Wasting no time after the announcement of Palm's next-gen hardware and software, Sprint has posted a teaser page showing the Palm Pre in all of its keyboard-exposed glory. While the device is still undergoing certification and final testing, as stated by Ed Colligan earlier today at Palm's event, they claim to be doing everything in their power to bring this highly-anticipated device to market "as soon as possible" within the first half of 2009. Sprint has a handful of key specs, including the amusing bullet point of a "A wicked-smart OS" as well as a sign-up form to receive advance notification of the device's release date. Palm has also put up a similar page and details on its own site as well.

Sprint is going to be the exclusive carrier partner for the Palm Pre, a full EVDO Rev. A device with full 802.11b/g and GPS capability and 8GB of integrated storage. While no mention was made during today's presentation about any future carrier partners for the Pre, Palm's full text press release on their web site does make mention of a version of the Pre with a HSDPA/UMTS radio onboard, suggesting that a GSM variant of the device is coming in the future, presumably once Sprint's period of initial exclusivity has lapsed, as we saw last year with Palm's GSM Centro following Sprint's model by a period of four months.

Palm has just announced their latest and greatest smartphone, the Palm Pre. Breaking away completely from the past, Palm's new WebOS and Synergy data integration are set to provide the foundation for Palm's future devices for the next decade, according to Ed Colligan at Palm's event earlier today at CES.

Sprint is going to be the exclusive carrier partner for the Palm Pre, and retail availability is expected "as soon as possible" within the first half of 2009. No mention has been made of pricing or additional carrier partners, but according to the spec listed below, a UMTS/HSDPA radio version is listed, so a GSM version will presumably be available once Sprint's period of exclusivity has lapsed.

Palm promised the world some "new-ness" today in Vegas and they certainly did not disappoint. Alongside Palm's revolutionary new WebOS, Ed Colligan and Jon Rubinstein showcased Palm's fantasntic new smartphone designed to run the new operating system. While we have not yet had any hands-on time with the device, Ryan and I were seated on the 2nd row during the presentation and got a very good look at the unit.

Stylistically, the device has smoothly rounded corners reminiscent of some of the earlier HTC smartphones. It basically mimics the Treo Pro's design aesthetic, but has a much less "busy" front bezel. Most of the hard buttons have been removed, with the exception of a single button located underneath the screen. Not much was said about this feature but it's presumably some kind of scroll wheel analogous to what is found on the HTC G1 or the BlackBerry Trackball. The traditional Palm ring/mute switch is thankfully present, and the power button is a dual-function design similar to that found on the Treo Pro.

Palm's next generation platform is officially entitled the Palm webOS. Palm says the user experience is developed around multitasking and the simplicity of a web browser. It features a web based application suite and supports touchscreen finger based input, background applications and is tightly interconnected with the Internet and various web services.

The Palm webOS developer environment is called Mojo and Palm has just posted a set of preliminary developer information and SDK details. The Mojo Application framework is based on HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript web development standards. Applications shown so far have featured gesture-based navigation and scrolling, animated transitions and tilt sensor orientation.

The Palm Pre will be the first phone based on the new platform. The Pre is scheduled to be available exclusively from Sprint in the first half of 2009.

That time has come. PalmInfocenter is on the scene at CES in Las Vegas to bring you live coverage of Palm's grand "New-ness unveiling". We will be providing live updates from the Palm Press event at the Venetian and extensive coverage following the show.

This is the place to follow our liveblog so read on and enjoy.

In what is likely going to be the fifth and final entry in my long-running PIC series (here, here, here, and here) chronicling the gradual decline of Palm's retail handheld presence, I am sad but unsurprised to report that Palm handhelds are all but extinct from retail shelves. Indeed, these aging devices are now starting to become scarce online even from top-tier e-tailers, a sure sign of impending doom.

Alongside the new year and hopefully a new Palm OS, Palm launched a refreshed Palm.com website on Monday that quite dramatically shoved all of their three remaining handhelds out of the spotlight. Also affected were all of Palm's older smartphones, with only the Treo Pro, 800w and Centro remaining as active models.

Palm's upcoming January 8th announcement at CES in Las Vegas is arguably the most important and most anticipated milestone in the company's history. With all signs pointing to some kind of major Nova OS "New-ness" unveiling, PalmInfocenter will be there to cover every aspect of the show with a liveblog, photos, videos and first-hand impressions as soon as it happens. We'll of course post a more detailed overview of the events later Thursday evening after we've had a chance to digest and review everything.

While Thursday morning's event is definitely the main focus, Ryan and I will be at CES for the entire week to cover any other Palm-related news and gather some firsthand feedback on the Nova buzz. We will also have an opportunity time to chat with Palm company staff one-on-one and possibly get some hands–on time with whatever new technology Palm will be showcasing at CES.

2008 has concluded and Palm released no new devices running either the classic Palm OS Garnet or its Linux-based Palm OS II, aka "Nova" over the course of the year. Palm did, however, release several Windows Mobile handsets in 2008 in an attempt to tide the company over during its transition period into what will hopefully be an exciting 2009.

Looking back at our WM-based Palm rumor analysis article from this past May, nearly all of the various rumors and predictions turned out to be fairly accurate, minus one missing device ("Wanda") that never materialized.

Word has just come this evening in that Palm has just updated its Palm.com website. The new design is a bold departure from their old layout with a fresh new look which seems to coincide with the upcoming new launch.

The refreshed site places an upfront focus on the products with large high resolution, interactive images and panoramic backgrounds. At the moment the homepage seems to single out the Treo Pro, Centro and Treo 800w as the company's only current products at this time. Handhelds are no longer featured on the main site.

Ominous-sounding "do or die" articles relating to Palm are nothing new or surprising these days. However, coming from the San Francisco Chronicle, a local paper from Palm's home turf, such an article merits further inspection. Written by Ryan Kim, who has covered Palm several times in the past for the Gate, the editorial entitled, "Palm Needs Nova to Shine" offers a few interesting morsels of new information and is overall a worthwhile read as the Palm faithful bide their time prior to Palm's huge CES announcement on Thursday.

First off, the piece reminds us that the "Nova" moniker is still very much a codename; the final release of the OS that appears on shipping devices may be coined something else entirely.

PalmInfocenter has been awarded the Best Palm Website / Blog in the 2008 PalmAddict Reader Awards. PIC received the most votes in the category which included over 15 other Palm focused sites. In total over 80,000 votes were cast in PalmAddicts yearlong reader survey.

I also want to give a huge thanks to Kris Keilhack and Tim Carroll of the PIC writing staff, and to the moderators and volunteers who do so much to keep the site in top form, without whom I don't think this award would be possible! All of your efforts are enormously appreciated.