There’s no indication of what the two Palm devices might be, at least not on Verizon’s database, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen similar product codes mentioned.  The Sprint Palm Pre, for instance, was codenamed the P100, so it seems eminently possible that the P101 is Verizon’s version of the webOS smartphone.  That could suggest that the Palm P121 is Verizon’s Palm Eos, the candybar QWERTY smartphone we saw leaked earlier in the year.

Also fresh to the inventory is the Verizon Convoy U640, a somewhat more mundane device than the other five.  No pricing or launch dates, unfortunately, but at least confirmation that there’s some interesting telephony on the horizon.

There had been rumors that the Palm Eos (codenamed Pixie) would be arriving some time by the holiday season, this year, but it’s now looking like the device won’t be hitting the shelves of AT&T until next year. Ilya Grozovsky, an analyst from Morgan Joseph stated, “We think that the Pixie, which we believe is being geared for AT&T and has a different form factor than the Pre, is not likely to be available for the 2009 holiday season,” in a research note to clients. He goes onto note that Palm will need to press the Eos very hard, if they want to have any profitabillity against Apple’s iPhone, particularly the $99 model.

It’s worth noting that many believe the Palm Eos will be available starting at $99, but as carriers here in the States love subsidizing, that may mean it’s $99 after a mail-in rebate, which would instantly put it above the iPhone 3G in price, and probably persuade future customers away. Either way, webOS has to get on some more devices, if Palm want the robust Operating System to start getting into the hands of more customers. Either way, we can’t wait to see it, whenever it happens.

[via All Things Digital]

In Q4 2009, then, Palm report total revenues of $86.8m, with gross profit of $20.1m and a gross margin of 23.1-percent.  That amounts to a net loss to common shareholders of $105m, or $0.78 per diluted common share; that’s more than twice the net loss in fiscal-year 2008.

Rubinstein remained positive, however, suggesting that the Pre was a “major milestone in Palm’s transformation” and pointing to “a large group of developers waiting to build great applications for Palm webOS”.  He also tipped “a new product pipeline” which is presumed to include the Palm Eos, also based on webOS.

After the cut, how the Pre’s “complicated mechanical design” impacted availability

“Palm has decided to put the Pixie on hold until they have better visibility into how its current models are selling in the market” Unnamed source

That’s enough for TechCrunch to predict that the Pixie/Eos may not in fact reach the market in 2009, if at all.  They’ve also heard “from multiple sources” that Palm’s hardware supplier, Foxconn, were able to deliver just 30-percent of the Pre handsets they originally ordered: 500,000 devices were expected by the end of May, but Foxconn managed only 150,000 with delivery in June.

According to the sources, the reason for the shortfall was “the [Pre's] complicated mechanical design”, presumably a combination of the slider form-factor, compact build and capacitive technology.  Whether Palm can find enough handsets to give them the sales they require to push through the Pixie/Eos remains to be seen; there’s also, of course, the not-so-small matter of the GSM version, which is expected to be launched in Europe in the second-half of 2009.

The “Hello World!” app overwrote the pre-installed Sprint NASCAR app, which shouldn’t come as too much of a disappointment to most users.  Many of the team currently working on the webOS root image are apparently ex-PalmOS hackers, for whom Palm still seems to have some of its allure.

Now would seem like a great time for Palm to turn around and say “okay people, here’s some official SDK access and support – help us make this a brilliant platform.”  It took months for Apple to harness third-party developer support with an official SDK and the App Store; Palm are halfway there, with on-device distribution already supported, now they just have to bite the bullet and trust their baby’s underlying code to developers wanting to adopt webOS.

[via Engadget]

Mention has been found in the code of both “castle”, assumed to be the Pre’s internal codename, and “pixie”, which has previously been tipped as the codename for the Eos.  Palm have never hidden the fact that the Pre is to be the first device of many to use webOS, but the presence of “pixie” in this first-gen code does seem to suggest that the handset is set to arrive sooner rather than later.

Elsewhere in the ROM, icons for MSN and AOL have been unearthed, together with a Java Virtual Machine.  There are also plenty of comments left by webOS’ developers, including the somewhat worrying “# what the hell does this do?”

It was arguably the unofficial developer community that accelerated the original iPhone to success: while Apple were attempting to corral programmers into creating simple webapps, those with access to the hacked (aka jailbroken) core of the iPhone could use the same functionality that Apple’s own apps did.  Might this be the turning point for the Pre, too?

Meanwhile, Motorola’s Calgary was tipped to be the company’s first Android device – and Verizon Wireless’ first, to boot – which made up for the manufacturer canning two other upcoming handsets.  Samsung’s Omnia HD i8910 was reviewed, and managed to whet our appetite for the rumored Omnia Pro complete with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.  If that wasn’t enough, leaks from the Palm camp tipped the upcoming Eos, a candybar-format replacement to the aging Centro.  Remember, you can keep up with all the latest Android and Palm news at Android Community and My Pre, respectively.

Apple have made their usual rumor round this week, with word that the company have been negotiating with Verizon for an exclusive cellphone.  Hot speculation tips it as an LTE iPhone, though there’s also talk of an “iPhone Lite” and a UMPC-rivaling Apple Media Pad.  Just to keep us on the very edges of our seats, a fan mockup of the latter managed to make us forget the name and manufacturer of every Windows UMPC on the market from the past two years.

Acer’s Aspire One nettop hit review benches, and proved a mixed bag.  The NVIDIA Ion 1080p-capable GPU is every bit as impressive as we were warned to expect, but it’s let down by the single-core Intel Atom CPU they’ve paired it up with.  Not everyone is disappointed with Atom, however: this stunning Filofax MID concept is based on the low-power Intel chip, while ASRock and Pegatron have both based NVIDIA Ion nettops on the processor.

Meanwhile Acer’s Aspire One 751 11.6-inch netbook launched officially, finally including a full spec list, and Microsoft released Windows 7 RC to MSDN subscribers; the general public can expect the OS RC on May 5th, while Acer tip the full release as happening on October 23rd.  While you’re waiting for that, you can read our review of the AAXA P1 pico-projector; can you see it fitting into your life?  Our A/V expert Daniel Lim wasn’t sure.

That means we’ll see EVDO Revision A instead of HSPA for 3G on the Eos on Sprint. Beyond this development, we don’t know much more, like what other carriers might possibly be getting their hands on the device.

The Palm Eos is set to be the Palm Pre with fewer features. It’ll have a set keyboard, a 2.6-inch screen, 4GB of storage and Wi-Fi will be missing. The price tag is estimated around $99, hitting home in the budget market.

Other specifications include Bluetooth 2.1+EDR with support for the A2DP profile, a micro-USB 2.0 port and removable 1,150mAh battery good for 4hrs of 3G talktime. There’s no sign of WiFi, however, and the camera is a fixed-focus affair with flash and video capture support. 

The Eos has support for the all-important 850 and 1900 bands, which means AT&T 3G is good to go.  Inside there’s just half the storage of the Pre, at 4GB.  Nothing confirmed or definite as yet, but the estimated launch price is $349 before subsidies.

[via My Pre]

Recent rumors claimed that another Palm device that would be smaller than the Pre was “very far along” in development, and would likely be launched this year.  According to the source of this new image, that timescale is narrowed down to fall 2009, although no specifications or details regarding the device were forthcoming.

The talk of a smaller device had led many to assume that Palm would be dropping the hardware keyboard altogether, and replacing it with an on-screen substitute.  That way, Palm could shave depth off of the device.  However the company appears reluctant to lose the physical keys, and as such this Palm Pre Centro – the official name of which is unknown – borrows from the form-factor of more recent entry-level smartphones from the company.

[via My Pre]

That absence of information, and the fact that it’s unlikely to be a replacement to the first Pre, has led many to suggest it may drop that smartphone’s hardware QWERTY keyboard in favor of an on-screen ‘board and thinner casing.  That would satisfy those would-be users who are keen on webOS and Synergy, but who prefer a thinner, candybar-style device.

According to TechCrunch’s source, the “Mini-Pre” could arrive as early as fall 2009.  Palm have always confirmed that webOS is intended not only for the Pre but for their new breed of smartphones; it’s good to see they’re not dragging their feet on continuing that range.

[via My Pre]