For those keeping score, we didn’t do a news roundup last week and instead posted our on-the-scene report about Sprint’s Open Developer Conference.  If you missed it, you can read the first part here.  So, with two weeks to catch up on, here are the big stories:  Palm announces Pixi release date, Australia gets left behind, iTunes strikes again and webOS 1.3.1 goes to developers for testing.  And, so…

Palm Announces Pixi Release Date

Monday, October 26th, just as the Sprint Open Developer Conference was going to get started, Palm announced that their next webOS smart phone, the Pixi, will hit Sprint on November 15th.  For those unfamiliar with the Pixi, it is planned as a replacement for Palm’s Centro smart phone.  It features a ‘candy-bar’ configuration with an exposed keyboard.  It differs from the Pre in that it has a slightly shorter display (with fewer colors), it lacks WiFi and reportedly has less RAM.  As you can see from the image, it’s a thin and stylish device.  However, with the Pre hitting $100 and the Pixi announced at the same price, it’s not a sure thing which phone people will opt for.  For those who dislike the slider in the Pre, though, it will be attractive.  There are some complaints that the Pixi is also a Sprint exclusive.

Australians and Asia Must Wait

Those who were waiting for the Pre and Pixi to appear on the shores of Australia were saddened to learn that Palm will not be targeting that region soon.  According to the e-mail:

At this moment in time, we do not yet have any plans to launch the Palm Pre or any of our new WebOS products in Asia Pacific. Our focus right now is to establish a strong presence in North America and Europe. However, we do not discount the possibility of offering this new range of products at a later date.

Sad news indeed for all those in the affected countries.  What we’ve heard, though, is that many are turning to on-line shops that are selling unlocked German versions of the Pre to get their webOS fix.

iTunes Moves to Block

The latest update to Apple’s media player iTunes has once again turned off syncing with webOS devices.  While many expected that to happen sooner or later I think we were all hoping Apple would give up.  I suspect the folks at Palm haven’t played all their cards on this one yet, though, so perhaps we’ll see a new solution with the forthcoming release of the OS.  In the meantime, there are lots of syncing options other than iTunes, so don’t be shy about investigating them.  Also, don’t forget you can buy tunes from other sources, too.

webOS 1.3.1 Released to Developers

According to many reports webOS 1.3.1 was delivered to developers for testing.  Palm has taken the step of providing developers with an early release in order to ensure a smooth transition.  Given that a few apps were caught flat-footed when 1.2.0 was released we think that’s a good idea.  Not only does Palm’s pool of testers increase but developers can act early to prevent users from having broken apps on release day.   There’s been no news on when the new OS will appear on the Updates app but many are speculating on some time around November 15th — the day the Pixi is released.

Roundup

Those were the major stories.  Some other webOS related musings:  There’s been much speculation about the as-yet unused GPU in the Pre (and Pixi).  Two interesting tidbits turned up:  First, Palm has hired one of AMD’s core engineering managers Matthew Tippet, a person responsible for Linux graphics drivers.  Second, Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith mentioned the GPU at two recent conferences, suggesting that enabling the GPU will speed up webOS.  Some suspect the speedup will occur with webOS 1.3.1.  We suspect that with Matthew just starting at Palm it may be a while before that GPU gets full use.  For those keeping track, the app catalog now has 320 apps.  And while fully 1/3 are tip calculators, it’s still impressive!  Sound off below with your favorite app picks, news stories or just a simple hello.  Also, check out our Twitter feed for up-to-the minute stories.