You get the feeling that Palm had something to hide today. On the surface that makes no sense, considering it officially announced the Pixi, the company’s second webOS-based phone, this morning. (The company’s first webOS phone, the Pre, launched to much fanfare last June, owing to an almost Bill Goldberg winning streak-like level of hype.) But as you’re already aware, Apple had an announcement or two of its own today, including the inclusion of a digital camera on the iPod nano. It’s unfortunate, but Apple events are really the black holes of this industry: on Apple event days, no other tech news can escape out into the wild. That is to say, unless your company name is Apple, Inc., you’d be better served laying low for the day, and make any announcements later in the week.

So what is the Palm Pixi? It’s a phone, yes, and one that will be available on Sprint, and only Sprint, before the Holidays. (Whether or not Pixi eventually makes its way to other carriers in unknown right now. Palm’s keeping mum on that type of talk.) Like the Pre (and iPhone), it uses a multi-touch touchscreen interface. Also like the Pre (and also unlike the iPhone), it has a physical QWERTY keyboard. What you prefer is just that, a preference, but let the record show that I do, indeed, fancy a physical keyboard over a virtual one. There’s nothing wrong with buttons, no matter what Steve Jobs would have you believe. The Pixi also supports EVDO Rev. A, so it should be plenty fast for you guys. (Unless, of course, you live in a modern country, with an equally modern infrastructure, and laugh at us poor Americans who have to put up with 3G/EVDO!) It also runs webOS, the same not-too-shabby-at-all operating system found on the Pre. So it’s safe to say, in my brief time with the phone this morning, that if you like webOS and/or the Pre, you’ll probably like the Pixi.

That’s where the similarities between the Pre and Pixi end. And to be fair, those are huge similarities: both use the same operating system (which is a nothing it not functional) and similar touchscreen wizardry, the two most noticeable character traits of a phone, aside from carrier and coverage, something which Palm has little control over. (It can’t help it if Sprint stinks in your area, just like how RIM can’t help that T-Mobile stinks in mine.) The most immediate difference, obviously, is the overall shape of the device. The keyboard doesn’t slide out this time around, but rather is ever present. It definitely feels less, I don’t know, “fancy” to have an always exposed keyboard. It’s sort of like those crazy sports cars that have front lights that recess into the body, versus a standard family sedan.

The Pixi is longer than a folded-up Pre, but not as wide. It’s also lighter by a few grams. So, yes, smaller.

Where did it loose all that girth, if you can even call it that? Well, the screen is smaller than the Pre’s by 80 pixels. In practice, this means that, for example, fewer names can be displayed on a contact list, which translates into one or two more finger swipers per round trip, if you know what I mean. Some aspects of the UI have also been tweaked to accommodate the smaller screen. It’s not something that the average person is going to notice and freak out over, but I’m sure it’ll make a bullet point on some silly cellphone message board argument.

That’s who this phone is targeted at, by the way, more everyman than tech addict. The reason why there’s no fold-out keyboard is to give people immediate access to text messages, Twitter updates, Facebook silliness, etc. (That was one of the complaints I saw during the first round of Pre reviews, that since the keyboard was always recessed, the phone didn’t feel as “immediate” as people would have wanted. The things people complain about, I tell ya.) In a sense, it’s a very capable first smartphone that you might give someone, or recommend they buy. What kills me, though, is that there’s no Wi-Fi.

I repeat: there’s no Wi-Fi. That’s right, a would-be smartphone in 2009 (nearly 2010!) doesn’t have a feature that’s become so commonplace that now even Verizon Wireless phones support it. (Oh, burn!) Does the lack of Wi-Fi kill the experience? No, of course not, but using the debate skills I learned on The Simpsons: Come on. Come on! You cannot market a whiz-bang, golly gee phone today and expect to get away with not including Wi-Fi. At least not from the likes of us. That said, I doubt too many of the everymen who this is targeted at will give a damn, to be honest.

So why did I open this with an ominous phrase? Two reasons. One, there’s nothing really new here, per se; it’s the Pre, just parred down. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but we’re all so damn conditioned to appreciate only the shiniest and newest that maybe Palm wasn’t so smitten this time around. Two, as all the Apple haters know, today is unequivocally Apple Day. If Palm was so confident in the Pixi’s ability to “wow” you all, then why would it wait to this week to make any sort of announcement? Push the announcement back a week, and you have the whole tech press devouring every morsel of Pixi news.

As it stands, we’re currently working on post 9 billion on What the iPod Means in 2009, so to say that the Pixi may initially get lost in the shuffle is a bit of an understatement.

So, again, if you like webOS, there’s no real reason why you wouldn’t like the Pixi. And if you don’t like the lack of Wi-Fi or always visible keyboard, that’s why there’s the Pre, which is now $149. Pricing for the Pixi will be revealed as we approach the actual release date, which is currently penciled in for the Holidays.

Looks like WebOS 1.1 is coming in “the next 30 days” with some new applications as well as exchange server policies that allow for remote wipe and smarter password controls. A tipster leaked this slide which is purportedly from the secret lair of Palm herself.

PalmCentral writes:

We’ve also heard from other sources that the update will also likely include more applications — though whether that will come via an expanded selection of 3rd party apps in the App Catalog or via more apps written by Palm is unclear.

Get some sweet, sweet Palm Mojo early. It’s basically the SDK for WebOS and it just showed up on the interwebs. Most interesting, however, is the lengths folks will go not to anger the Palm Gods:

Currently, no word on whether or not Palm is okay with this, and we can’t imagine that they are thrilled, so download at your own risk. Depending on how this one goes, we may have to pull all the links if Palm requests (we’re all for the sharing of information, but we want to help Palm, not destroy them). If they feel leaking the SDK early is only detrimental to them as a company, then we will remove the URLs.

A torrent of the new SDK is here and this post has more sources.

Remember the Palm Foleo? The little netbook that could(n’t)? Apparently Palm’s resurrecting it as a webOS device with a Gobi 3G chipset, ARM CPU, and 8-10 hours of battery life, according to an analyst with Global Equities Research.

Per Barron’s:

Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research, asserts in a note to clients today that Palm is doing exactly that: he says they intend to produce a $399 netbook that will run the Palm Web OS that debuts soon on the eagerly awaitingPre smartphone. Chowdhry says the device will use Qualcomm’s Gobi 3G wireless chip, ARM chipsets and have 8-10 hours of battery life. He says the device is being designed by three ex-Apple iPod guys. He also says the netbook will only support browser-based applications, and not “native applications.”

So it won’t be your typical netbook, although it’ll cost about the same and it’ll apparently share some Apple-esque design asthetics. You won’t be able to install anything on it but it ought to be pretty thin and light and the day-long battery is a plus. Perhaps that $399 price tag will be for a full-fledged purchase while various carriers may sell subsidized versions.

Whatever the case, Palm’s going to have to really follow through with this one. The first Foleo left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths (myself included) and, unlike back in 2007 when the original device was supposed to ship, netbooks are everywhere now. And if it’s truly priced at $399, Palm’s going to have to prepare itself for an onslaught of “Why would I buy this instead of a netbook with a standard operating system?” questions.

[via Electronista]

Honestly, there is no way to confirm whether this is the phone that Michael Arrington’s source was talking about, but at least the form factor seems about right for a Pre-Mini and follows the company’s low-cost Centro styling. But then again, that pic could be the Lock Ness Monster herself, and we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

As more and more people are getting their hands on the Pre, it looks like a few more developers have been given access to the webOS SDK emulator. Well, it’s either that or someone who has had access for a while got a little antsy and finally caved to leaking a ton of emulator screenshots.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Palm also mentioned some stuff about cloud services, but do you really want to know about that?

Check out the full press release below:

Palm Extends webOS Early Access Program for Developers

Company Reveals Expanded SDK Program, Plans for Integrated Cloud Services, and Palm OS Emulator Application from MotionApps at Web 2.0 Expo

Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco 2009

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Here at the Web 2.0 Expo, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today revealed additional details regarding its developer program for the new Palm® webOS™ platform. In a keynote address, Palm’s senior vice president of Application Software and Services, Michael Abbott, said that Palm is expanding its early access program for the Palm Mojo Software Development Kit (SDK), and discussed the company’s plans for integrating cloud services into the new platform. Palm also today announced an application from MotionApps that will allow legacy Palm OS® applications to run on webOS devices.

The Mojo SDK, previously available only to a select group of partners, will be provided to a broader set of interested developers that apply for access to the program at the Palm Developer Network website (http://developer.palm.com). Access to the program initially will be limited as the tools and systems continue to be refined and improved, with general availability scheduled for later this year.

“Developers are an incredibly important part of the webOS ecosystem, and we’re eager to get the SDK into their hands,” said Michael Abbott, senior vice president, Application Software and Services, Palm, Inc. “Now that the SDK will be available to a broader base of developers, we think the enthusiasm for webOS will only grow and accelerate. We’re very excited to work with developers to make this unique development environment even better.”

With Mojo, developers have the ability to integrate their applications into core webOS functionality, such as linked contacts, layered calendars, multitasking, notifications and GPS capabilities.(1) webOS applications run natively on the device. They don’t depend on any server connection to run and can cache data locally. Providing developers with the freedom to integrate unique webOS functionality and services into their applications paves the way for a rich catalog of innovative offerings for webOS users.

Palm webOS is a new kind of mobile platform. Standard web technologies, such as HTML, JavaScript and CSS, are deeply integrated into the webOS architecture, enabling a much broader developer community to easily create compelling applications. The ability to customize webOS applications will appeal to developers and ultimately benefit consumers with a unique and differentiated user experience.

“webOS makes mobile application development incredibly easy – we were able to get a version of Pandora running in no time,” said Tom Conrad, chief technology officer, Pandora. “And because webOS has true multitasking capabilities, Pandora runs elegantly in the background while you’re using other applications. The unobtrusive notification bar lets you know what’s currently playing, and allows you to pause and play without having to go back into the application. It’s an incredibly powerful and flexible platform.”

“The webOS functionality and integration opportunities provide a richer experience for moviegoers on the go,” said Ted Hong, chief marketing officer for Fandango. “With Fandango’s webOS application, you can watch trailers and buy tickets, pick your showtime, which is automatically added to your calendar, then get directions to the theatre, and easily forward the showtime to friends or family. You can even create a reminder to let you know when a specific movie is opening so that you can buy tickets in advance on Fandango. The webOS technology helps further our goal of making moviegoing experience as convenient as possible.”(1)

Integrated Cloud Services

Palm also announced that it would deploy its first Palm branded cloud service. Cloud services are software resources provided over the Internet. These services can deliver direct benefits to the end user, such as giving them access to their favorite web applications, or can be incorporated by developers into their applications to enhance the end-user experience.

When the Mojo SDK is broadly released later this year, it will include a developer-facing offering called the Mojo Messaging Service, an XMPP publish/subscribe service. The Mojo Messaging Service is an elegant, standards-based way to exchange information over the Internet. When new information is available, it is “published” to the cloud and all interested parties who are subscribers are notified that new information is available. This will allow developers to push live content to their applications or services. The Mojo Messaging Service initially will have a limited feature set and service level that will evolve over time.

Palm OS Emulator Application

Palm also announced that MotionApps (www.motionapps.com) is creating an emulator application that will allow most Palm OS applications to run on webOS devices. The application, called “Classic,” will be available for purchase when the Palm Pre™ phone becomes available from Sprint in the first half of 2009, and gives users peace of mind as they transition to Palm’s new webOS.

Since Palm OS applications running in Classic won’t be able to leverage core webOS functionality, Palm is working with partners to ensure that popular Palm OS applications are made available on the webOS platform and are optimized to take advantage of everything it has to offer. In the meantime, the MotionApps Classic application will allow customers who have invested in the Palm OS platform to use Palm OS applications they’ve grown to love and depend upon on their new webOS devices.

Programming on webOS only requires JavaScript and CSS knowledge. That’s it. PC developers should fell much more at home in the environment verse the Mac-centric’s iPhone development tools. Hopefully, this means that the first crop of Pre apps will be killer. We’re not only talking banking apps here, but we’re expecting great games too.

Itchin’ to develop for Palm’s webOS? Well, you’re in luck, friend. Today at MWC, Palm and O’Reilly Media announced that the first chapter in “Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo(TM) Framework” is available for all and it’s free. It includes info on the app model, framework and how to use the Mojo SDK.

Palm’s VP and software CTO Mitch Allen will give a presentation via the Web on February 25th to preview webOS and its development environment. Register here if you’re interested in the presentation.

Palm developer

At CES, Palm announced that the new iPhone/BlackBerry/Android KILLA would be out in the first half of this year. This much we know for certain, but rumors of its price and launch date have already been floating around for some time. And now Nicholas Deleon’s favorite person in the world, Sarah Lacy, Twittered earlier today that Sprint employees were already being trained on the Pre.

i honestly tried to bribe sprint employees to give me an unlocked pre. they’re all training on them! i know they have them back there

Does this Twitter from an individual who is more enamored with how much money that Facebook kid makes give validation to a rumor from a forum poster whose informant is right 75 percent of the time? Nope. Wha?!

sprint employees told me the pre doesn’t come out until JUNE! :(

And so the saga continues.

Thanks for sending this in, Katie aka Twitter fiend.

At a press announcement today at CES, Palm announced a brand spankin’ new handset: the Palm Pre. Running the much-gossiped new Palm WebOS (Not known as “Nova” afterall) and sporting a QWERTY slide-out keyboard below a 3.1″ touchscreen, this might just be enough to get Palm out of their slump.