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"Due to importance of webOS to our overall strategy, we've made the decision to dedicate all future development resources to the evolution of webOS. Which means that going forward, our roadmap will include only Palm webOS-based devices."

And with that statement at the recent Palm earnings announcement, Palm Chairman Jon Rubinstein killed off any PalmOS and Windows Mobile devices for the future. This is not unexpected. PalmOS was at the end of its life about four years ago. That is why they started using Windows Mobile in the first place. The enterprise customer needed something more robust. Now that WebOS has launched, Palm thinks it has the answer and will focus solely on that platform.

What do you think? Will the loss of Palm from Microsoft Windows Mobile licensees hurt MS in any way or will Palm vanish virtually unnoticed?

Yesterday we found out that the CEO of Palm, Ed Colligan, is leaving the company after being there for 16 years. Executive Chairman John Rubinstein will take the reigns as the CEO tomorrow, June 12.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Dell is warming up their acquisition engine again and there is a lot of speculation that the big company talked about is Palm. From Dell's perspective, it makes sense. They got in the PDA market and did well until smartphones started taking over and PDA's were on the way out. They have been working internally on their own phone, but acquiring Palm makes a ton of sense. Palm the design team, knowledge and carrier relationships.

What do you think?

"We still like what we get in the Treo Pro, but at the same time can't help but look forward to the Pre. We're not quite sure where it fits in Sprint's lineup, given that HTC offers two devices that not only offer more features, but are better designed. Still, the Pro has a good design and will probably find its way into more than a few business suits."

Phone Arena has published a review of Sprint's Palm Treo Pro, which swaps GSM for CDMA. A few niggles aside, impressions are positive; however, with so many new, exciting, and more powerful devices on the horizon, this may be one device to avoid.

Palm and Alltel have just announced the availability of the Treo Pro for $199.99 after rebate with a requisite agreement. You can pick one up now through retail or online at alltel.com. But if Sprint is more to your liking, then you'll be happy to know that said carrier also has the Treo Pro for $199.99 after rebate with a two-year subscriber agreement; however, you'll have to endure a nine-day wait for the privilege of picking one up.

Anyone plan on biting?

"The availability of updates that include Windows Mobile 6 for Treo 750 smartphones will expire as of 10/31/2008. Users of these devices who want this update must download it before the expiration date."

HTC isn't the only one pulling upgrades. If you have an AT&T-branded Treo 750 and want to upgrade to Windows Mobile 6, you have a little over a week to do so.

"For the most part we like what we see in the Treo Pro. Palm has always been good at making functional business devices, but they’ve lacked in the innovation department for a long time now. The Pro brings a complete makeover to the Treo line that is years overdue, but great nonetheless. Functionality remains par for the course, though we would have liked to see a prettier interface. HTC and SE have set a new bar for redesigning Windows Mobile, and while Palm has caught up in the hardware department they risk being left behind if their software efforts can’t keep up. They’ve made such strides, we’d hate to see them fall by the wayside once and for all. The Pro really is a good looking device, and hopefully marks an important step on Palm’s return to relevance."

It may not have the bells and whistles of HTC's Touch series, but it seems the Treo Pro still has the looks and functionality to win consumers over. If you've been eyeballing this one for a while and want another opinion before laying down the cash, take a look at Phone Arena's seven-page review, complete with high-res eye-candy.

Updater v1.24 is now available for the Palm/Verizon Treo 700wx. Wait, we know what you're thinking. Just an insignificant dot upgrade, right? Nope, not this time. v1.24 packs Windows Mobile 6 Professional. Yes, Windows Mobile 6 Professional for your two-year old device. Our hats off to Palm and Verizon for making this happen. And to all the other manufacturers and carriers reading this, take note. Users love OS upgrades, no matter how old the device. Seriously.

Want Palm Treo Pro reviews? You got 'em!

• Brighthand
• Engadget
• I Started Something
• WMExperts

iPAQ 910, look out! Palm's worst kept secret has finally arrived. You'd be hard pressed talking the Treo Pro down. It looks good (well, we think so, anyway), and has a great set of specs: Qualcomm MSM7201 400MHz processor, 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM, quad-band GSM/EDGE, tri-band (850/1900/2100MHz) UMTS/HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a 320 x 320 touch screen, a 2.0-megapixel camera, and a microSDHC slot supporting up to 32GB. There's also a 3.5mm headphone jack built just for your favourite cans. The Treo Pro runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, comes in black (Palm prefers to call it 'obsidian'), and will be available unlocked for $549 as early as September. If you prefer the carrier route, Telstra (Australia), Vodafone (Europe), and O2 (Europe) will be selling it for the low, low price of 'free'.

Press release and images after the break. Now, who wants one?

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Oops, Palm let one slip. What you see above and after the break are snaps of a Treo Pro (aka Treo 850) Flash demo that was hosted on Palm's very own website. Like the 500 and Centro, the Pro opts for a sleeker look, which we think is a step in the right direction. It includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, IR, HSDPA, a camera, an expansion slot, and a Micro-USB connector, which we'd normally disapprove of if it was anything like HTC's ExtUSB; but Palm isn't HTC. They've done a good deed by including a 3.5mm headphone jack for all your audio needs.

Unfortunately, no word on a price or release date, but the moment we know, we'll let you know.

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"How about we start out with an exclusive dose of some live shots of the Palm Treo 850! Truth be told, this puppy is pretty smooth looking! Details are still coming in but we can tell you it’s sporting a 400 MHz processor and 100 MB of RAM."



It's not bad-looking, and certainly a lot less dated than the existing Treo look. I presume this device has a 320x320 screen, which would give it a halfway decent DPI. We don't have any details or confirmations yet, but we'll make sure to update you guys when we do.

"For the legions of developers anxious to use their talents to build for Palm (yes, all four of you), listen up. By partnering with DeviceAnywhere, Palm has opened up its Virtual Developer Lab, which enables devs to remotely access actual Treo / Centro handsets in order to test out software, capture screen shots / video of processes, create an audit trail through the capturing of keystrokes and share data / collaborate with colleagues online. If you're swearing up and down that this stuff isn't new, you're not (entirely) crazy -- DeviceAnywhere has been offering up this remote demo access on a variety of handsets for quite some time."

This is kinda interesting - remote access to actual devices to run testing on when you're about to launch your Palm product. Now I'm not sure how many of us are Palm developers (either on the Palm OS or a WM Palm), but I wish Microsoft had something similar to this!

"The hot word on the street is that Palm has all but confirmed the existence of two new phone models by ramping up a "launch developer" program for new applications. The devices, dubbed Zeppelin (a name we've heard quite a bit of) and Skywriter (which is new to us) could be slated for a Q3 release, as Palm is asking devs to turn in their applications by May 30th. Rumor has it that at least one of the units is a "Centro-like" Windows Mobile phone -- if that date is close to correct, it could very well be the "Wanda" that we saw back in January. The Zeppelin, on the other hand, is likely the WiFi equipped Treo 800w we've been hearing about for what seems like a million years."

Engadget has an image of a supposed mockup, but it is so ugly I am not going to bother posting it here. If that is what the Zeppelin will look like, it will be dubbed the Lead Zeppelin, as in brick, not the rock band.