webOS 1.3 coming to Europe by end of November
commentsPosted on 13 November 2009 by Brian Hart
Usually the European market seems to get all of the good stuff, but when it comes to the GSM Palm Pre, users have been stuck with webOS 1.1.3 while their counterparts in North America have been enjoying the bliss of webOS 1.3. According to O2 UK and PalmInfocenter, that’s about to change.
By the “end of November”, GSM Pre users in Europe on O2 UK will be running webOS 1.3 and balance will be restored in the Palm Pre universe. If you’re a Pre owner in Europe, let us know when you are running webOS 1.3 on your device.
source: PalmInfocenter

Choices for buying the new webOS-based Palm Pixi are becoming more interesting. On November 15th, you can walk into a Sprint store or one of it’s affiliates like Best Buy and Radio Shack, lay down $200 bucks (with $100 coming back as a main-in rebate), and walk out with a new Pixi.

Since Palm launched the Pre and the App Catalog, the App Catalog has been in beta and Palm has strictly controlled the admission of apps into the Catalog for webOS users – this is about to change. Next month, the App Catalog will no longer be beta and developers can distribute their free apps to webOS users via web URL installed in the webOS browser.
Palm’s App Catalog is steadily growing and we have a list of new apps to prove it. Here are the recent additions to the App Catalog and they are ready for your Palm handheld:
Palm is making things a lot easier for app developers creating new apps for webOS. Slated to be available by the end of the year, Palm unveiled and demonstrated Ares at the Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco. Developers will be able to use Ares to write webOS applications through a drag-and-drop interface, with a particular focus on Web app developers transitioning to become mobile developers.
Bad news for Canadian Pre owners on the Bell network. It looks like Bell is jumping on the bandwagon of limited data plans along with Rogers and Telus. Their new data plans range from $45 for 500 MB of monthly data and up to $100 a month for 2 GB of data. Existing Bell subscribers will not have to worry about the new plans (yet), but it’s only a matter of time. Limited data is a true bummer, so our hearts go out to our Canadian Pre-owning neighbors. If you’re currently Pre’ing on Bell’s network, what’s your take on this?
What could be better than buying a Palm Pre on Bell for $149.95? How about buying a Pre on the Bell network for $99.95 (3-year contract required) with their new HSPA network? The Pre is facing stiff competition with the likes of the 8GB iPhone, also selling for $99, so this price drop is a good move to remain a viable option for new smartphone buyers.