It was just about a year ago when Palm unveiled the Pre at last year’s CES and proved to be a big win for the PDA pioneers. At the helm of course was none other than one time former Apple employee John Rubinstein who almost single handedly reinvigorated life back into Palm – the company was slowly starting to see a premature demise. Rubinstein helped brought in the Palm Pre and webOS to the masses – people were hesitant about Palm’s big move toward a whole new mobile platform that was created from the ground up. To commend his efforts, Fast Company has revealed that John Rubenstein has been chosen to be awarded the 2009 title of “Geek of the Year.” Rubenstein was sought out and managed to beat out other contemporaries such as Star Trek director/producer J.J. Abrams, Twitter cofounders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg. In the face of onslaught brought on by other mobile platforms like Android, Palm’s CEO will have to muster up something compelling this year around if he intends on keeping his crown.
source: Fast Company via Pre Central & Engadget

The Palm Pre had a successful launch over the summer, but its diminished sales placed Carphone Warehouse in an unusual situation. Facing an insurmountable stockpile of Palm Pre smartphones, the UK based company is doing all it can to try and surge their Palm Pre sales. This includes enticing prospective buyers with two free airline tickets for anyone willing to purchase Palm’s first WebOS powered handset. This deal won’t last forever, unless we’d imagine sales don’t meet their expected levels, and will carry on throughout the month of January.

One factor playing a key role in Carphone Warehouse’s mountain high levels of unsold Palm Pres is that it’s only available through O2. Sure the price tag of being free with a contract with O2 sounds good enough, but Carphone Warehouse is going the extra step by providing these free airline tickets. The deal sounds tempting enough – hopefully those Palm Pres sitting around will find a home soon.
via Unwired View

Doom has already exploded onto the scene of the Palm Pre in a fully up and running form, but ID’s other famous first person shooter has gotten some face time as well. Boasting updated graphics compared to Doom, Quake has been ported over to the Palm Pre thanks to the new SDL library that’s cooked into WebOS.  Unfortunately though, it’s still not in tip top form to be considered playable because it crashes as soon as you attempt to load a new game – the developer, dtzWill, plans on having a fix in place and have a playable version released soon. You can check out the video in the mean time and cross your fingers that a final working version will be available soon. So far we have Doom and Quake from ID, so we wonder what else is in store on the horizon for the Pre?
via PalmInfocenter

The Palm App Catalog continues to steadily grow with each passing day, and now it looks like it will pass the 1,000 app mark either by the end of the year, which is now upon us, or very early in 2010. As more apps fill up the catalog, the webOS platform will become further entrenched and we can expect to see more specialized apps for business owners, students and professionals.

Although the apps in the App Catalog are designed for webOS devices, not all of the apps work for both Palm Pre and Pixi. Some of the apps are for the Pre only, but if you’re a Pixi owner, never fear — there are plenty of apps designed to work with both the Pre and the Pixi. Keep an eye on the app number in the top right corner of your App Catalog for the moment it passes 1,000. Good work, Palm — now let’s raise our glasses this New Year to thousands more apps!

source: mypre

A brand new version of the Palm Pre has showed up in the database of Wi-Fi Alliance. Its designation appears to be P101EWW, while the handset that´s currently on sale through Sprint is codenamed P100EWW. The rumor has it this is the version of the smartphone that will be distributed by Verizon. It has already caused some tongues to wag and we already know quite a lot about it. According to the latest information the device will be called the Palm Pre Plus. We do not want to speculate on the matter, but we need to point out that it´s not unlikely that we see this particular version of the device at CES 2010 in less than two weeks. Moreover, we hope to see Palm give all attendants a truly nice surprise by introducing some new WebOS-based handset.
source: EngadgetMobile

WebOS is looking to take back some of the spotlight that the Android platform has been steadily receiving with their continuous release of handsets. Palm may not have struck gold with the Pre over at Sprint, but they’re looking to gain more exposure through Verizon Wireless. With that in mind, Palm has amassed roughly around 600,000 Palm Pixis slated for delivery in the first quarter of next year. That figure is down from the rumored 800,000 that was on order from ODM Compal – it seems that some units have failed Verizon’s rigorous equipment certification process. As for Big Red, they’re embarking on a journey that will place them in a perfect spot with having one of the best handset offerings – the addition of the Palm Pixi clearly shows their competitive nature. Even though a decent chunk of units failed testing, we’re hoping that it does not push back the release date of the Pixi.
source: DigiTimes via Engadgetmobile

Finally, the next version of Palm’s young operating system, webOS, is about to become available for Palm Pre users (as CEO John Rubinstein promised) today, according to Sprint’s support site (guess that’s a source we can trust, right?). What webOS 1.3.5 should bring is an improved battery life while in low-coverage areas, better performance, removed app storage limit and the usual set of bugfixes. The update will surely be well-received by Palm Pre users, who want to get the most of the App Catalog, even if “most” in this particular case doesn’t really mean “a lot”. So, how’s that webOS 1.3.5 running Palm Pre of yours?
source: Sprint via Engadget

One of the nice features of using a webOS-based handset like the Palm Pre or Pixi is that it is always connected to the “cloud”, keeping your data safe and backed-up via the Palm Profile. Connecting with the “cloud” is effective for those pesky times when you accidentally run over your Pre or Pixi with your car or someone is enjoying your new device via a “five-fingered discount.” What happens, though, if Palm’s server goes down and you no longer have access to the cloud and your Palm Profile?

Thanks to the folks over at Pre Central who asked this important question, we have a good idea about what will work and what won’t work. If Palm’s server crashes or there is some other interruption, the things that won’t work include: over-the-air backups and restoration, first-time setup, remote wipe, and app purchasing. Otherwise, you will be in good shape. You should have access to your phone data because it is stored locally on your webOS device. Email is also safe because you receive it to your handset via Exchange or IMAP Idle.

Next time your BlackBerry-toting buddy has email problems due to BlackBerry Internet Server (BIS) outages, try hard to suppress your smirk as you know that your webOS-powered Pre or Pixi will still deliver the goods even if Palm’s server can’t.

source: PreCentral

It’s been a little while since we reported on the happenings in the App Catalog. Recently, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein said that “several thousand” new webOS apps would be coming with the release of the Ares development platform. As of Friday, the App Catalog stands at 843 apps — dwarfed by the iPhone and even the Android app stores, but steadily moving forward with more apps for Pre and Pixi owners.

Although there are no new apps as of December 21, there are several app updates. The updated apps are: Air Hockey ($0.99), Bible Reader ASV ($2.99), Classifieds2Go (Free), Color Puzzle ($0.99), Crosswords ($9.99), EZ Sketch ($0.99), Mine Search ($0.99), MoreStocks ($2.99), Send My Location for webOS (Free), Soccer Shots ($1.99), Space Alarm (Free), Speed ($0.99), Swap & Drop ($1.99), The Surprise ($0.99), Tic Tac Toe ($0.99), Top Stocks ($4.99), WallRevolve ($1.49), WingedCurator (Free), and Yule Log ($1.43).

source: PreCentral

Palm reported another losing quarter as the company shipped 783,000 smartphones in the period, up 41% from last year’s second quarter but off 5% sequentially from Q1. The three month period ended November 27th and profits and revenue were under Wall Street expectations. 573,000 Palm units were sold in the three months, off 29% from the first quarter and 4% below the 2008 second period. The sell-through rate gives evidence that Palm phones are not selling like hotcakes. The company lost $85.4 million in the three months compared with a loss of  $508.6 million last year. The 2008 numbers are skewed by a charge for a tax provision. “We’re still in the early stages of a long race,” Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s CEO said.

Palm’s last chance at survival might depend on how well the Pre and Pixi sell on the Verizon network. With the emergence of the Motorola DROID, the nation’s number one carrier finally has a device that can stand next to the iPhone and while it looked like Big Red would need the Pre earlier in the year, the excitement that once greeted the rumors of a Verizon branded Pre is now gone. All of the praise that Palm had received early in the year is now being said about Motorola and all of the analysts who jumped on the Palm bandwagon early in the year have been jumping off.
source: NYTimes