The last week has been very active for Palm.  The biggest story is the Palm’s announcement of their newest webOS phone Pixi.  Next we’ll talk about the leak and the premature announcement of official release of webOS 1.2 and the Palm Pre’s price drop.  Finally, we’ll wrap up with the new apps that hit the App Catalog.

Palm Unveils the Pixi

Last night Palm unveiled the Pixi, the second device with Palm’s revolutionary webOS.  We’ve known for a while that Palm was working on a second device, suspected to be named Eos or Pixie.  Our friends over at PreCentral have the full scoop on everything Pixi.  Here’s the quick rundown:  Think of the Pixi as the Pre’s little sister.  The Pixi is a much smaller, less expensive device than the Palm Pre.  It doesn’t feature Wi-Fi.  It’s not a slider; it features a full keypad just below the gesture area (no center button the Pixi’s gesture area).  It sports less RAM and a 2 rather than 3 Megapixel camera.  Developers should note that the smaller display is 80 pixels shorter than the display in the Pre.

One other feature unique to the Pixi is the customizable designer covers.  The Pixi comes standard with a black back cover but Palm plans to offer at least five covers designed specifically for the Pixi by various artists.

The Pixi should appeal to those who are interested in a smaller device or who do not like slider phones.  Palm is definitely trying to carry forward the momentum they’ve generated with the release of the Palm Pre.  Again, this device, like the Pre, will be a Sprint exclusive at first.

webOS 1.2.0 Sightings

Last week saw saw the early leak of webOS 1.2.0, the operating system underlying the Pre (and Pixi).  Then, Sprint posted version notes for webOS 1.2.0 that indicated a release date of 9/8/2009.  Many then spent most of the rest of the day refreshing the Updates app to no avail.  Some have speculated that Palm is holding back the release to address iTunes sync which many suspected would be (and was) broken with the release of iTunes 9.0.  webOS 1.2.0 has a number of new features and refinements for the existing applications and we’re eagerly awaiting its arrival.

Price Cut on Palm Pre

Buried in the press release for the Pixi is a note that the price for the Palm Pre has been cut to $150 after rebates.  For those of you who purchased a Pre withing the last thirty days all is not lost:  You can apply for a $50 rebate.  This comes on the heels of Sprint offering a $100 new subscriber discount and then revoking it.  Analysts are saying that the price cuts are not a sign that the Pre is selling slowly.

New Apps

Also appearing within the last week were ten new applications in the official App Catalog.  These apps include WikiHow, Photo Dialer, Express Horoscopes, The Globe and Mail and DirecTV NFL, among others.  Click on the App Catalog and then click on the Recent section to see the most recently updated and uploaded apps.  Have anything else to share?  Drop it into the comments below.