HP has explained how it is going to develop the WebOS platform after it acquired smartphone manufacturer Palm.

HP has now announced that it will be integrating the WebOS platform into some of its other product lines, including network printers. This means that smartphones will no longer be the only devices powered by the WebOS platform.

“You’ve now got a whole series of web-connected printers and as they connect to the web you need an OS. We prefer to have that OS, in our case, be our IP where we can control the customer experience,” said HP’s Mark Hurd during a conference this week.

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• HP wants Palm OS for Web-connected printers, Hurd says (infoworld.com)

Lenovo – with Huawei and ZTE reportedly out of the picture – may be the most likely to bid for ailing smartphone-maker Palm, according to a report. Palm, meanwhile, insists it can still be just fine on its own – thank you very much – but would consider licensing out its webOS platform. Palm is also working on new smartphones to complement the Pre and Pixi.

HTC, Nokia, Motorola and Research in Motion have all been named as companies that might benefit from purchasing smartphone-maker Palm, which has struggled for some time to keep a foothold in the market it initially helped create.

However, an April 23 Reuters reported finds that Lenovo appears to be the most likely candidate to place a bid.

Source: eWeek.

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

Shares of Palm Inc. (PALM 5.21, +0.56, +12.04%) rose nearly 12% to $5.19 in pre-market trade on Friday after reports HTC Corp. of Taiwan said in a regulatory filing that it would not comment on a published reports that it was in talks to acquire the smartphone maker. Earlier in the week shares of Palm rallied on speculation it might be acquired by PC maker Lenovo.

Source: Market Watch

Verizon Wireless is running a sale on Palm smartphones right now that makes a Palm Pre Plus the ultimate iPad companion. Palm Pre Plus phones are selling for $49 for two (and Palm Pixi Pluses are $29 for two), with a Wi-Fi router option coming free with your smartphone service plan. In our tests of the Pre’s Wi-Fi mode, we got about 1.2 megabits down, the speed of a basic home DSL connection. We’re not sure how long this deal will last; the router option used to cost an extra $40 per month. The plan has a 5GB usage cap, and remember you’ll run the phone’s battery down in a few hours in router mode.

Source: PC Mag

the Palm Pre Plus is now up against the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700 in Laptop Magazine’s March Smart Phone Madness contest. Let’s help give Palm some good news to write about and push them into the Final Four.

Source: ZD Net

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.

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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.

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