Palm today announced that it will make the Palm Treo 750 smartphone compatible with Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, to deliver increased security and easier phone management, as well as access to information on the corporate network. Palm says IT professionals will be able to manage large Treo 750 deployments with features such as policy enforcement, inventory and reporting, and software targeting.

Mobile Device Manager is a new management solution that enables efficient control of Windows Mobile phones, such as the Treo 750 smartphone, by providing reliable, low-cost consistent manageability within a company's existing Microsoft infrastructure.

A new tech focused history website SiliconUser is offering guided tours down Memory Lane, with the publication of part one of a new article series detailing the early history of Palm and its founders. Beginning with Jeff Hawkins' early days at Tandy subsidiary GRiD and the birth of his fledgling Zoomer concept, and following through to Palm's sale to U.S. Robotics, the article is excellently written, well-researched and a fascinating read for those not completely au fait with the Palm's history and early beginnings.

It's interesting to compare the early, risk-taking Palm of yore with the play-it-safe, incrementally-upgrading company of today. Back in those pioneering days, success was a do-or-die proposition for Palm: if they didn't aggressively pursue their dreams of a product with "Zen", they were as good as finished - and they knew it. Now, the company that practically defined the PDA market is content to release, year after year, minor updates to the product it acquired over four years ago (the Treo 600), and seems happy to continue milking its rusted-on collection of die-hard PDA fans in the age of the smartphone.

Owners of Treo 750 and 755p smartphones have been stuck at the 4GB limit for some time now, enviously watching as fullsize SDHC capacities soar to 16GB while 8GB SDHC card prices continue to plummet. Now it appears that some relief is in sight for users of not just the miniSD-equipped Treos 750/755p but microSD Palm devices such as the new Palm Centro and Treo 500v. Sandisk now has a 6GB microSDHC card for sale on their site with a $99.99 MSRP.

While both Verizon and Sprint users suffered considerably during the sixteen month saga of the Treo 700p’s OS issues, MR delays, and ROM updater woes, Verizon users had to suffer a bit longer than Sprint users while waiting for the bug-free version of the 1.10 ROM update to be released.

As a token of their appreciation for the Treo community’s patience, Palm and Verizon are offering an unpublicized but totally complimentary copy of the full version of excellent Astraware’s Sudoku game for download. This freebie is available only to Verizon Treo 700p users with a 700p pre-loaded with the 1.10 firmware or who have downloaded and installed the updated ROM. Presumably, 700p’s containing the earlier, flawed 1.10 ROM with the infamous “Error 3000 bug” would also qualify for this download. This special offer is effective immediately and is slated to run through April 30, 2008.

The Palm Centro made its debut in Fall 2007 as the smallest and lightest Palm OS based smartphone to date. It is the third new model from Palm this year after the Treo 755p and Treo 500v. Palm basically took all that's good about the 755p, and packed it into a much leaner and lighter body. The Centro brings a number of high end smartphone features including 3G wireless data and a full qwerty keyboard into the $99 range.

Read on for the full Palm Centro review...

Verizon sent out a press release this morning about their upcoming smartphone and PDA lineup that confirms the Palm Treo 755p is due to be released shortly. The release unfortunately does not give any specific timing or pricing details, but states it will be part of its new lineup due out before the holidays.

Numerous rumor reports have pinned down a early November release date for the Verizon 755p.

StyleTap Inc. has announced they are bringing their StyleTap CrossPlatform to the Symbian OS. The StyleTap CrossPlatform is compatible with most applications written for Palm OS, and will enable most Palm OS software to run on current and future Symbian smartphones.

A leaked AT&T presentation has been posted in the TreoCentral forums. The document appears to be an internal briefing on the upcoming Palm ROM updates for the Treo 750 and Treo 680. The plan details the procedure for the imminent Windows Mobile 6 upgrade for the Treo 750, and a comprehensive OS update for the Treo 680 as well.

The document basically confirms the flurry of WM6 update rumors that have circled the 750 since its release in 2006. As expected, the WM6 update will be free and will also be pre-installed on new 750s supposedly beginning this month. The HSDPA 1.8 upgrade will be contained within the update as well “improved phone controls” and new AT&T Entertainment applications (CV, AT&T Mall, AT&T Music). The AT&T promotional materials do specify an October 15th date which has unfortunately come and passed but hopefully the delay will not be as long as what Treo 700p owners were plagued with throughout 2006 and 2007.

Helix has released a version of the Helix Holster case for the Treo 755p, 680 and 750 models. The Holster case keeps your Treo handy in a secure grip that allows you to easily slide your device in an out of the holster with one hand. It comes with two interchangeable belt-clips - an easy-to-use fixed clip with a low profile, and a 360 degree alligator style swivel clip. This version comes in black and has a nice soft-touch coating.

The Helix Holster is available now for $19.95. There is also another version designed for the Treo 700 and 650.

Palm has announced that in support of the release of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Palm Treo) smartphones running Windows Mobile are ready to take advantage of Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile 2007. This free client to the Office Communications Server 2007 software adds industrial-strength instant messaging and the ability to quickly locate and check the status of others on the network, giving mobile professionals even better means to communicate quickly with colleagues.

The NPD Group has released the results of a new report on the initial purchasers of the iPhone. The study focuses on the casualties stemming from Apple’s industry-changing iPhone release this past June. According to the abstract, purchasers of the first wave of iPhones were "ten times more ikely than other new phone buyers to have previously owned a Treo and three times more likely to have owned a T-Mobile branded phone, such as the popular Sidekick model". T-Mobile has no 3G network in place at this time, relying exclusively on its 2.5G EDGE coverage. Alltel has a considerable CDMA network footprint and numerous roaming agreements in place, but their own EVDO Axxess coverage is less than Verizon or Sprint.