop into Outlook. Stay tuned on this point. I believe that Palm is working with Chapura to help liberate data in Palm Desktop 3, 4, and 6 and move it to the Pre. Chapura has been helping customers to synchronize data with Outlook for the last 10 years. DataViz may also have a product to help migrate data as they have some experience in this area with their Beyond Contacts application.














webOS' search application is called Universal Search. When you start typing in webOS, the software begins searching your phone for the information you are looking for. If the inforation is not found on the device, you are presented with a screen to begin a search on the Inetnet using Google. In the demo, the user has to trigger the search on the Internet. This should also be a comfort to people who like to keep a tight control on how often and how long their phone is connected to the Internet.

The zoom in/out controls for webOS is exactly like those on Apple's iPhone/iPod touch. No wonder why Apple's COO Tim Cook seemed so upset during the recent Apple quarterly earnings conference call. (I'm on the record as saying that there will be no law suit between Apple and Palm.)

Palm's Crowley reiterated the same information from the CES demo: notifications in webOS do not interrupt the foreground application like they do today in Palm OS 5. Notifications push up into the bottom third of the screen, but don't change the focus away from the application that the customer is in the middle of using. That is such a nice feature.












Crowley also spent some time talking about the coolest feature of the Pre, the Touchstone charging base. Touchstone is a conductive magnetic base that works with the Pre to change the phone when it is at rest on the pedestal. The Pre's webOS knows that it is on Touchstone and if a call comes in while it is at rest on Touchstone, the call immediately goes to speaker phone mode. The Pre can be used in portrait or landscape mode while attached to Touchstone. The Touchstone charger will be sold as an accessory and will be available at Sprint retail locations when Pre launches. Customers will not be required to purchase a Touchstone and the Pre will come bundled wiht a microUSB charging cable.

This week's Pre event was very much about getting the word out about the Palm Pre smartphone and Palm's continuing partnership with Sprint. There wasn't a lot of discussion of some of the technical details about how the Pre will sync with your data that isn't already in the cloud or in a corporate Exchane server. I encougae Palm to start talking about how customers will need to sync their PIM data before the Pre goes on a sale later this year.

Gagets On The Go: Sprint Treo Pro Hands On

My friend and fellow gadget blogger, Jimmie Geddes, has gotten his hands on on the new Palm Treo Pro for Sprint a few days early.

"The Sprint Treo Pro comes in the exact same packaging as the unlocked Treo Pro. Palm's packaging for the Sprint Treo Pro is very reminiscent of Apple's iPhone packaging. It's clear that Palm wants to make a great first impression before you even get to the Treo Pro inside its box and they succeed in doing so. Very classy!"

Keep reading...

[Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net...]

SPF Will Be Attending Palm's Pre Event

Palm and Sprint will be holding a series of invitation only Palm Pre events and I will be in attendance. The first webcast will be held soon so be sure to come back to Smartphone Fanatics for all the details.

Palm Treo Pro Comes to Alltel Wireless

Palm continues their roll out of their latest Windows Mobile phone, the Treo Pro, around the world. Today's news is that Alltel Wireless now has the Treo Pro available for their business customers. As was previously mentioned here, the Alltel Treo Pro will ship with Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 and the new version of Pocket Internet Explorer, version 6.0.

"Palm, Inc.and Alltel Wireless today announced that the Treo Pro smartphone is available today at Alltel Wireless retail stores and online at alltel.com. Treo Pro is a sleek, full-function smartphone that offers business users the ease of use and robust features they demand while providing the reliability and manageability IT departments require. With Wi-Fi, GPS and Windows Mobile 6.1, Treo Pro helps busy professionals stay connected on the go so they can structure their lives around their priorities without sacrificing work productivity."

"Businesses want the control and savings that Windows affords, in an innovative and elegant package that keeps their users happy. Treo Pro balances both," said John Traynor, vice president, business products, Palm, Inc.

"Treo Pro strengthens our aggressive business product portfolio by letting customers easily stay connected and experience Alltel's broadband network," said Angela Rittgers, director of product management for Alltel Wireless. "Businesses will benefit from Treo Pro's advanced functionality and well-designed user interface."

Alltel customers looking to purchase the Treo Pro can do so for $199 with a two-year service agreement. For more information about the Treo Pro, visit the Palm website. Customers can view the service plans and pricing on the Treo Pro on the Alltel website.

Palm and Sprint Talk Treo Pro Release Date

Looks like after a false start or two, Palm and Sprint are finally on the same page and are talking about the release date for the Treo Pro.

"Palm, Inc. and Sprint today announced the upcoming availability of the Treo Pro smartphone for the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network on March 15."

"Treo Pro will be available through all Sprint retail channels, including www.sprint.com/treopro, 1-800-SPRINT1 and Sprint retail stores, for $199.99 with a two-year subscriber agreement (after a $100 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate, with an Everything plan with data or a $30 per month or higher data add-on). It also will be available through the Palm Store (www.palm.com/store) and Palm's B2B sales organization beginning March 16."

"Treo Pro is a sleek, full-function smartphone offering users the ease of use and robust features they demand while providing the reliability and manageability IT departments require. With the EV-DO Rev. A speeds of Sprint's Mobile Broadband Network, Wi-Fi, GPS and Windows Mobile 6.1 capabilities, Treo Pro helps busy professionals stay connected on the go so they can structure their lives around their priorities without sacrificing work productivity."

"Business decision makers require a product that not only integrates seamlessly into their existing IT infrastructures, but one that's also cost-effective," said John Traynor, vice president, business products, Palm, Inc. "Treo Pro delivers just that - a feature set that IT managers need to support their mobile work force."

In a related new article, the folks over at Engadget Mobile are reporting that the new "special blend" Sprint Treo Pro (which does sport different hardware specs than the unlocked GSM edition) will in fact ship with a version of Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional that will include Pocket Internet Explorer 6.

"Occasionally, Microsoft will freshen an existing version of WinMo with a so-called AKU, and going forward, all 6.1 devices to hit the market (including the Sprint Treo Pro, coincidentally) will use AKU 1.4, which includes IE Mobile 6."

I'm glad to see that Palm has refined the totally sexy Treo Pro for Sprint and even baked in the latest version of Windows Mobile Professional. If the Palm Pre wasn't so close to launch, I'd probably spring for one one since I'm a Sprint customers.

Palm Reports Preliminary Q3 FY09 Results

Earlier today, Palm released their preliminary results for their Q3FY09 period which ended back on February 27. The news doesn't look good.

Palm states that they are on target to end the quarter somewhere between $85 to $95 million dollars. The reasons for such a low earning quarter? According to Palm, there is continuing decline for the company's "maturing legacy smartphone products," a sluggish economy, and "later-than-expected shipments" of the Treo Pro in the United States.

Allow me to translate: Palm isn't selling the Treo 755p and Centro anymore; people are worried about paying for the essentials - not smartphones; and Palm and Sprint can't get the Windows Mobile Treo Pro, which has completely overshadowed the Treo 800w, certified and out the door.

The silver lining in all of this is that the company is reporting that the new webOS-powered Pre is still on target for a launch in this half of 2009.

"The much-anticipated launch of the Palm Pre remains on track for the first half of calendar year 2009, but as expected we've got a difficult transition period to work through," said Palm President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Colligan. "Despite the challenging market environment, the extraordinary response to the Palm Pre and the new Palm webOS reaffirms our confidence in our long-term prospects and our ability to reestablish Palm as the leading innovator in the growing smartphone market."

And speaking of webOS, a small little nugget was dropped in today's statement.

"Separately, Palm indicated that since it expects to periodically provide new software features free of charge to customers of its Palm webOS products, including the recently announced Palm Pre, it will recognize the revenues and cost of revenues associated with Palm webOS product sales on a straight-line basis over the product's estimated economic life of 24 months. The company will be recording deferred revenues and deferred cost of revenues on its balance sheet, and amortizing them into earnings on a straight-line basis over the estimated economic product life of 24 months. The company will continue to expense engineering, sales and marketing costs as they are incurred. This accounting treatment will have no impact on cash flow."

From that statement, we can draw the conclusion that Palm might be returning to a position that the company held years ago to provide free software updates to customers. It also indicates that the Pre will have a service life of about two years.

Palm will be reporting their full Q3FY09 results on Thursday, March 19. A conference call will be held at 4:30pm ET/1:30pm PT.

Palm webOS Developer Webcast Posted

Jon Zilber posted a note on the Palm company blog on Friday afternoon to let us know that the O'Reilly webcast on developing applications for Palm's new mobile operating system, webOS, has been posted online.

Mr. Zilber writes:

"If you missed O'Reilly's SRO webinar featuring Palm's Software CTO Mitch Allen, here's your chance to catch it whenever you like. You can also leave questions and feedback for Mitch and the rest of the team on the Palm Developer Network blog (and they'll answer the ones they can). "

Palm Treo Pro Comes to Canada on Bell

On Friday, Palm announced that its Treo Pro smartphone is now available to customers of Canada's Bell wireless network.

The Palm Treo Pro is now available on Bell Mobility's high-speed mobile network (EV-DO Rev. A), marking its debut in Canada. With its streamlined design and Palm innovations layered on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Treo Pro allows businesses to simplify their IT infrastructures while lowering costs and keeping their users productive and happy. The 3G-capable Treo Pro smartphone is now available to Bell Mobility clients for a limited-time price of $99.95 on a three-year contract.

Treo Pro offers Bell Mobility clients simplicity and productivity - including email, Wi-Fi, GPS, web and CDMA EV-DO Rev. A network capabilities - to meet the needs of businesses and end users alike. Treo Pro's thin design blends a flush, high-resolution colour touch screen, one-touch buttons and a full QWERTY keyboard. The removable battery packs up to four hours of talk time and enough strength for the business user's needs, offering a powerful yet effortless mobile experience.

"Treo Pro is a perfect fit for the busy business professional or casual user who needs on-the-go access to business tools or their personal email," said John Traynor, vice president, business products, Palm, Inc. "Treo Pro's capabilities, including Wi-Fi and GPS, ensure users can be highly responsive, available and productive with a powerful yet effortless mobile experience."

"By offering Treo Pro on the Bell Mobility network, we continue to provide Bell Mobility clients with a combination of the best smartphone technology and leading business and consumer data services," said Adel Bazerghi, Bell Mobility's senior vice president of Products. "Treo Pro meets and exceeds the needs of Bell Mobility clients who want access to their business tools."

Bell customers can learn more about the Palm Treo Pro on the Palm website or the Bell website.

Palm Halts Production of Handhelds

I just received word that Palm has officially closed down production of their three remaining classic handheld PDAs. By March 1, 2009 Palm will no longer be manufacturing the Palm Z22, the Tungsten E2, or the Palm TX.

While some will find this news difficult to accept, these three icons from Palm's original mobile computing business have had a long service life. The Tungsten E2, the oldest of the trio (not "Treo"), was released in April of 2005. I am not aware of any other Palm device that enjoyed a 4 year service life. Not even the wildly popular Tungsten C had a shelf life of that long. The remaining two PDAs, the Z22 and the Palm TX (sometimes referred to as the "Tungsten T7 or Tungsten X) where both released in October 2005.

Palm executives have been sending out warnings that the traditional PDA business was coming to an end. During quarterly conference calls, Palm President and CEO Ed Colligan likened the PDA business to a passenger jet coming in for a smooth landing. Today we learned that the plane has touched down, taxied to the gate, and the engines have been powered down.

You will still be able to purchase Palm's handheld PDAs from the Palm online store and other retailers until inventories are fully depleted. If you are interesting in purchasing the last flagship handheld, the Palm TX, Palm is currently selling the PDA for $199 (regularly $299) at their online store. Palm's online store also has the Z22 on sale for $99 (no discount). It appears that the Tungsten E2 is completely sold out at the Palm online store.

I have been using Palm's handhelds since 1999. The last 10 years have been lots of fun learning about, using, and supporting Palm's products on Brighthand, 1SRC, and Palm's own community help forums. Palm's PDAs may soon be gone from store shelves, but I still have my Tungsten T5, TX, and LifeDrive on my computer desk.

Rumor: Palm Pre Launching Later Than Expected

PreCentral.net is running a story today that suggests that the Palm Pre may ship later than some had hoped. You will recall in our debate on 1SRC.com Podcast show 205 that Jeff Kirvin, Rick Cartwright, and I where in disagreement about when in "the first half of 2009" the Pre would ship. Rick and I where leaning toward late May for a target launch of the Pre while Jeff was expecting that the Pre would be on sale in just a few weeks; certainly by April.

PreCentral.net's Dieter Bohn, writes:

"While we knew all along (despite crazy hopes) that the February 15th release date was just a pipe dream, we were hoping the persistent rumors (now circulating on the Ides of March) meant that the "First half of 2009" target would mean something sooner than June. Well, we're a little less hopeful today. First up an anonymous report which we're not putting much stock in (yet) claims that testing is taking longer than expected due to some security issues. More interestingly, in our forums we read that the Pre has two more rounds to testing to come, the first of these not slated to begin until April 1st."

[Via PreCentral.net...]

MWC: Palm Pre Update

Now that Mobile World Congress (MWC) has wrapped up, here is where things stand in regard to Palm's upcoming webOS powered smartphone, the Pre.

Without much fanfare, Palm was showing off a GSM version of the Pre in Barcelona last week. While there was no press release for the GSM Pre last week, the UK Palm website now has a teaser page posted where customers can sign up to be notified by email when the phone is available. Further, clicking on the press release and details links, visitors are redirected to the US Palm website where they can read the press release from this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). About the only difference that we can tell about at this point is that there is a GSM version of the Pre on the way for 2009. We also saw pictures of the GSM Pre sporting a Vodafone SIM card.














Engadget is also reporting that Palm will be shipping a new matte back plate for the Pre smartphone for use with the Palm Touchstone charging cradle accessory. This will come as great news for fans of the soft touch paint that Palm has been using on recent devices like the Treos 750 and 755p. The glossy back make look cool on the Pre, but I'd much rather have that soft touch backing that makes the phone so much easier to hang on to while using it.

Palm also announced that they will be working with Adobe on bring Flash applications to the webOS. To help achive this goal, Palm has joined Adobe's Open Screen Project. The Open Screen Project aims to build a common standard for building applications and web browsing "standalone applications and full web browsing across televisions, desktops and mobile devices taking advantage of Adobe Flash Platform capabilities." In other words, according to the Adobe press release, "[t]he work of the Open Screen Project will help deliver Adobe® Flash® Player for smartphones on the new Palm® webOS™ platform." Not to shabby.

"We’re excited that our customers will benefit from the creativity and broad range of Flash content and applications created by the millions of designers and developers using Adobe’s popular tools and technologies,” said Pam Deziel, vice president, software product management, Palm, Inc."

“As an industry innovator Palm will be an important contributor to the Open Screen Project,” said Michele Turner, vice president for Product Marketing, Flash Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “We’re aiming to bring a rich, Flash technology-enabled browsing experience to Palm’s impressive web browser.”

By building in support for Adobe's Flash Player into the operating system, there should be a surge of new applications and developers for the fledgling webOS platform.

Lastly, Engadget also reports that games are in development for the webOS platform, however, that for the time being, since "web-style app development will limit gaming options."

[Via Engadget Mobile...]

GSM Palm Pre on Vodafone Spotted

Reports are coming in from Mobile World Congress (MWC) currently going on in Barcelona that a GSM Palm Pre has been spotted with a Vodafone SIM card. PreCentral.net writes:

"As Dieter mentioned earlier this morning straight from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, there are some GSM flavored Pre's floating around that are live on Vodafone's network.

Palm hasn't announced the GSM version of the Pre at MWC, but those GSM versions sure have been spotted. Seems that the folks over at Pre Community got a shot (above) of an actual Vodafone Spain SIM card in one of the Pre's being used for demonstrations at MWC."

Check out the full article on PreCentral.net...

[Via PreCentral.net...]

Palm and O'Reilly To Release webOS Programming Book

Earlier today, Palm and O'Reilly Media announced that they are working on writing the first official software development resource for Palm's new mobile operating system, webOS.

"Palm webOS is unlike any mobile platform available today," said Mitch Allen, vice president and software chief technology officer, Palm, Inc. "Because it leverages several industry-standard web technologies, including CSS, HTML and JavaScript, it enables them to build native JavaScript applications and provides a rich open development environment that's familiar to tens of millions of web developers. I'm excited to be working with O'Reilly to show the developer community just how easy and satisfying it is to develop applications for webOS."

"Palm has stepped up to the plate in terms of working with open standards and delivering a platform the mobile community can embrace," said Executive Editor Steve Weiss, O'Reilly. "Mobile application development has emerged as one of the guiding themes in tech for the foreseeable future, and O'Reilly is pleased to be working directly with Palm to create the best learning resources for application designers and developers as quickly as possible."

Developers who are interested in reading a rough draft of the first chapter of "Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo Framework" can do so for free from the Palm Developer Network portal.

O'Reilly will be publishing more information about their book, including the table of contents, index, and samples after 10AM Eastern on the O'Reilly website.

I'm really excited to see that Palm is working with the developer community to garner support for their new mobile operating system. Their choice of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript should make the webOS accessable to professional and hobbyist developers who had never considered writing mobile applications before.

Editorial: The Evolution of Palm OS

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about Palm OS and her Centro. She was surprised to see that my email signature read, “Sent from my BlackBerry Curve” and not “Sent from my Palm Treo 755p.”

The conversation continued a few hours later when Geri and I met face to face. The problem wasn’t that I was using a BlackBerry. My friends are used to seeing me with some new gadget every few months. In fact they expect it, demanding to see my new “toy” when we get together. Geri has never been one to pull her punches and asked, “Is the Palm OS dead?” She was questioning her recent decision to buy a Centro that I recommended when I was still using my Treo 755p and she a Z22. My response was that Palm OS had evolved into something completely new.

When Palm launches their new Pre smartphone, likely to be sometime in the next 90 days, it will mark the ending of the Palm OS era and the beginning of the new Palm webOS platform. Yes, webOS will be virtually indistinguishable from the Palm OS. webOS will be controlled by your finger - not a stylus or navigation ring. Applications will be written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript rather than C/C++. And our old applications will not run on the new platform.

webOS, and the Pre, is all about simplicity. The user interface of webOS will be clean and functional. Palm developed webOS to be intuitive, so you will be able to learn it’s gestures quickly without having to flip through a thick manual with small print. Most importantly, webOS will be able to multitask so it can switch from task to task as quickly as you do. In short, Palm took their Zen of Palm design philosophy from Palm OS and transplanted it into the DNA of webOS.

Yes, the software is all-new, but the legendary Palm ease of use and attention to the customer’s needs is still there, at the heart of the new OS.

“Ok, so that sounds nice. But will my data transfer?,” was the next question. For the legions of Palm OS users who nervously await the arrival of the Pre, this is the $64,000 question. Without knowing the specific details, we all know, deep down, that the answer will be “Yes.” Why am I so sure? Palm wants their Palm OS customers to upgrade someday.

When Palm announced webOS and the Pre last month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), they focused on the built-in applications and the new hardware. They did talk about a new synchronization engine called “Synergy” in conjunction with Outlook, the cloud (read: Internet), Gmail, and Yahoo. But there was no mention of Palm Desktop or the PIM application data that is currently stored in our Palm Centro and Treo smartphones today.

Let’s set aside my theory about Palm’s own web portal solution, that will link your Mac OS X or Windows PC to a Palm server which in turn links to your Pre or other future webOS device for a minute. During the CES presentation, Palm displayed a slide that listed a number of companies that they were working with to develop software for the new platform. One of those companies was Chapura, a company that has had a long relationship with Palm. Chapura was there when I started using a Palm back in 1999. Ten years later, Chapura is still developing great software that unlocks the data in your computer and puts it at your fingertips wherever you are. Even if Palm choses to get out of the desktop software business entirely, I am confident that Chapura, DataViz, or SplashData will develop a tool for migrating your data either from your computer to your new phone or from your old Palm OS Centro or Treo to your new Pre or a cloud portal (read: Google or Yahoo). The thing to take away is that even though Palm isn’t talking about data migration right now, rest assured, there will be multiple ways to move your data over. You won’t be left to retype your contacts list into your new Pre.

To summarize, Palm OS will not be used in any more devices from Palm. Palm officials have been crystal clear on that point. Devices that use Palm OS today will not stop working when the Pre begins to ship with webOS. Palm’s webOS is all together different than Palm OS, however, Palm’s special “secret sauce” will ensure that webOS will be just as easy to use as Palm OS is today. And Palm has a plan for migrating your data to a new device.

So how about it Palm? Can we start talking about the specifics around webOS, Synergy, and the migration path from Palm OS?

Oh, and about the BlackBerry being my everyday device? I’ve already migrated all of my contacts from Palm Desktop into my Google Gmail account and I’m wirelessly synchronizing data between the two. Just think of the BlackBerry as a place holder until I buy my new Palm Pre smart(er)phone.

Palm Treo Pro Comes to Brazil on Claro Network

Palm has launched the Palm Pro smartphone on the Claro Network for our friends in Brazil.

"Everything about Treo Pro -- from the hardware design to the packaging and accessories - embodies the elegant and simplified end-to-end experience that our customers expect from Palm," said Mark Halliden, managing director, Brazil, for Palm, Inc. "Businesses want the control and savings that Windows Mobile affords, in an innovative and elegant package that keeps their users happy. Treo Pro balances both."

The Treo Pro smartphone, based on the popular Windows Mobile platform, helps optimize business processes by effortlessly mobilizing users with enhancements to the Windows Mobile 6.1 platform, including:

• One-touch Wi-Fi button - Easy, fast Wi-Fi connection experience (802.11b/g).
• Ringer switch - Silences the device immediately.
• Screen saver - Lets users know at a glance - without turning on the device - what time it is and whether they have missed a call or have a new SMS/MMS message.
• New voicemail indicator - The center button flashes to let users know that a voicemail is waiting.
• Dedicated email and calendar buttons -- Fast one-button access.
  

For more details, visit the Palm website...

Astraware Launches Bubble Shuffle

Astraware has released what appears to be another great word puzzle game for Palm OS, Windows Mobile Professional, and iPhone/iPod touch.

"Astraware(R) - the Handmark(R) Games StudioTM has today released a fun new word game featuring ever-friendly, fishy host, Wordsworth Smartygills. Bubble ShuffleTM follows on from Bubble Babble in the 'Bubble' word game series.

Bubble Shuffle is a simple undersea-themed word-building game that challenges players to create words from a given set of bubble letters. Perfect for adults and children, the game begins with 4 letters to work from and increases over multiple levels to 7 letters. To progress from level to level players must create at least one word from all of the letters. Players can shuffle the bubbles as many times as they want, to help them find more words.

The game features 4 fun game modes - 2 timed, and 2 more relaxing untimed games, each with a variation on the basic gameplay. Wordsworth Smartygills guides you through how to play, and can provide hints and clues throughout the game just by tapping him. Bubble Shuffle includes 4 levels of difficulty, and advanced anagram-anglers are rewarded for finding more unusual and esoteric words, with the option of requiring rare words from the inbuilt extended dictionary!

Players can earn a collection of colorful seahorse pets for Wordsworth by various achievements, from reaching new difficulty levels to the challenge of finding all of the possible words within the time limit.

Bubble Shuffle is available for Palm OS(R), Windows Mobile(R), iPhoneTM and iPod(R) touch. For more information, visit http://www.astraware.com/bubbleshuffle."

Fans of Astraware's games will recall that game host "Wordsworth Smartygills" first appeared in Bubble Babble, another undersea word game which is currently available for Palm OS, Windows Mobile Professional, and Windows Mobile Smartphone.

BGR: Sprint Smartphone Line Up Leaked

BoyGeniusReport.com has gotten then hands on some upcoming handset changes coming to Sprint over the next few months. Take the list with a grain of salt, as I agree with Mr. Epstein that it will likely be "later" than "sooner" for the Palm Pre to launch, especially if Sprint is sitting on a large inventory of blue Treo 755p handsets.

Device Name - Projected Warehouse EOL - Replacement (if available)

Palm 755P (blue) - Late May - Palm Pre (target in-stock 3/15)
Palm Centro (berry) - June
Palm Centro (green) - July
Palm Centro refresh (black) - July
Palm 800W - April - Palm Treo Pro (target in-stock 2/15)
RIM BlackBerry 7100i - August - RIM BlackBerry 8350i
RIM BlackBerry Pearl (red) - May
HTC Touch Diamond - July
LG Rumor (blue) - Mid February - LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
LG Rumor (green) - Mid March - LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
LG Rumor (black) - Mid April - LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
Samsung M520 Lumina - Mid April - LG LX370 (slider)
Sanyo 6750 Eclipse (pink) - June
Motorola Q9C - Mid June
Sierra 597E - July - Sierra 2-in-1 Aircard
Motorola VE20 - July

[Via BoyGeniusReport.com...]

Palm Centro Comes to Bell Mobility

Today, Palm launched the Centro in Canada on the Bell Mobility EVDO network and is available in the same midnight blue color that was previously released in Mexico and here in the United States on Verizon Wireless.

"Centro is the best example of a user-friendly smartphone that's both fun and easy to use," said Brodie Keast, senior vice president of marketing for Palm, Inc. "Centro's sleek and lightweight design makes it perfect for first-time smartphone users who want voice, text, email, web, contact and calendar capabilities all wrapped into one compact device."

"Bell Mobility is pleased to add the Palm Centro to our industry-leading lineup of smartphones, all of them with access to the fastest and largest network across North America," said Adel Bazerghi, Bell Mobility's senior vice president of Products. "Clients who choose the affordable Palm Centro will love the instant access to great mobile applications like Facebook for Palm and Google Maps."

The Bell Mobility edition Centro will sell for $49.95 (Canadian Dollars) with a 3-year service agreement. Bell customers can purchase a Centro for $399 without a service agreement.

For more details, visit the Bell Mobility website.

Changes to Palm's Board of Directors

Palm is reporting, by way of a SEC Form 8-K filing, that Donna Dubinsky has left her post on Palm's Board of Directors. Ms. Dubinsky has been replaced by Rajiv Dutta, who was designated by private investment firm, Elevation Partners.

"Under the Agreement, Elevation has the right to designate an additional director for election to the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”).

On January 26, 2009, and in light of the Board’s desire to maintain its current size, Donna Dubinsky offered to resign from the Board immediately in advance of the election to the Board of a director designated by Elevation. Ms. Dubinsky’s offer to resign as a director was not the result of any disagreement with the Company.

On January 30, 2009, Elevation designated Rajiv Dutta for election to the Board. Mr. Dutta retired as the President of eBay Marketplaces and Executive Vice President of eBay Inc. in October 2008 and as a member of eBay’s board of directors in July 2008. The Board is expected to meet shortly to consider Ms. Dubinsky’s offer to resign from the Board and Mr. Dutta’s election to the Board."

The full Form 8-K report can be found on Palm's Investor Relations website.

In addition to working at eBay, Mr. Dutta has also recently worked at PayPal (June 2006 - January 2008) and at desktop VOIP pioneer Skype (October 2005 - June 2006) according to an executive profile on Forbes.com.

Rumor: Palm Pre Unlocked GSM Specs

Looks like Sprint isn't the only one jumping the gun and prematurely posting details about Palm's upcoming hardware. This time the mobile electronics retailer Elite-Electronix has posted what appears to be a pre-order page with the full product specs for Palm's not-exactly-announced-but-we-knew-it-is-coming unlocked GSM Pre smartphone. The site also lists the unlocked GSM Pre as having a $599.95 USD price tag with an expected ship date as June 2009.

[Thanks to Mark for the tip.]

Rumor: Best Buy to Sell the Palm Pre

It looks like Sprint is angling to iron out a deal with electronics retailer Best Buy to be retail sales location for Palm's newest smartphone, the Pre, when it goes live later this year. Information news website Bloomberg.com writes:

"Sprint Nextel Corp., the money-losing U.S. wireless carrier, is in talks with Best Buy Co. to sell Palm Inc.’s Pre once the phone makes its debut this year, potentially putting the device in more than 1,000 stores.

“I’m really excited that they’re back in the game,” Score said of Palm in an interview. “We’re working with Sprint on that, but no official announcement as of yet.”

Palm plans to introduce the Pre, which uses its new WebOS operating software, in the first half of 2009. Sprint spokeswoman Michelle Mermelstein said the company hasn’t confirmed any decisions about its retail partners and declined to give further details on pricing or the date of the release. Palm spokeswoman Leslie Letts didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. "

In a separate rumor, it is said that Palm's latest Windows Mobile smartphone, the Treo Pro, could be coming to Sprint as soon as February 15.

[Via PalmInfoCenter.com...]

BGR: Sprint Treo Pro Appears, Then Vanishes

The Boy Genius Report is reporting today that the Palm Treo Pro make a brief cameo appearance on the Sprint online store today and then just as quickly disappeared.

There have been a lot of rumors around the Internet about Palm's next Windows Mobile device on the Sprint network, including photos of the retail packaging of the Sprint Treo Pro edition. Earlier this week, PalmInfoCenter was reporting that the new CDMA edition of the Treo Pro will get a bit of a boost from the rumored hardware tweaks over it's unlocked GSM cousin.

The good news is that the Pro is coming to Sprint and the cost of the device with a qualifying 2-year contract agreement will be $249 after rebates are applied.

[Via BoyGeniusReport.com...]

Palm webOS Developers Highlighted

During Palm's CES announcement of the new Palm Pre smartphone which will be powered by their next generation mobile operating system, webOS, a number of software developer partners were mentioned. Just in case you haven't watched Palm's video from the press event yet, Palm has been working with:

• Sprint
• Facebook
• Google
• Pandora
• Yahoo!
• Amazon.com
• MobiTV
• PivotalLabs
• DataViz
  
• MovieTickets.com
• Fandango
• SplashData
• Ameraica Online
• Telenav
• Chapura
  

I'm really happy to see long-time Palm OS application partners DataViz, SplashData, and Chapura making the jump to webOS. Together, all three bring some of the best applications and utilities to the Palm user community. I'm really looking forward to learning more about their webOS products in the coming weeks.

Update

I was just reading the DataViz blog, MobileOffice, and saw this note that was posted on Thursday afternoon.

"As a partner of Palm’s for over 10 years we’re thrilled and impressed with the work they’ve done. It’s a competitive market these days, but it looks like they may have a winner here. We wish them the best of luck!

We’ll surely be talking more about the pre in the coming weeks so stay tuned."

I sure will!

[Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net...]

Palm Post Video From Pre CES Event

Palm has posted a streaming QuickTime video that was taken during their Pre product announcement from this week's CES event. You will need the Apple QuickTime player to view the video stream.

Watch Palm's Pre product announcement from CES 2009...

Palm investors celebrating too soon?

Reuters has an interesting article posted this evening about Palm's new Pre smartphone.

"Palm Inc stole the limelight at the Consumer Electronics Show by unveiling a new touch-screen phone and mobile operating system that doubled its share price overnight.

But investors may be celebrating too soon.

Analysts gave a thumbs-up to the new Palm Pre smartphone and webOS operating system, but said it was too early to conclude that the long-awaited new products can rescue Palm, which has lost both market share and cachet to Apple Inc's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry.

They said important questions remain unanswered, including price, how quickly Palm can bring the device to market, and how long the phone would be exclusive to subscribers of Sprint Nextel Corp, the weakest of the top three U.S. mobile services.

"Palm remains a 'show-me' story in our view, with its turnaround dependent upon execution and financial performance beyond webOS and Pre's initial debut," said Mike Abramsky, RBC analyst who reiterated his "sector perform." "

Keep reading...

Yes, Palm Still Sells PDAs

With all of Palm's focus on the Palm Pre and webOS, and rightly so in my opinion, it is easy to forget the Palm still has a handheld business.

If you are one of Palm's customers who prefer a traditional PDA to that of a smartphone, you will be happy to know that you can still buy a handheld, the TX, Z22, or the Tungsten E2, directly from Palm.

I do want to warn everyone that Palm's CEO Ed Colligan did say that the company was no longer developing new PDAs, so if you have been holding out a new PDA to upgrade to, it looks like you are out of luck. That said, I own a Palm TX and it is a full featured PDA that will be up to whatever task you need to throw at it.

For more information about the current PDA line up, visit Palm's online store...

webOS is the New Palm OS

With today's exciting announcement of the Palm Pre, we have to say goodbye to our old friends, "Palm OS II" and "Nova." The next generation Palm device will be powered by the successor to Palm OS 5, a new operating system called Palm webOS.

Palm webOS, or just "webOS", is a completely new direction for Palm. The first thing that strikes you about webOS is that it has a clean multi-touch based user interface (UI). There are only minimal on screen buttons when you are in an application and you can forget about the cheap feeling plastic stylus than comes with the Centro. Pre, the first device powered by webOS, uses your finger for navigation and control of the device. If you are a complusive texter or send a lot of email, webOS also supports the slide out keyboard found on the Pre.

I'm also excited to report that many of the long standing issues with Palm OS have been addressed in webOS. webOS brings multitasking to the table along with things like support for multiple radios. In the past, it was impossible to have a Palm OS device that had Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a cellular radio. webOS not only makes it possible to have all three radios active, Palm's Pre will have all three wireless technologies and GPS built-in.

For all of the "new-ness" that is webOS, there are still some questions that I would like to see answered. I did no read about a Palm OS emulation (POSE) mode in webOS. Without a POSE layer in webOS, it will be impossible to run applications from the vast Palm OS library on the Pre. webOS also brings back "drive mode" which allows you to connect a device, like the Pre, to your computer and use it like a USB mass storage device. Many people, myself included, think that is great, but where is the microUSB card slot?

During their product demonstration for the Pre, Palm talked about Synergy, a new data colleciton engine that brings all of your separate bits of information into a single location; a webOS powered device. The quesions I have are: Will Synergy replace the HotSync Manager? And if so, how does data from Palm Desktop get into your webOS powered device? Will there be a replacement application for Palm Desktop? Will Palm serve up their own cloud solution or will customers be forced to migrate their PIM data from Palm Desktop and move into web portables from Google, Yahoo, and America Online? Inquiring minds want to know. Questions like these aside, webOS is a powerful mobile OS that allows you to focus on what is important to you.

webOS is such a breath of fresh air, it is incredible. I have waited a long time for this day to come. Palm has packed so many new things into webOS that it is a radical departure from what we knew this morning; and yet, there is still enough of Palm OS' heritage in webOS that it somehow still seems familiar. After having used Palm OS devices everyday now for over nine years, not much has changed with how people interact with Palm OS. Someone who has used the original Palm Pilot with Palm OS 1.0 can pickup a Centro with Palm OS 5.4.9 and get back to work in just a few minutes.

webOS is the shot in the arm that Palm really needed to help drive new hardware designs with an intuitive way to work. webOS captures the essance of "The Zen of Palm" and brings it to a whole new level. I am really looking forward to taking the new Palm Pre and webOS out for a test drive. It is going to blow you away.

Photo courtesy of TreoCentral.

Sprint's Palm Pre Teaser Page

PalmInfoCenter.com is reporting that Sprint has posted a Palm Pre teaser page with a link to sign up to be notified when the Pre goes on sale later this year.

"Wasting no time after the announcement of Palm's next-gen hardware and software, Sprint has posted a teaser page showing the Palm Pre in all of its keyboard-exposed glory. While the device is still undergoing certification and final testing, as stated by Ed Colligan earlier today at Palm's event, they claim to be doing everything in their power to bring this highly-anticipated device to market "as soon as possible" within the first half of 2009."

Read the full PalmInfoCenter.com article...

Barron's Lands Colligan Interview

Eric Savitz, of Barron's Tech Trader Daily, managed to get some clarifications about the Pre smartphone earlier today from Palm's CEO Ed Colligan.

Pricing: It’s up to Sprint to set the street price, and you don’t want to do it until closer to launch, given the competitive environment.



Exclusivity for Sprint: “It’s a launch exclusive. Not forever.”



Non-U.S. markets: The big opportunity is not in other CDMA markets, but in UMTS markets; he says they will have a UMTS version, which is on the same development cycle as the CDMA version. The CDMA version will launch first, but the other version will follow soon after. He says the Pre will launch in markets outside the U.S. before the end of the year.



Will they license the platform to other hardware vendors? Not yet. “We’ve looked at the pros and cons,” he says. “I would not rule it out absolutely. It makes no sense until you have a critical mass of products running on the platform, and it has an established position. Today it would be the wrong thing to do.”



An enterprise product, or a consumer product? He says they have targeted “the fat middle.” It works with Exchange out of the box. “We’re really targeting busy people on the go. We’re hopeful the design will appeal to a lot of people.”



Big marketing campaign coming? Oh, yeah. And today was really the start of it.



What about the other Palm phones? Colligan notes that the just launched the Treo Pro, which he says is the best Windows Mobile product on the market, for enterprise customers. And they continue to sell the Centro for teens and young adults.



Who actually makes the phone? A major Asian ODM. But not HTC.



Is there any removable storage in the phone? No.



On the timing of launching during a recession: “I feel pretty good about this category, relative to 90% of the other businesses in the world,” he says. “People are pretty dedicated to their handsets. It’s a reasonably protected area, although who knows?”

Alan's Comments

I think of all that I have seen and read about the Palm Pre, the lack of removable storage, a lack of a microSD card slot, is like jumping into a pool of ice cold water. By all accounts, the Pre looks like it is everything Palm needs it to be. But considering how quickly I can fill up my 16GB iPod touch, I have to wonder if 8GB of non-expandible memory is going to be enough space once the Pre gets out into the wild.

[Via Barron's Tech Trader Daily...]

Elevation's Roger McNamee Talks Palm Pre

A very excited Roger McNamee, of Elevation Partners, talks about the new Palm Pre smartphone with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. Click the picture to watch the video.

[Thanks to Spencer for sending this tip in.]

Palm Pre Product Specs

Palm has posted what appears to be the complete list of product specifications. There is a lot of tech packed in this 3.9 x 2.3 x 0.67-inch 4.76 ounce mobile wonder.

Operating system

• Palm® webOS™

Network specs

• 3G EVDO Rev A

Display

• 3.1-inch touch screen
• 24-bit color
• 320x480 resolution HVGA display

Keyboard

• Physical QWERTY keyboard (slide out)
  

Email

• Microsoft Outlook® email with Microsoft® Direct Push Technology
• POP3/IMAP (Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, etc)

Messaging

• Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS

GPS

• Built-in GPS

Digital camera

• 3 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field

Sensors

• Ambient light
• Accelerometer
• Proximity

Multimedia

• Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV
• Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264
• Image Formats: GIF, Animated GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP

Wireless connectivity

• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g with WPA, WPA2, 801.1x authentication
• Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support

Memory

• 8GB of user storage (~7.4GB user available)
• USB mass storage support

Phone as laptop modem

• Bluetooth tethering

Connectors

• MicroUSB connector with Hi-Speed USB 2.0
• 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
• Palm® Touchstone™ charging dock

Dimensions

• Width: 59.5mm (2.3 inches)
• Height: 100.5mm (3.9 inches)
• Thickness: 16.95mm (0.67 inches)
• Weight: 135 grams (4.76 ounces)

The Palm Pre Smart(er)phone

Meet the new Palm Pre. A smarter smartphone is coming to you soon.

Palm at CES Today

For many Palm OS fans, today is a big day. It is widely expected that Palm will unveil their next generation mobile operating system, the successor to Palm OS 5, codenamed "Nova." Palm will be holding an invitation only press event at 2pm ET/11am PT to talk about all the "new-ness" they have been working on.

This will not be the first time that we have talked about the successor to Palm OS. Before 'Palm OS II" and "Nova" we had "Palm OS 6.0", "Palm OS Cobalt", "Palm OS for Linux", and most recently, "ALP." Today has been a long day coming for the Palm OS user community, and I hope that what Palm shows off today will have been well worth the wait.

I have not read whether or not Palm will have a live or recorded video of today's event, however, Palm has said that during the event, the company's blog will receive live updates.

I'll have a wrap up of the day's news later today.

A New Look for Palm Website

Did anyone else notice that Palm's website received a face life today? Did anyone also notice that the Centro is the only Palm OS device that is listed on the main splash page and on the interior support page? All of the PDAs and Palm OS Treo smartphones are now in the "View All Devices" section of the support page.

I'm glad to see that the marketing department has woken up from their long Rip Van Winkle slumber.

Are the winds of change really blowing at Palm? Be sure to check the Palm site again on January 8th.