The Palm Pre isn’t going to be the sole webOS offering on O2 UK’s web site as the Plus models have finally invaded the turf. O2 UK customers can now take part in the pleasures of owning either the Palm Pre Plus or Pixi Plus that of course offers a tad better overall experience. From the looks of it, customers won’t be looking to pay that much out of their pockets immediately as it’s available for free on most monthly plans offered by the wireless carrier. The timing is just about right as we’re closing in on that one year anniversary since the very first webOS handset by Palm was released to the world. However, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of sales O2 UK will be having with these two latest smartphones.
via PreCentral

HP’s recent acquisition of Palm has taken its toll as yet another Palm webOS veteran that aided the company in building up webOS from the ground up has announced his departure. Senior director of human interface and user experience at Palm, Matias Duarte, has left Palm and is currently joining one of webOS’s competitors for newer ventures. The man known to some in the industry as the webOS guru, Duarte signed on to become the user experience director for Google’s Android platform. This follows after Palm’s senior vice president of software and services, Michael Abbott, also announced his departure from the company in favor for a role as vice president of engineering for Twitter. Surely it’s a blow for Palm and its webOS platform now that things are looking to be more stable, but there’s no denying the kind of talent that Duarte will bring to the table for Android. Eventually we’ll witness some of the fruits of his hard labor with the green Android platform that keeps on looking better with each incarnation.
source: All Things Digital

It was back in October when we first received wind about some alternate version of the Palm Pre, dubbed back then as the Palm Pre II, heading over to O2 some time. Well, it could somehow be related to the just recently announced Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus which will be heading to O2. The timing of discontinuing the purchase of additional Palm Pre units makes sense now that these two Plus models are within grasp for O2 customers. Palm’s chairman and chief executive officer Jon Rubinstein said, “We are excited to bring Pre Plus and Pixi Plus to the market for O2 customers. With the choice of these two new Palm webOS phones, customers across the UK can stay connected, so they never miss a thing.” Set with a release date of May 28th, the day will soon be here for those customers looking at a chance to grab two of the latest devices to hit the market – still, there is no official word surrounding its pricing.
source: Palm via Tracy & Matt’s Blog

It was only time before we would start seeing HP take advantage of its acquisition of Palm in branching out webOS to a myriad of “web-connected” devices other than smartphones and tablets. During a conference call, HP’s chief executive Mark Hurd made known to the world that the company is intent on bringing webOS to their “web-connected” printer hardware that needs a solid platform to jump start its roll out. Thinking back to webOS and Synergy, Palm’s platform is expected to provide a stable and valuable stepping stone where it can easily be integrated to a myriad of devices without the some times lengthy development period associated with it. We’ve already heard rumors about HP developing a webOS powered tablet called the Hurricane, but HP is looking to unify and tie-in their products with webOS. To an extent, we could potentially see a time when we can access our social networking accounts on HP’s various devices and services.
via Electronista & Gizmodo

Palm webOS owners are surely getting their fix of social networking thanks to the Facebook app which was launched not too long ago, but now we’re getting treated to yet another minor update. Version 1.2.1 of the Facebook app is now available for download which essentially fixes some bugs that have arisen since the last release. So if you’ve been taking in all of the pleasures that come along with the convenient mobile app, then you’d better get yourself situated with this latest software update to iron out those kinks seen with the application – you can simply launch the Updates app to get the phone to check for the latest update.
source: Palm

Have you been seeing issues with Palm’s App Catalog recently where you have been experiencing the inability to download or update apps? For those who actually purchased an app and think that the whole transaction was botched, you can rest easily knowing that the purchase has been recorded on their end so you can download it properly once Palm irons out some of the kinks. In their statement, Palm is in the process of trying to resolve the issue and users can expect to see certain apps to work properly sooner than others – so you’ll just have to sit back a bit and try and again at a later time if it doesn’t work right now. If you really want to know all the latest updates surrounding the process, you can check out the Official Palm Blog or their Twitter account for all the latest news regarding the resolution.
source: Official Palm Blog via Phonescoop

As HP and Palm continue to figure things out, it looks like one of the first things to develop out of the acquisition is a speculated webOS powered tablet. Even though the HP Slate was unveiled back during CES without much fanfare, the recent news about it getting axed raised an eye especially after HP’s buyout of Palm went through. Now there are rumors according to an insider over at HP that a new webOS tablet, going by the code name HP Hurricane, is in the works right now and could see a launch some time during Q3 of this year – which isn’t too far away from now. There is no denying that webOS is still a decent looking and viable platform that could see a major overhaul in the next few months as things look to steady over at Palm land. Without much hesitation, it’ll be interesting to see how this will end up as we continue to see a steady stream of competition around the tablet market in the coming months. We’ll see if there is some validity to these rumors as we wait and see how things turn out between Palm and HP.
source: The Examiner

Thanks to a timeline released by Palm, we now have a good idea when to expect the next build of webOS. The downtrodden company has passed along word to developers to expect an email alert early this month with the news that an SDK candidate has been released. Developers will have a quick week to find what Palm is calling “Show-stopper” bugs in webOS. Once the week is through, the software will be released to carriers and the developers will be given a chance to find problems relating to their particular apps over the next 2-3 weeks, at which time the new webOS build will be available to consumers. Put it all together and it comes out to a late May, early June launch. While it is important to test PDK apps against the new release, those who have developed non-PDK apps should also check to make sure that there are no issues with the new build of webOS, which is expected to bring only minor changes to the software.
source: Precentral

With a week left to go, Vodafone customers in Spain can expect to see the Palm Pixi Plus to officially make landfall on May 10. Generally we’d see its bigger brother, the Palm Pre Plus, accompany its release, but unfortunately this will not be the case. So for right now, it looks like the Palm Pixi Plus can soak up much of the webOS attention in Spain as it’ll be the sole offering. Katie Mitic, Palm’s senior vice president for Product Marketing said, “We are excited to bring the Palm Pixi Plus to Spain for Vodafone customers. Consumers will be able to benefit from the unprecedented power and ease of use afforded them with the award-winning Palm webOS experience. With Pixi Plus, customers across Spain will be able to get more done by staying connected and never missing a thing.” With the Palm Pre Plus clearly missing in action this time around, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of sales the Pixi Plus can muster up without its big brother taking away much of the spotlight.
source: Business Wire via Engadget

Thanks to a timeline released by Palm, we now have a good idea when to expect the next build of webOS. The downtrodden company has passed along word to developers to expect an email alert early this month with the news that an SDK candidate has been released. Developers will have a quick week to find what Palm is calling “Show-stopper” bugs in webOS. Once the week is through, the software will be released to carriers and the developers will be given a chance to find problems relating to their particular apps over the next 2-3 weeks, at which time the new webOS build will be available to consumers. Put it all together and it comes out to a late May, early June launch. While it is important to test PDK apps against the new release, those who have developed non-PDK apps should also check to make sure that there are no issues with the new build of webOS, which is expected to bring only minor changes to the software.
source: Precentral