“I coulda been a contender,” said Brando’s character, Terry, a washed-up boxer, lamenting his fate.

Compare that to what Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein said Thursday during his company’s third-quarter results call with analysts:

“If we could have launched at Verizon prior to the Droid, I think we would have gotten the attention the Droid got. And since I believe we have a better product, I think we could have even done better,” Rubinstein said.

Yes, except for that Verizon problem, Palm’s CEO thinks his company “coulda been a contender.”

Of course, customers have decided that Palm doesn’t make a better product, and they made that decision well before the Droid burst onto the market last October. By then, the Pre had been on the market for four months.

CNNMoney.com took note of the company’s plight in a headline that sums up my opinion, too: “Palm’s new price target: $0.”

“Palm’s future already looked bleak,” the financial news site commented. “But after reporting worse than expected results for the third quarter Thursday, some analysts think the company’s stock is now essentially worthless.”

Read the full story on ARN

Related articles by Zemanta

• Palm: We coulda been a contender (mobilecrunch.com)

Droid · Handhelds · Jon Rubinstein · Palm · Palm OS · Palm Pre · Verizon · Verizon Communications

To attract more customers, VZW even floated the BOGO offer where the Pre Plus could be taken for free on the Pixi Plus purchase. The current listed price for the VZW Palm Pre Plus is a shocking $30 which tells you the entire story.

The BOGO offer also couldn’t do much good for VZW and hence the prices had to be dropped severely. The Pre Plus was available for $70 a couple of weeks ago at Walmart and at that time, no one expected an ‘amusing’ $40 further price drop. Even Amazon has listed the Pre Plus for $39.99 on a two-year contract.

Source: Device Mag

Amazon.com · Handhelds · Palm · Palm OS · PalmPre · pixi · Pre Plus · Wal-Mart

A video review of the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi Plus webos smartphone on Verizon.

Source: 7touchgroup

Handhelds · Palm OS · Palm Pre Plus · PalmPixiPlus · PalmPre · pixi · Verizon · WebOS

Busy Mom has a 2 weeks review of using the Palm Pre Plus, and they also have a giveaway. Here are some of the review’s highlights:
Texting – The Palm Pre Plus can handle IMs, texts and multimedia messages so you can stay in touch with people lots of ways. I had no problem adding my Google Talk IM.

Calendars – I admit that I am off and on about keeping my calendar in my phone. It makes sense, and I am so much more organized when I do it, but there’s something off-putting about entering dates in a small phone.

E-mail – My favorite thing about the Palm Pre Plus e-mail is that it’s really easy to use, and you can see a list of all your accounts (and their folders) on the same page. No more going from website to website to sign into your e-mail. You can also view e-mails from all accounts merged into one list, but that’s not been too helpful to me.

Google · Google Talk · Handhelds · Instant messaging · Palm OS · Palm Pre · Palm Pre Plus · Text messaging

To spur sales of the Palm Pixi Plus, Verizon has discounted the Palm Pixi Plus by $20 to $79.99 online.

Source: Phone News

Handhelds · Palm OS · Palm Pre · PalmPixiPlus · pixi · Verizon · Verizon Communications · WebOS

TB goes hands on with two of Verizon’s newest smartphones, the Palm Pre Plus & Pixi Plus. Both phones run on Palm’s Web OS 1.3.5, and feature capacitive touchscreens, and full QWERTY keyboards.

Source: 7touch group

Handhelds · Palm OS · Palm Pre Plus & Pixi Plus · PalmPre · pixi · Smartphone · Verizon · WebOS

The filings at the FCC revealed a model with the FCC ID of O8F-CASG, alongside a photo of its availability date that is slated for May 10th, 2010. This would most probably point towards a US-bound GSM Palm Pre, considering the the Sprint Palm Pre and Verizon Pre Plus currently sport the FCC ID number of O8F-CASC. Basically, we’re looking at an AT&T supplied Pre.

Soruce: Ubergizmo

Apple · at&t · Federal Communications Commission · GSM · Handhelds · Palm OS · PalmPre · PreCentral

Verizon is finally advertising the Palm Pre Plus.

Source: Pre Central

Add new tag · Handhelds · Palm OS · Palm Pre · Palm Pre Plus · pixi · Unix and Linux · VerizonWireless · WebOS

Palm info center published their experience getting the Palm Pre Plus. Here are some of the highlights:

One of the sales clerks mentioned off-hand that they had approximately two dozen or so of each webOS device in stock but were not anticipating a huge rush. Of course, it was still early in the morning (11am) but this was not an encouraging sign that Verizon is going to put the kind of push behind webOS like they have with Android. The BB Mobile sales staff seemed fairly unenthusiastic about Palm’s products, being unaware of several key specifics about webOS, such as its current lack of support for Visual Voicemail, voice dialing, and video capture. In general, our salesclerk was quick to recommend a Droid over any of the webOS devices but we refused to be deterred from our mission to acquire a Pre Plus.

The slider on the Pre Plus clicks into place with a much firmer feel and no hesitation. Much like the old Tungsten T days, every Sprint Pre I’ve used had a slightly different feel to its slider. Hopefully Palm can maintain a higher level of quality and consistency on the Plus models. Screen brightness, color saturation, and overall clarity remained superb as always. Audio volume and call clarity was very good, both on the earpiece and the speaker, especially so for a Palm product. The headphone jack worked properly but the feeble microUSB port cover is still present. I’ve really grown accustomed to the exposed side-mounted port on my Droid and wish Palm would go ahead and adopt a similar design. That said, the little cover felt a tad more secure on the Pre Plus than on the 8GB Pre I have handled in the past.

Conclusion
I just got a call from the boss and he stated that despite the steep learning curve, he’s cautiously optimistic about his chances with the Pre Plus. He likes the improved screen size and clarity over his Centro and has surprisingly even adapted to the card metaphor for multitasking. Overall he remains irked about the lack of voice dialing and lack of voicemail number customization and misses the lighting quick response of his Centro but is committed to pressing forward with a new platform. He’s still going to keep trusty ol’ Centro at the ready in a desk drawer should a deal-breaking flaw emerge within the 30-day window to return the Pre.

Personally, in just two days of usage, I feel that the Pre Plus is easily the best of Palm’s current offerings. It’s not worth a $600 unsubsidized purchase or breaking a Sprint contract, but it’s a no-brainer for someone wanting the best possible webOS experience. Whether or not it is Palm’s best-ever device is certainly up for debate and greatly depends on the usage habits and personality of the user. The Pre Plus’ hardware changes are far from revolutionary but make for a nice holdover while Palm readies a true next-generation device.

Add new tag · android · Handhelds · Palm OS · Palm Pre · Palm Pre Plus · Verizon · Visual Voicemail · WebOS

New Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus users: Congrats and welcome!
Palm Pre Central has a full article to help you find some of the best stuff and learn about the best features of your new device.

Checkout Palm Pre Central to find out what you need to know about your new phone!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Verizon Confirms Pre Plus and Pixi Plus Costs, Buy One Get One Free Offer [Phones] (gizmodo.com)

Add new tag · Handhelds · Palm OS · palm pixi · Palm Pre Plus · PalmPixiPlus · PalmPre · Shareware · Unix and Linux