Every kid knows that the WebOS is the best invention after sliced bread. However, in case you want to make the Palm Pre even more smart, there may be an option to add an additional operating system to it. There are reports that after a “Jailbrake”, the Pre will be able to offer you the choice to boot either WebOS or Google’s Android OS, thus providing with you the two best systems for phones. Another option will be to run the Android inside the WebOS itself, as an application.

Unfortunately, it is not sure that once the Palm Pre is launched, there will really be somebody to port the Android. But who cares, it will come with a better OS straight out of the box.

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In an interview about Palm, Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners pointed that the iPhone, the G1 and BlackBerry phones are good, but not nearly as capable as the Palm Pre and its WebOS. Showing off its smart toy, McNamee revealed details that were not known until now – showing how smart the WebOS really is. Palm Synergy will not only show you information from different applications when you search for it, but will also make sure you see it. For example, knowing that you have a meeting at the office at 1PM, it will remind you that based on your GPS position you are too far and will get late. Of course, you’ll want to call to warn your colleagues, but there will be no need – Pre’s WebOS will already have offered you to send emails instead of you. Smart, isn’t it? I cannot even imagine what else it will be able to do.

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Nothing official, but PalmPreBlog posted an email response by someone from Vodafone UK , saying that the carrier is in early negotiations with Palm:

With regrets, I can not currently share any information regarding the Palm Pre handset; we are still in early negotiation with Palm, but nothing is solid. I can double check next week but as of this point in time that is all I know.

Palm Europe’s VP of sales already officially announced that U.K will get the Pre in the second half of 2009. Going to Vodafone doesn’t sound so strange, especially having in mind that the BlackBerry Storm they offer is definitely not the iPhone killer everybody is looking for, and Pre is expected to really be.

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Palm’s Andrew Shebanow posted on his blog a question about what the developers would like to see in the WebOS and after receiving lots of responses, Palm decided to create a separate official blog about this – the Palm Developer Network Blog.

This is your chance to let Palm know what you would and would not like to see on the webOS platform, in particular in areas related to:

* Application installation and updating
* Ecommerce (purchase, trials, coupons, etc.)
* Security (code signing, testing, anti-phishing, malware, etc)
* Browsing and searching for applications

Check it out here

via IntoMobile

We received news from a credible source that BestBuy Mobile will be getting an exclusive deal with Sprint for the Palm Pre release. For 60 days the number one consumer electronics retailer will be the only place where you can get your hands on the Palm Pre, besides Sprint of course. This partnership makes sense seeing the Sprint also launched the Samsung Instinct exclusively with them during the summer of 2008. This liaison will benefit all three of the companies in the deal. Best Buy will get its hands first which will make it the place to get the device. Sprint may come back to win over customers with Palm’s formidable touch phone.

Citi analyst Jim Suva previously suggested that you should “Sell” Palm stocks, but after the WebOS and Pre were announced, now updated his statement to “Hold”. He guesses that up to 1.5 million Pre phones will be sold in the first year, and that is his guess only for the U.S. and Sprint. We hope it will be at least 3 million units globally! 

Our estimates move significantly higher on the strength of the Pre; however, we still forecast operating and net income losses for the next few fiscal years. Although we are very optimistic on unit volumes, we are taking a fairly conservative view on ASPs and margins. While reaction was overwhelmingly positive (and rightfully so in our view), very little was asked or offered on Palm’s pricing strategy for the Pre. We think Palm will soon have to offer details on expected ASP for the Pre and will likely revisit our estimates in the future. That said, even with a fairly conservative ASP and margin expectation, our forecasted operating losses narrow dramatically and we would expect that
trend to be echoed in consensus estimate.

more at ZDNet

An exec of the Australian carrier Telstra said that that they’ll get a phone that is better than the Palm Pre; the WebOS phone was announced just a few days ago and is already the one to compare the cool new smart phones with!!! Telstra’s smart phone will be from HTC and will run on Android with custom HTC Linux software. The only thing said about specs is that it will have a screen bigger than on any other HTC phone, which means more than the 3.8-inches found on the HD. The mysterious device is expected to be announced at the MWC 2009 in Barcelona next month, but we hope we will see WebOS models there as well!

via wmpoweruser

In contrast to PCMag’s tipster, who hinted that the second WebOS phone will be a QWERTY-less candybar, “a seemingly reliable firsthand source” of PalmInforcenter claims that the next phone to spread WebOS love will be the Centro 2 for Sprint. It is said to keep the Centro form-factor and hopefully price point, offering the cool and new OS to the masses. Fingers crossed!

PCMag’s Sascha Segan often has interesting details and now he reveals some information about the Pre. Unlike previous rumors, it seems that cool smart phone will not cost an arm and a leg, but $200 to $250 with a two-year Sprint contract. The plans it will run on will be similar to these of Instict. Other US carriers will get it no sooner than 90 days after Sprint does, so if you want to be cool, prepare to switch your carrier.

Sascha also says that Palm will approve all apps in the Catalog, but unlike Apple will test only if they work correctly, not if they are “good or bad”. Other “Pre” models are also said to be in the works, with rumor about a lower-cost candybar QWERTY-less phone coming. Let’s home February’s MWC trade show will reveal more information about the other Pre versions and hopefully new models.

Ed Colligan mentioned that both the CDMA and the UMTS Pre may come to Canada … unfortunately, no details on time period were given. US will get it in the first half, through Sprint. UK will get it in the second and Canada – well, we hope it will be available there before the end of the year. The best scenario will be to get both CDMA and GSM version, so more people will be able to use it. 

source: TheGlobeandMail via Engadget