Palm, Inc. has announced that the Windows Mobile powered Treo Pro is now available in Mexico through Movistar, Telefonica Mexico's local carrier brand.

The Treo Pro is now available in most Latin American countries and now nearly all of the western hemisphere.

Precentral has just received word of a leaked AT&T internal memo comparing and contrasting the various hardware and software specs between the current iPhone 3G and Palm's upcoming Sprint-exclusive Pre smartphone. Released nearly one year ago in June 2008, the 2nd-generation iPhone design is widely expected to receive some kind of hardware refresh this summer alongside the official availability of its OS 3.0 software update.

With the Palm Pre widely expected to be available sometime in May or June, the end of the first half of 2009 is shaping up to be a turbulent time for the smartphone market. In fact, reading between the lines of this leaked training slide could lead to the assumption that the Pre's launch is imminent and Palm may have a one or two month window of opportunity ahead of Apple's iPhone hardware refresh or official OS 3.0 availability.

InformationWeek has posted a new piece focusing on the ease with which developers can code for Palm's new WebOs. Quite bluntly entitled "Developers: Palm's WebOs is The Bomb", the article is written by InformationWeek's Mobile Blog contributor Eric Zeman. Zeman's piece quotes heavily from a recent, lengthier article from John Cox at IDG's Network World entitled "Palm's WebOS lives up to the hype, early developers say". Both pieces are worth reading for fans and critics of alike Palm's new WebOS + Synergy cloud-based initiative.

In what is becoming a regularly cited example, Pandora's radio app is used by both authors as the paradigm for a company quickly and easily porting their product to the new Palm Pre utilizing familiar web-tools such as HTML, CSS and Javascript. The oft-quoted Pandora CTO Tom Conrad appears in both articles gushing over the ease with which his firm was able to effortlessly transition to the world of WebOS in December '08, shortly after porting Pandora's Internet radio app to the BlackBerry platform.

CoreCodec has released a new update to its CorePlayer Mobile multimedia software for Palm OS and Windows Mobile. This new update is said to offer a slew of optimizations to improve performance and make the UI faster. It also includes the usual amount of bugfixes, detailed here, proxy/password support, wma coverart and LATM AAC container support.

CorePlayer Mobile for Palm OS v1.3.2 is available now for $29.95 and is a free update for current customers. You can read our review of an earlier version here. It is also available for Windows Mobile Professional and Smartphone.

Spb Software has released the next generation version of its Mobile Shell for Windows Mobile powered phones. The new version of Spb Mobile Shell adds numerous new features including accounts for two different smartphone use scenarios: work and play, integration of picture contacts with Facebook, account-sensitive email indicators, attractive time and weather screens, widgets, responsive kinetic scrolling, a 3D animation engine, and a host of additional features that bring an enhanced Windows Mobile experience.

Spb Mobile Shell v3.0 is available now with a free trial period. It costs $29.95 to purchase. It is compatible with touchscreen devices running Windows Mobile 5.0 and above. You can also check out a video demo posted after the break.

While word leaked out several months ago of the forthcoming EOL status of Sprint's version of the Centro, no word has been heard in regards to versions of the phone offered from other carriers or in unlocked GSM form. Beginning sometime in the last week or so, the Palm.com online store quietly began offering the unlocked version of the Centro in two new colors alongside a drastically reduced $199.99 price with the usual free shipping promotion. Disregarding a few very limited-time sale offers, the Centro's new pricetag represents the first time an unlocked Palm smartphone has been offered for less than $200.

The two new colors are variations of earlier Palm color schemes, with the "Ruby Red" Centro looking similar to the old Treo 680 color scheme and less pink than the current Sprint offering. The always-amusingly named "Cobalt Blue" GSM Centro appears nearly identical to Verizon's CDMA Centro and the unbranded CDMA version of the phone sold in non-US markets. The previous unlocked GSM Centro in "Glacier White" with grey numeric keys remains available.

Palm's upward trek on the celebrity evolution ladder began with C-list celebs endorsing the Centro in 2007 and 2008 before migrating to the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Howard Stern shows earlier this year. Now, as the Pre's release date draws near, it appears that Palm has ascended to A-list status with Academy Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie offering up one of the first actual hands-on initial impressions of the forthcoming Pre.

Courtesy of LA Gossip Examiner contributor "Daryl D", Jolie has offered up a mini-review directly from the set of her upcoming film "Salt" with her initial thoughts of the device. While it is unknown if the Pre in question was supplied by Palm or Sprint, the device must be very close to retail-ready form if it is being used by celebrities and discussed openly with production assistants.

Even on a largely down day for the Dow, Palm's stock is surpassing its 52 week high and is now trading above $10 for the first time since the Elevation recapitalization. Palm shares have continued to rise since the unveiling of the Pre back in January. Despite a number of claims that PALM is fully valued amid all of the hype and expectations for the Pre, the stock continues to receive analyst upgrades.

Today the stock obtained another endorsement from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Vivek Arya who changed his rating to buy from hold. Vivek also upped his target price to $14, from $8.70 and says "[WallStreet] underestimates Sprint's commitment to Palm's success and [the] strength of the [the] underlying smartphone market." He thinks Palm could ship up to 2.5 million Pre smartphones in the 2009 second half; for 2010, he thinks the company could ship as many as 6.2 million phones." (via Tech Trader Daily)

While not specifically focused on the Palm Pre or WebOS, an interesting piece has just appeared from PC Magazine questioning the ultimate prospects of the "Cloud". Entitled, "The Case Against Cloud Computing", this PCMag article is written by analyst Tim Bajarin who is also president of research firm Creative Strategies.

In his piece, Mr. Bajarin uses a cautionary personal recollection from twenty years ago to set the stage for an unsettling future where all data is moved from the desktop to the cloud and rendered potentially inaccessible. Bajarin then questions the inherently patched-together nature of the Internet as an unreliable repository for personal and business data, not to mention the ever-increasing threat from "cyber criminals".

MotionApps has recently updated their website and blog with a host of new information and answers to common questions about its upcoming Classic Palm OS emulator for WebOS and the Palm Pre. A more detailed FAQ, seeks to answer many of the common questions users have had since the initial announcement.

The company has also posted a new video demo of the app in action on a Pre. In it, the narrator takes a look at navigating the device and shows Classic running a Palm OS game, Astraware's GTS Racing. The video is also embedded after the break.

A TreoCentral forum post points to a new set of large Palm Pre shots, curiously found outside of its usual Palm decorated lounge space. The shots were first pointed out by a Chinese enthusiast site, Treo8.com and come from an electronics accessory manufacturer in China called Ludle International.

The two high res photos show the Pre situated along with a 3G iPhone and a White Palm Centro. It's not entirely clear if it is in fact a working model, mockup or a possible dummy demo model.