Palm EOS – Palm’s Next WebOS Device

The Internet has been buzzing today about Palm’s second WebOS smart phone, the follow-up to the upcoming Palm Pre.

Palm’s working on something that’s lower-cost, and yes, it will have a QWERTY keyboard. There were a couple of names that popped up for the device like “Castle”, “Pixie” and “Centro 2” but what was reported to be the official name is EOS.

The new device is supposed to be a slim, lower-cost WebOS gadget, destined to come out within several months of the Pre. The problem with rumors like this is that people tend to take them too literally. Six months before launch, a lot of specs are subject to change. Unlike Apple, Palm is comfortable working on a range of bands and radio interfaces, and could swap a different radio in lickety-split if they get a good deal from a different carrier.

Calling the price is even more absurd. Negotiations over subsidies go on until even a few weeks before launch. I’ve seen prices tweaked even after I’ve gotten draft press releases. When predictions get this specific, they tend to involve a lot of wishful thinking – taking something that’s a proposal, a negotiation or a talking point, and casting it in stone. Without the slide-out keyboard of the Pre, the Eos looks similar to the BlackBerry Bold.  The pre-rebate pricing on the Eos seems high for now but if Palm can work with the telecom carrier to bring that down for consumers, it may have a worthy successor to its inexpensive and successful Centro smartphone.

What really matters here isn’t the specifics of the device. Those are subject to change – and they will change. What matters is that Palm has a broad, upcoming lineup of WebOS phones, and they’re already working on more than one. Palm promised that WebOS will be a platform and a lineup, and it looks like they’re going to live up to their promises.

This has implications for software developers, who can look at more than just the Pre when they think of markets for their software. And it’s got plenty of implications for users, who won’t have to worry about the Pre being an isolated event.

But let’s back off the hard-and-fast predictions. They’re likely to create as much unwarranted disappointment as joyous anticipation. This far in advance of launch, in the mobile industry, things almost always change.

Obtain further information about the Palm EOS? I strongly recommend that you go vivit Palm.com.