While never actually confirmed by the carrier, AT&T was expected to offer its own version of the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi as soon as next month. However, Peter Misek, an analyst for Canadian brokerage firm Canaccord Adams, is saying that the webOS handsets will not be released by AT&T until June or July. To make matters worse for Palm, the delay appears due to a long shopping list of technical items that the carrier has with the Pre and Pixi. As a result of these problems, AT&T is said to have reduced its initial order for the devices while lowering the marketing budget for the phones. Things are not looking too good for Palm and with the DROID said to be selling like hotcakes, Verizon might not be seeing too many Pre Plus and Pixi Plus units walking out the door.

What seemed so promising for Palm a year ago, has disintegrated right in front of their eyes. Now, it seems that all of the hope that Palm had of seeing things pick up with the inclusion of the handsets in the line-up of the nation’s largest carrier has evaporated, and AT&T apparently will be no help either. Misek now expects Palm to have shipped 670,000 units in the February quarter, down from his previous estimate of 720,000. For 2011, the analyst has reduced his estimate of sales from 4 million to 3.58 million. While no one could have forecasted Androidmania or the return of Motorola as a relevant player in the industry, perhaps the biggest surprise is how quickly the excitement that originally surrounded the Pre when it was introduced, disappeared. Does Palm have enough time left on the clock for one last Hail Mary play?
source: AllThingsDigital via EngadgetMobile

Even though Palm may be tightening its belts soon in an attempt to keep costs down and hopefully produce a positive bottom line, we’ve seen our fair share of earth shattering drops on WebOS powered devices of late. Not only do Palm developers have a place in Palm’s heart, but they’re getting treated to a somewhat faithful gesture from the veteran smartphone maker – some may argue if Palm’s recent move to offer developers a 20 percent discount on its devices is considered a majestic gesture. Although the phones are contract-free and 2-day shipping is included, they’re obviously locked to either Verizon or Sprint. When looking at some of the extreme eye dropping prices we’ve seen of late on contract phones, the 20 percent discount applied to a $549.99 Palm Pre on Palm’s web site still requires a final payment of $439 – some would consider holding off from taking advantage of that discount. Despite this somewhat thankful announcement, we’d guess that Palm wouldn’t be too reluctant in raising that discount until things start to settle down over in Palm land.
source: Palm via ubergizmo

In a way, Walmart’s recent price chop to its Verizon Wireless Palm smartphones really highlights the battle handset manufacturers have to endure in order to stay afloat. Almost 9 months ago when Sprint launched the Palm Pre to an awaiting audience eager to test drive Palm’s WebOS platform, the long time smartphone maker has seen its highs and lows. Walmart is now giving away two of the latest Palm devices, the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, at the ridiculously low prices of $29.99 and free respectively with your signature on a contract. Yeah, just about anyone can get their hands on a decent smartphone without having to fork over a penny, but Palm’s fate is hanging in the balance as it tries to turn things around. It wasn’t too long ago when a just released $99 smartphone was considered a bargain, which of course is where the Palm Centro placed itself, but now the notion of free smartphones feels like a surreal thing. Although the Palm Pre Plus will still require you to fork out some cash, it could very well meet the same fate bestowed upon the Pixi Plus in due time.
source: Walmart via Mobileburn

It is well known that AT&T is going to release two webOS powered models this year. PreCentral member TopTongueBarry claims to be an AT&T IT employee and says the carrier has just completed testing on the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus in front of a possible April 26th launch. He also says that AT&T will soon begin testing on another webOS device called the Palm Elan. The testing should start in 2 weeks for the handset, which talk within the carrier says is equipped with  a soft QWERTY keyboard. According to the word inside AT&T, the Elan will be released in Europe first. Another PreCentral member, Shadow-360, googled the Palm Elan name and found several accessories that manufacturers had listed as being compatible with the Palm Elan before taking them down. Because the same accessories were also for the iPhone, it points to a slate like form factor for the mystery handset. While all of this might be a strange and weird coincidence, a Taiwanese company named Elan once sued Apple for infringing on multitouch patents. Wow! Call it karma or the Circle of Life. You might also note the Palm Elan mentioned as a name in the picture below, next to the Pixi. Many webOS aficionados have been hoping for a high end device and hopefully, the Palm Elan is the phone that makes those wishes come true. Talk of a new webOS device has been circulating and we reported a similar story at the end of last month.
source: PreCentral via Engadget

With the fate on Palm still hanging in the balance in the near term, Verizon Wireless is looking to do something that’s considered as a bit unorthodox. One of BGR’s Verizon Wireless connects has informed them that Palm webOS devices on their lineup will not require a mail-in-rebate starting tomorrow. Instead, customers choosing to go with either the Pre Plus or Pixi Plus will receive the discount instantly – much like what indirect dealers like Best Buy or Radio Shack offers. This surprising move may spell some kind of ominous feeling as one source says that “we make a ton of money off people not sending those rebates in.” It also may point to the fact that they’re taking some daring measures as the handset offerings may not be preforming well and not meeting their expectations. Even though it’s only limited to the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus handsets, it would really be something if Big Red decides to ditch the whole concept of mail-in-rebates altogether – potentially paving the way to even greater rewards with its customers.
source: BGR

Some people detest it whenever a developer releases an app that really isn’t perceived to be one – actually, it’s basically the same thing when you visit a mobile version of a web site. Case in point Facebook’s app for webOS – it was basically the same exact thing whenever you visit the website on a webOS handset. Luckily though it managed to get a much needed facelift most recently to offer users a substantial way of keeping connected with friends. Some new features found on the latest version of the Facebook app includes an enhanced inbox, access to your friends photo albums, view profiles of friends and strangers, notifications for events & birthdays, and friend search to look up some old buddies. When you take a closer look at the application, you’ll be enthralled by how its come very far from its previous incarnations – making the overall experience seem spectacular when you pit it against the real deal on your computer. As with anything applications, we’re sure that this one is going to be updated on a consistent basis to further its capability for webOS owners.
source: Palm via PreCentral

As we’ve seen ushered by many analysts and people familiar with the industry, it seems like everyone is unanimous in seeing Palm release a new handset to combat their struggling woes. After their stock had been downgraded and expectations were not in line with their recent Verizon launch, it appears as though Palm might once again partner with Sprint in releasing their latest handset. Sprint of course already beat everyone to the punch in the 4G race by having their next generation network up and running in a handful of markets already, but some analysts see the idea as being risky – claiming that Palm wouldn’t throw all of its eggs in one basket when it comes to the future and embrace of the WiMAX network. Instead, analyst would rather see them update their existing 3G enabled handsets with larger touchscreens and focus on moving its distribution towards AT&T as a potential game saving move. Aside from the hardware aspect, it may also seem that Palm will really need to focus on their webOS platform and tweak it enough to make the experience seamless and innovative. With so many new mobile platforms expected to hit the market, Palm will need to revamp its own platform and keep it fresh enough to be adopted by new customers.
source: Computerworld via BGR

With Sprint receiving their Palm Pre and Pixi webOS 1.4 update on Saturday, it only took a day later before Verizon customers started to get the 1.4 update on their Pre Plus and Pixi Plus units. The total time it takes to download the 40-some MB file and install it is roughly 1 hour, so make sure your battery is fully charged before starting. The webOS 1.4 upgrade includes enhancements and updates to the SMS messaging, video recording with editing and uploading to YouTube, expanded calendar and tasks functions, more email options with ringtone selections, Yahoo! mail support, and much more. The full change-log for the Palm Pre Plus can be found here and for the Palm Pixi Plus here . We should also point out that Flash is not included in the update, however, it does make the web browser compatible with Flash 10.1 whenever Adobe releases it the first-half of the year. Let us know what you think of the webOS 1.4 update in the comment section below.
Source Verizon Wireless (Pre Plus, Pixi Plus)

As we managed to report not too long ago, Sprint has gone ahead  and reduced the price in half of the Palm Pixi from its original cost of $99.99 to now $49.99 – it happened ominously on the same day when Palm cut its revenue target and raised profitability concerns. Although many will see the 50 percent drop in price as an attractive offer, it still doesn’t beat the lower price that other retailers like Wal-Mart offers to customers who purchase the handset through them. Even before Sprint’s cut, Verizon reduced the price of its Palm Pixi Plus smartphone to $79.99 which boasts some improvements over the one offered by Sprint – this all points to the unusual move by mobile operators when they quickly reduce prices so soon after launch. CL King analyst, Lawrence Harris, said that “Inevitably this will hurt Palm’s profits.  If it’s not in the February quarter, it’ll be in May.” BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long also questions Palm’s outlook in the coming months as wireless providers appear to already have problems getting rid of Palm inventory. Palm of course partly blamed the poor marketing of its Verizon Wireless phones and has recently launched a new campaign known as Project JumpStart to aid Verizon employees in sales of its products. Despite all of their new plan changes, analysts still view it as not enough and that Palm will need to offer new phones with bigger screens and keyboards than what the Pre and Pixi offer. When you look at it, the Palm Pre has been on the market since last June and is quickly approaching its one year mark – possibly signaling the onset of a successor in the coming months.
source: Reuters

In the US, Sprint Palm Pre owners are getting the first taste of the latest version of the platform while the O2 and Movistar variants are also getting in on this treatment. The download itself is at a mere 39MB and will be all that stands in between your way from getting video recording, Flash, enhanced message notifications, and improved battery life that’s all found on webOS 1.4. Everyone else will have to eye these owners with envy as they will become the first to test out these new features. As they prepare to launch the update on other carriers and handsets, it’ll be a test to see how quickly Palm can expedite the roll out of their next installment of the platform as things have begun to look shaky for the company. They’ll need to really capture the attention of consumers if and when they release the next version in order to compete in this ever fierce market.
via Engadget