Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has been generating some news coverage on his recent comments at a Fortune Tech conference last Friday. While apparently limited by what he could say about ongoing sales due to their upcoming earnings announcement, the executive still touched on the topic of Palm a number of times.

Despite that the Sprint chief told the attendees that the number one constraint for selling Pre's has been the actual supply of them from Palm. He went on to acknowledge a few shortages (which have long ago mostly disappeared) and went on to state that "it's too early to tell" whether or not the Palm Pre is a "real hit" device.

UPDATED Best Buy retail stores are now selling the Palm Pre for $99 with the usual 2 year service agreement and activation discounts, according to various reports. This marks a $100 price drop less than two months into its life cycle. The deal may be especially attractive to customers as it also drops the mail in rebate, yet retains the same instant discount.

It is unclear at this time if this is a limited time promotion or permanent reduction. Some sales flyers also show a reduced (contract free) regular price of $749.99, down from $849. It's also uncertain whether all locations will offer the special pricing as Best Buy sales pricing can sometimes vary regionally.

On top of Palm's official release notes, the new webOS 1.1 update for the Palm Pre also includes a number of undocumented new features and modifications. The changes range from extremely subtle UI tweaks to totally new options and behaviors.

Some of the more noticeable points include: new animated drop down menu's, a new system font for the browser, improved scrolling and zooming behavior, modified notification sounds and overall performance enhancements. Read on as we point out and go over many of the additional functionality.

PreCentral has a piece up examining exactly how Palm has overcome Apple's attempts to lock it out of iTunes. As detailed before, when the Pre is placed into media sync mode its USB node identifies itself as a generic iPod. To stop the process it seems Apple simply blocked Palm's supplied vendor ID of Palm Inc. According to PC, to reestablish media syncing the Pre now supplies a vendor ID which identifies itself as an Apple Inc product.

Palm's PR head, Lynn Fox has stated that Apple may be using the USB Vendor ID system improperly telling allthingsd: "Palm believes that openness and interoperability offer better experiences for users by allowing them the freedom to use the content they own without interference across devices and services, so on behalf of consumers, we have notified the USB Implementers Forum of what we believe is improper use of the Vendor ID number by another member."

Palm has just released webOS version 1.1.0. The system update for the Palm Pre is available now, over the air via the built in Update application. The new build of webOS adds a few new features, builds out Exchange EAS support, includes a new NFL app, brings some bug fixes to existing apps and restores iTunes media synchronization with the latest version of iTunes (v8.2.1).

The update weighs in at 87MB. Palm's support documentation details the full release notes, which are also mirrored after the break.

Mobi Products has introduced a new charging station and cradle designed for the Palm Pre. The Mobi Products Pre Cradle also includes a spare battery charing spot, which is especially useful with the new Pre extended battery. The cradle utilizes your computers USB port for data syncing and charging power. It can also run off of the included AC power adapter.

The Mobi Products Cradle w/ Spare Battery Slot sells for $24.95 is in stock now in the PIC store. Shipping on most orders is $5.95 and it comes with our standard 30-day money back guarantee.

After a little more than six weeks of exclusive retail availability, Sprint is now offering the Palm Pre for sale on its website. The Pre can now be purchased with a new plan or with a qualified upgrade. Sprint continues to extend the same upfront pricing and the $100 mail-in rebate form for online orders.

The Palm Pre sells for $199 with on new line activations with a 2 year contract and on eligible upgrades. Customers can also still order by phone as well by calling 1-866-866-7509.

Palm OS (Classic) PalmaryClock Wireless for Treo and Centro $19.95 now $4.95 BlackJack Deluxe $12.95 now $2.99 Click Deluxe 2 $9.95 now $2.99 OnTimeRx $22.95 now $19.95 Sudoku DeluxeWare $7.95 now $2.99

Windows Mobile Elecont Launcher - Vibro Touch $9.95 now $6.95 FlexMail $29.95 now $19.95 Meteor Brick Breaker $14.95 now $5.99 3D Mini-Dogfight for Pocket PC $19.95 now $9.95 MobileRemote $11.95 now $6.99

Back in May we reported that not only was Bell Mobility set to be the exclusive Pre carrier in Canada but according to unconfirmed reports at the time, the device could arrive as soon as "early August". Well, it looks like this is one rumored release date that may be coming true or happening even sooner than anticipated.

MobileSyrup is now reporting that Bell has begun training sessions for employees in the largest Canadian metro markets starting today and concluding the 29th. So it's entirely possible that the device may arrive at the very tail end of July or in early August, just as the earlier rumor claimed. August 6th or 7th could be a likely launch date as well, giving Bell a 90-day delay from the Pre launch on Sprint June 6th and assuming they would want to launch at the end of the week.

Palm has unleashed another new commercial in its series of Palm Pre advertisements. Again Palm has employed the up-close, direct delivery style seen in the past two ads featuring Tamara Hope.

This one involves a conversation about reincarnation and remembering past lives. You can catch the 30 second clip after the break.

A new rumor circulating online courtesy of Phone Arena has some interesting but bizarre details concerning a possible leaked Verizon Wireless handset roadmap. Despite having reached EOL status on Sprint after less than one year of service, Palm's Windows Mobile 6-based is reportedly coming to Verizon Wireless.

According to the report, this device's Verizon debut may not occur until February 2010, which is the timeframe that many users have been hoping for the Pre's Verizon debut. After the initial 2007 rumors, the device's release seemed certain for Q3 2008 last year, as the device even was mentioned in an internal Verizon presentation. However, 2008 concluded with no additional details about the device until now.