Palm Inc. shares fell Wednesday afternoon amid chatter Verizon Wireless may drop its Pre Plus and Pixi Plus smartphones, sales of which have disappointed many on Wall Street.
The buzz started after Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek told his firm’s salesforce Verizon Wireless was “evaluating the potential for destocking,” industry jargon for dropping a product from the store shelves. Misek cited conversations with Verizon Wireless officials.

“We have relationships with certain people at Verizon, and they have been very, very disappointed with Palm sales,” he told Dow Jones Newswires.

Read the full story on Total Telecom.

Business, Palm, pixi, Smartphone, Telecommunications, Verizon Wireless, Wall Street, Wireless

JK on the run has their must have apps for the Palm phone:

1. PhotoDialer. Smartphones should be first and foremost good phones — that should be the primary function, right? PhotoDialer is an app that leverages the good phone capability of the Palm phones by providing a screen with the owner’s most-called contacts presented in a nice grid. $1.99.

2. Pandora. Pandora is one of those audio services that you can’t live without once you find it. The unique technology that can serve a playlist of music similar to the music you like is very good. Free.

3. Twee. It seems everyone is playing on Twitter and a good phone client makes the experience the best. Twee is a webOS client that has all of the features you want presented in a pleasant interface. Twee comes in two versions. Twee Free is nearly full-featured but lacks support for lists and a few other functions of the paid version. $2.99.

4. Klondike Solitaire. The Windows OS got most of us playing Solitaire, and a good mobile version can help pass the time away when there is nothing else to do. Klondike Solitaire is a complete implementation of the game we all know, and plays very nicely with touch on the Palm phones. $1.99.

5. gDial Pro. Google Voice is a wonderful service that only comes into its own when used on a phone with a good client app. The gDial Pro is definitely a good client, one of the best on any smartphone platform. Free.

Add new tag, Google Voice, Mobile phone, Palm, Palm App Catalog, Pandora, Smartphone, Twitter, WebOS

Palm has seen only “modest” sell through so far for the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus at Verizon Wireless, according to Piper Jaffray analyst T. Michael Walkley. The analyst, who has an Overweight rating on the shares, writes that he is “slightly disappointed” with initial Palm sales at Verizon, but contends that a more aggressive media campaign from Verizon and Palm should bolster demand.

Walkley says the company is on track to meet his forecast of 1 million Web OS-based phones in the February quarter. To hit his 1.5 million unit goal for the May quarter, he says, will require “ramping sell-through trends at Verizon.”

Source: Barrons

Add new tag, Handhelds, Palm, PalmPre, Piper Jaffray, pixi, Verizon Communications, VerizonWireless, WebOS

Wired has a comparison between the Palm Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi Plus, here is the highlight:

Pixi Plus:
WIRED So small it’ll fit nearly any pocket. New Wi-Fi and hotspot features add bite. Comes with Touchstone-ready and rugged skins. Pinch-zoomers rejoice: It sports multitouch.

TIRED So small it’ll cramp nearly any thumb. Mobile hotspot feature eats up waaaay too much juice. 2-megapixel camera is no longer acceptable. Switching skins is harder than peeling grapes.

Pre Plus:
WIRED Small, but thoughtful design tweaks make the Pre even prettier. With Verizon, the Pre Plus finally gets the network (and audience) it deserves. Big boosts in RAM and storage makes elegant webOS shine even more. Still an insane multitasking machine.

TIRED Anemic battery life — especially when partaking in app orgies. Touchstone base not included with purchase. Touchscreen still not as responsive as other smartphones. Cramped keys and sub-par predictive text make typing a chore. Where are the apps? Palm’s App Catalog is still puny compared to Apple and Google’s.

Add new tag, Apple, Google, Palm, Palm App Catalog, PalmPre, Smartphone, WebOS, Wi-Fi

Palm got another shot in the arm after an analyst said he thinks Palm can ship 600,000 webOS-based devices through Verizon Wireless in the current quarter. He also said it is possible that Palm will eclipse Research in Motion’s BlackBerry platform and Google’s Android OS in developer support by the end of this year.

The analyst, Jonathan Goldberg of Deutsche Bank, raised his price target on Palm’s stock, which was recently trading up 5.4 percent to $11.11 per share. Calling webOS a “scarce resource,” Goldberg said in a research note that Palm’s App Catalog already has 1,300 apps, more than in app stores by Nokia and Microsoft. “We think Palm has created a valuable asset in its webOS. If they can grow their installed base of users and keep the carrier momentum going, this value should become more apparent,” he said.

Read more: fiercewireless

Add new tag, android, Google, Microsoft, Palm, Palm App Catalog, Research in Motion, Verizon Wireless, WebOS

Verizon now has a sign up page where you can punch in your email and register your hopeful anticipation for the Palm Pre Plus or Palm Pixi Plus on their network.

Source: Pre Central.

Add new tag, Handhelds, Palm, Palm OS, palm pixi, PalmPre, Smartphone, Verizon Communications, WebOS

Palm has some good times ahead at Verizon, says Macquarie Securities analyst who upgraded the stock to buy Monday.

It became apparent that the Motorola Droid was not going to be the phone that finally slayed the mighty Apple iPhone. Throughout the past two months, Verizon has remained officially committed to selling the Palm phones early next year, when Sprint’s exclusive deal expires.

TheStreet first reported that Verizon would likely take a minimum shipment of Palm phones and offer limited sales support for the devices. At the time, people close to the company said most of the marketing resources would be focused on the Motorola Droid.

Not so, says Macquarie analyst Phil Cusick.

“Despite market worries to the contrary, our checks indicate substantial support pending for Pre and Pixi at Verizon in early 2010,” Cusick writes in his research note Monday.

Palm may have turned a corner on its troubles of 2009, Cusick argues. Spotty supplies of the Pre hampered its debut, and Sprint’s weak support as the shrinking No. 3 player didn’t help much, Cusick writes.

Read the full story on The Street.

Add new tag, Apple, Handhelds, iPhone, motorola, Palm, palm pixi, Smartphone, Verizon

WirelessWave, the Canadian mobile phone retailer, has slashed the price of the Palm Pre to $0.00, making the smartphone accessible for free.

However, you will have to sign up for a three-year agreement with Bell Mobility to get a hold on free Palm Pre.

Verizon is probably going to charge more than $0 for the Palm Pre Plus.

Source: TopNews

Add new tag, Bell Mobility, Canada, Handhelds, Mobile phone, Palm, Palm OS, Palm Pre, Smartphone

Palm Pre was one of Cnet’s best phones of 2009:

Palm Pre

Debuting at CES 2009, the Palm Pre breathed new life into a company struggling to defend its relevance in the smartphone space. More than that though, the Pre and Palm WebOS was a game changer in the way that it handled contact management and multitasking. Hopefully, we’ll see.

Consumer Electronics Show, Handhelds, Palm, Palm OS, Palm Pre, PalmPixi, Smartphone, WebOS

As 2009 draws to a close, more and more confirmations are appearing to suggest that several WebOS are headed to Verizon Wireless in early 2010. The latest rumor comes from a PhoneArena article claiming that some VZW tipsters are reporting the presence of a “Palm Pre Plus” in big red’s internal inventory system. Unfortunately, there is no clear indication of specs, pricing, or release date thus far.

For quite some time the rumor mill has been reporting several different possibilities for an improved version of the Pre on Verizon. These claims have ranged from the likely (16GB of internal storage and/or a microSD slot) to the far-fetched (a larger-size LCD). Based on Palm’s past history with upgraded devices such as the 700w/700wx, the most plausible scenario would see Verizon initially carrying refreshed versions of the Pre and Pixi, with webOS 1.3.5 possibly standard. Then those updated versions will presumably arrive on Sprint in the Q2/Q3 timeframe to replace the original ‘09 editions.

Source: Palm Info Center.

Handhelds, Palm, palm pixi, PalmPre, PhoneArena, Sprint Nextel, VerizonWireless, WebOS