Pixi Cometh

The Palm Pixi will officially be released on the 15th. However, it’s already making appearances and there are a number of reviews of the new smartphone. We’ve seen the a Pixi commercial (see below), which we like a lot better than the Pre commercials. Two things of note: Wal*Mart is pricing the Pixi at $30 (unbelievably low for a smartphone) and Palm has announced the availability of the first artist series back covers. Check out the links for more information about its features.

Developers Wanted

Developers who signed up with Palm to receive the SDK but who were not yet part of the pre-release program received e-mails today inviting them to participate in the developer program before it goes live in December. We have heard from internal Palm resources that they’ve got a good handle on the app process and should be able to process apps without the long delays that some developers have seen. If you want to know more about developing apps for webOS, check out webOS 101 or watch the videos of webOS School’s sessions at Iowa Code Camp.

Ares Makes War On Complexity

Recently Palm demonstrated a new webOS app development tool called Ares. Ares allows developers to create, test and deploy apps within a browser. It supports dragging and dropping of components and provides a means for developers to apply actions to them. Although developing for webOS is already very simple (requiring knowledge of JavaScript, HTML and CSS) it does require downloading and installing an SDK. Ares should open up app creation to developers with fewer resources or training in webOS. Whether this translates into better apps or not remains to be seen.

Roundup

This week also saw a couple of developments in the homebrew scene: An irc client was released and Preware updated to a new version that is capable of installing patches on webOS versions 1.1.3 to 1.3.1, so Pixi owners will be able to install on day one and have access to over 90 patches, 680 themes and 250 applications. In a welcome change, Sprint did away with conditional call forwarding tariffs so now users of Google Voice and similar services can forward calls from their phones. Lastly, Merrill Lynch had a meeting with Palm management who convinced them to upgrade Palm’s stock. As always, check us out on Twitter and feel free to comment below!

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.

Palm Pixi at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

Palm definitely turned up their marketing efforts with their appearance at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.  Palm is obviously trying to market the Pixi as a fashion statement and this effort appears to be well targeted and high profile.  It’s good to see Palm having a well crafted message about this phone.  Palm even created a Facebook game called Runway Wars.  We discussed the Palm Pixi in more depth last week.

Palm Pre on Heroes

Our friends over at PreCentral tipped us to the Palm Pre making an appearance on NBC’s Heroes.  The new season begins on September 21st and the Pre will be there.  You can find the image to the right at Heroes fan site HeroSite.

More webOS Rumors

In the last week we’ve heard more about webOS 1.2.0.  PreCentral again tips us to a preview of the new App Catalog.  Those who have loaded the leaked version of 1.2.0 can test out the new catalog now.  We’ve also heard rumors that the date for paid apps to appear in the App Catalog is set for September 24th, not surprisingly a Thursday, which will also hit the September time frame Palm set for the event.  Given Palm’s history we also expect some more apps to appear in the catalog tomorrow.  Also, we expect webOS 1.2 to be released some time in the next week, since it will be required for the new App Catalog functionality.

Roundup

Last week Palm CTO Mitch Allen gave a talk about webOS application basics.  This week, Palm posted webOS application basics questions and answers from the talk and O’reilly posted a video for those who missed it.  Also, last week we missed out on announcing that Sprint announced its Any Mobile, Anytime plan.  Anyone with a Pre will automatically be in this new plan and will have free calls to any other mobile number, regardless of carrier, at any time.  Have anything else you’d like to talk about?  Add it to the comments below.

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.