Palm has hired a new Senior Vice President according to the latest check of its management team directory at palm.com. Jeff Zwerner is now the new SVP of Brand Design. Hires of this level are usually accompanied by a press release or SEC filling, this one seems to have largely flown under the radar.

His bio at Palm states Jeff will apply his expertise in strategic brand design and management to Palm's global advertising, marketing communications, PR, events and web design. Mr. Zwerner comes to Palm from his own design consultancy and he also did a few stints at Apple according to his LinkedIn page.

Bell Canada has announced today that the Palm Pre smartphone will be exclusively available in Canada at Bell Mobility retail locations on August 27. Due to unprecedented demand, Bell also announced that Canadians can reserve one of the highly anticipated phones by pre-ordering now at bell.ca/pre, at Bell stores or at selected Bell retail partners. The Palm Pre will cost as little as $199.95 CAD on a three-year contract or $599.95 without a contract with a minimum 500 MB data plan.

"We're very excited to bring the revolutionary Palm Pre and the Palm webOS mobile platform to Canadians exclusively on Bell's national wireless network - the largest high-speed 3G network in Canada," said Wade Oosterman, President of Bell Mobility and Chief Brand Officer for Bell. "Considering the highly successful US introduction of the Palm Pre by Sprint in June and fast-growing Palm Pre buzz among Canadian mobile users, Bell and our retail partners are preparing for high demand for this breakthrough phone."

Advertising Age has published an article that takes a look at Palm's much maligned advertising for the Palm Pre. The editorial takes a look at the mixed reaction the ads have been generating online and offers a preview of additional new Palm campaigns that are in the works.

The article also features a number of quotes and explanations from the executive director of Modernista, the firm which developed the campaign. Mr. Koepke doesn't quite get the creepiness factor and defends the Tamara Hope spots saying:

"We weren't trying to creep people out, but one thing I have learned now in this digital age is people can be as rude as they want as long as they don't have to look you in the face," Mr. Koepke said. "The Pre is probably being talked about more than other phones right now because of the marketing and advertising, and that's a good thing. Could the ads work harder to show exactly how the phone works? Yes, but we knew it would be polarizing people to have a woman not shout at them and tell an interesting story."

Online e-tailer Amazon.com is now selling the Palm Pre smartphone. Amazon is selling the Sprint CDMA unit for $199 with a new 2 year service plan. It is available with free shipping and without the mail-in rebate, which is required at the same price point when purchased from Sprint. Customers can even purchase a Pre without contract for $499, which is at least $100 less than other outlets.

The Palm Pre has also just debuted on the LetsTalk.com wireless store. On its inaugural day of availability users are reporting that it is selling for as low as $99 with a new service plan and after a $150 instant discount.

Seidio has just begun to take orders on its jumbo sized extended battery for the Palm Pre. The Seidio Innocell 2600mAh Extended Battery provides 90% more capacity than the original OEM battery. Seidio includes a free replacement back door that accommodates the larger sized battery. It snaps into the existing area and has a soft touch exterior coating which adds about 5mm (.2" inches) in thickness to your device. The battery does provide much more juice but at the cost of size and connivence as this model is not compatible with the Touchstone charger.

The Seidio Innocell 2600mAh Extended Battery is shipping now from Seidio and will soon be available from the PIC store as well. It costs $64.95.

The worldwide mobile phone market recorded another quarter of year-over-year decline in the second quarter of 2009 (2Q09). According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, handset vendors shipped a total of 269.6 million units worldwide, down 10.8% from 302.2 million units in 2Q08. The second quarter results are an improvement from the 17.2% decrease seen during 1Q09, but ongoing challenges stemming from the economic crisis remain a factor to watch.

For the full year, IDC believes that the market will decline 13%, with the market outlook for 2009 remaining relatively consistent among the top vendors. The small signs of improvement were centered around consumer demand for high-end handsets and the manufacturers' ability to shift portfolio to meet these needs.

Sprint has reported its first set of quarterly financial results with the Palm Pre. Despite the high profile launch, Sprint posted a net loss of $384 million. The company also lost a net 257,000 customers to end the quarter with a total of 48.8 million. During the following conference call CEO Dan Hesse declined to provide any specific numbers on Palm Pre sales.

"In the second quarter, we made further progress on our efforts to enhance financial stability, improve the customer experience and reinvigorate the brand," said Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel CEO. "The widespread visibility surrounding our record-breaking June launch of the Palm Pre handset gave us an unprecedented opportunity to showcase these improvements to customers as ‘a new Sprint.'"

It's been awhile between drinks when it comes to Pre apps, with the last App Catalog update coming over a month ago on June 11, leaving Pre owners nought to do but stare hungrily through the windows of competing app stores like ragged street urchins trapped in a perpetual Dickensian nightmare.

Today, though, Palm has finally seen fit to toss us some scraps from their no doubt app-laden table: they've announced via their blog that two new apps are now ready for download from the App Catalog. Read on for the details.

Palm is preparing to open a Palm Pre Experience Center in an upscale shopping mall in Los Angeles. The center will officially open in August at the Park at The Grove and The Americana at Brand shopping center. The Palm Center is described as being located beneath a array of umbrellas, in a approachable modern setting. It seems the location will be more like a outdoors booth area rather than a return to the Palm retail locations of the past. Coincidentally, Palm previously had a retail location in the same mall a few years ago.

Palm will staff the location with Palm ambassadors who will give visitors a chance to get hands-on with the Pre and follow along with various demo's of the Palm Pre smartphone. Palm will also offer one on one tutorials and presentations on a large screen displays. It is unclear if actual devices or accessories will be available for sale.

Palm's fourth installment of its Tamara Hope television ad campaign has begun to debut this week. If the earlier ads haven't left you slightly confused, you'll be reassured to know that this latest one is a nice demonstration of the first sign of madness.

In this 30 second spot, Palm's pale spokesperson delivers a pitch about how the Pre reads her mind and how it "freaked" her out at first. You can catch the embeed after the break.

Verizon Wireless has once again committed itself to the Palm Pre. During their quarterly earnings conference call this morning VZW company executives again confirmed that they plan to carry the Palm Pre sometime early next year.

In response to an analyst question about future and competing handsets Verizon's CEO Denny Strigl remarked:

You can expect to see a steady stream of attractive devices coming from Verizon wireless [...] we plan to offer the Palm Pre early next year.