PalmInfocenter is giving away a brand new Palm Treo 700p as part of our relaunch celebrations.

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Next week, one lucky member will be chosen at random from all valid entries. Only one entry per person. Because this is a US centric product, we will be limiting this contest to US residents only. We will announce an additional giveaway soon that will be open to all PIC members worldwide.

Welcome to the new version of PalmInfocenter.com. Today we’ve released a new site redesign, our 5th major overhaul since 1999. v5.0 features a fresh new look with faster loading times, an enhanced layout and some other new features, while still retaining the classic PIC look and feel. We will have some exciting relaunch giveaways very shortly so stay tuned.

Special thanks goes out to Kent Pribbernow of PocketFactory for his help and work on the site design.

Please let us know if you have any trouble or spot any bugs. The PalmInfocenter store will be updated with the new design soon as well. Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy the new PalmInfocenter!

In yet another tightening of the PDA belt, Garmin has quietly posted a notice of discontinuation on their website of two of their four Palm OS GPS-PDA hybrid handhelds. One of the company’s Windows Mobile-powered handhelds, the iQue M5 running WinMob 2003SE, is also discontinued. Garmin has not issued an official announcement short of adding the models to its discontinued product list and putting up a discontinued sign on its product pages.

Broadcom Corporation has announced that the new Palm Treo 680 smartphone is the first commercial cell phone to implement its new M-Stream technology. M-Stream technology provides significant improvements in handset reception and voice quality over legacy cell phones without the need for an upgrade or modifications to an existing network infrastructure.

The Treo 680 has just passed one of the last steps before it can be offered for sale in the US. The Treo 680 now joins the Treo 750 as an FCC approved device. It is still unknown when the 680 will be officially available but all signs point to a release by Cingular before the end of the month.

Motorola and Good Technology today announced that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Motorola will acquire privately held Good Technology, a leader in enterprise mobile computing software and service. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

CRN has posted an article concerning not only the cessation of Symbol's Palm OS product line but also some key background info on Janam Technologies. It states that Symbol is now taking its last orders for its ruggedized SPT1550 and SPT1800 industrial handhelds.

Symbol's interest in the Palm OS has been on the wane for several years as its newest models, the SPT-1800 series, still run OS 4.0 with 33mhz Dragonball CPUs and 160x160 monochrome screens. In all likelihood, Symbol has likely only maintained its Palm OS license this long to service long-term contracts and the large installed device base.

In what can only be another sign that the vultures are beginning to circle over Palm's remaining handheld models, Palm has quietly announced that they are canceling its Palm Pays Back rewards program. According to an article on Mytreo.net, the program was targeted at an overly-specific niche of the market and destined for failure.

Originally launched to help reward Palm OS users (or rather, "evalgelists") who referred new customers to Palm's handhelds, Palm's interest in the program has waned in recent years.

The worldwide market for handheld devices continued along its downward path during the third quarter of 2006. According to IDC's Worldwide Handheld QView, total worldwide shipments of handheld devices fell to 1.1 million units, down 15.4% from the previous quarter and down 31.3% from the same quarter one year ago. This quarter constitutes the eleventh consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline for the worldwide handheld market.

The Palm Treo 750 has just been approved by the FCC. The Federal Communications Commission must approve each phone before its official debut in the US, bringing the 750 closer to a possible release. The Treo 750 is expected to eventually make its way on to Cingular.

NS BASIC Corporation announced today the release of NS Basic/Palm 6.0. Major new features include enhanced features for Treo devices, faster compile times, Modal Forms and support for Windows Vista.