Smartphone maker Palm has put itself up for sale, and will begin fielding offers from buyers this week — sources close to the matter tell Bloomberg.
Palm’s stock jumped 32 percent last week with rumors that computer-maker Lenovo and cellphone manufacturer HTC were eying the company for purchase. Now we’ve learned that those rumors are true, and that Lenovo and HTC may make offers soon.

Source: VentureBeat

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

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

Source: 7touchgroup

Verizon Wireless has jettisoned its $100 mail-in rebate requirements for its Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus smartphones, possibly smoothing the way for shoppers to snap up the gadgets.

The Pre Plus is now available for $149.99 and the Pixi Plus is going for $79.99. The devices in January were introduced at $149.99 and $99.99, respectively, after a $100 mail-in rebate.

Source: Kansas City

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.

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

Source: Phone News

mlive has a review of the Palm Pre Plus Vs. the Motorola Droid. Here are the highlights:

Just say no to the Pixi – First off, I’d advise staying away from the Palm Pixi.

Design: Advantage Droid
• Both devices have slideout keyboards. While I didn’t like the Droid’s flat keyboard, it does have the option of an onscreen keyboard. And with a bigger 3.7-inch screen, typing on the screen is OK.

User interface: Advantage Pre
The Android operating system has a strange system in which the user has a hard time telling whether an application has been closed, which keep several applications running in the background unintentionally. The Pre webOS “card” system is an elegant way to switch and close applications. Check out the video (skip to about the 1 minute mark) below to see it in action.

Overall
The first Pre was released last summer, so I didn’t expect a completely new device on the market for Verizon. But I wish they could have done more to improve the battery life. I also wish Palm hadn’t wasted their time with the Pixi (which was released in the fall), and I hope they can turn out another interesting device this year.
Both the Pre and Droid are fun and powerful devices, but battery life and apps are clear advantages for Droid.
Two more Android devices (Motorola Devour and Google’s Nexus One) are coming to Verizon in the next few months. If Palm doesn’t offer improvements, the application gap could squeeze Palm out of the smartphone market.

Verizon Wireless is starting a new BOGO campaign that includes both of its Android handsets – the Droid and Eris – both Palm phones – the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus – along with the LG Chocolate Touch and Samsung Alias 2 features phones. The promotion will allow you to mix and match any of the eligible handsets or even a Winmo/feature phone of equal or lesser value. Of course the buyer will be required to sign a two year contract but that’s par for the course on these types of deals.

Source: Mobile Crunch

Forget moms, let’s talk software! With Valentine’s Day in the past, Verizon has now turned their attention and considerable marketing muscle to advertising the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus they way they’re meant to be advertised: as feature-packed smartphones. In 30 seconds time Big Red manages to cover more than Palm managed in their entire series of launch commercials.

Source: Pre Central

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