There’s something you might have noticed from this morning’s talk of webOS 2.0: it’s no longer Palm webOS. Yes, your greatest fear has been realized: HP has taken some of the reins and exercised their power to rename Palm’s operating system in their image. Specifically, it’s now HP webOS. It’s a change that we’ve been seeing coming down the pike for a few weeks now, and it doesn’t sit any better in the vocal chords today than it did then. But we can understand why the change was made: if webOS is to make its way onto everything from printers to tablets to toasters, then the Palm name might not carry the same weight as HP. Either way, this is one change that should affect how you use your device, though you might end up staring at more obvious HP logos in the future.

Update: Looks like Palm’s Developer Portal has been updated with the new branding.

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The adoption of Palm’s brainchild into the HP family is apparently complete, with webOS taking on the family name. It’s come to light on Palm’s Developer Center, with webOS now prefaced by HP, as in "HP webOS," not "Palm webOS." Palm could not immediately be reached for comment.

Although Palm’s identity has not been wiped from the slate (pun intended), and still operates independently under HP’s huge golden umbrella, it seems that HP is taking some ownership of properties formerly under the Palm name. This could be an indication that HP plans to eventually phase out the Palm name, though we doubt that to be the case. It is debatable how wise a move that would be, considering the loyal Palm fan base still out there and the power of the Palm name. It raises questions about the value of Palm’s brand.

HP has been vocal about their intent to use webOS on a variety of devices. It may just be easier to market those products under its own brand, e.g. smartphones falling under the Palm name, while printers, tablets, toasters, and other non-smartphone-like devices under HP. In which case, it’d be much easier to for HP to explain what’s going on with the OS. An HP printer running Palm webOS just doesn’t have the right ring to it. Then of course there’s the proposition of HP’s considerable brand power and the ability therein to elevate the strength of webOS in the marketplace.

Certainly webOS could grow a lot with HP power infused into it, but let’s hope this does not mean that Palm will fade away into the sunset.

Source: Palm Developer Center; Thanks to Arthur for the tip!

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Palm had a busy week with webOS v1.4 being rolled out to all carriers. That spawned a bunch of user created videos (one of the cool features of this new version).  There was also some air of excitement around games/apps. Sure, the financial picture was less than rosy. But the attitude now seems to be, "What? Me worry?"

So here’s a rundown of what went on this week in the world of Palm. Big thanks to Mike of balloongeek.com for the Pre image above!

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Ouch and Yea!… That’s the way the last week was for Palm. Ouch was the pummeling the PALM stock took as guidance was lowered and analysts speculated on what the true meaning was behind the numbers. Things got especially ugly when CNBC’s Jim Goldman reported that Palm management was not truthful about the reason why work was suspended at a Chinese manufacturing partner.

"Palm’s got a credibility problem, and it’s the kind of thing that seems so insidious, and so systemic, that it might pose a deep threat to the company’s ability to keep going. That’s because the number of people who believe what this company is saying seems to be dwindling."

Things are not looking good. At the end of the trading day on Friday, PALM was down to $6.09, which is perilously close to the company’s 52-week low ($5.85 on March 9, 2009).  Not a pretty picture.

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When the Palm rep emailed to pry the Pixi out of my hands, I was bummed. I had been taking it with me everywhere — to the local farmer’s market, to the gym, on my quest to find a golf course with an available tee time the day after Thanksgiving (Is there an app for that?), etc. The Pixi had become quite the pal. But alas, I sent it back knowing that we’d meet again (perhaps in the form of the rumored Verizon Pixi Plus).

It has been a while since my initial thoughts on the Pixi appeared.  With the New Year upon us, as well as the one-year anniversary of the webOS hoopla at the Consumer Electronics Show, the time seemed right to do Part 2, where I focus on the Pixi from the perspective of a Centro owner.

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An upgrade by Kaufman Brothers and more buzz about a Palm webOS device arriving at Verizon in Q12010 drove a rally in Palm stock today. Shares rose 5.82% to $12.54, a gain of $0.69.

According to a report posted at MarketWatch.com, Shaw Wu of Kaufman Brothers boosted his own rating on the stock to Buy from Hold with a target of $16. In his research note, he stated the following:

"Talking with investors, most have written off Palm as a legitimate competitor and assumed Android will be the platform of choice at Verizon and other carriers. We believe Palm still has sizable advantages with its multitouch capability and vertical integration."

All Things D’s John Paczkowski referenced Wu in his post that talked about a webOS handset coming to Verizon’s network in the first half of 2010. In response to these stories, MocoNew’s Tricia Duryee noted:

"If this is true, then more than ever Palm sounds like a perfect buy-out candidate for Nokia, which has been considered the most interested buyer. The webOS did launch with favorable reviews, but it’s been difficult for Palm to move fast given its always dwindling cash balance. A big company, like Nokia, would be able to provide the financing to get to market quickly, while also having the resources to raise the platforms’ visibility. For Nokia, it would mean supporting yet another operating system, but it would gain a much-needed foothold into the U.S."

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We’ve been hearing for a while now about Yahoo! instant messaging capabilities showing up on unmodified Palm Pres sporadically and for no reason but now I’ve got fist hand confirmation. My own Pre suffered from …

Related posts:

1. webOS 1.1 Now Available, Support for Enterprise, Emoticons and Media Sync Re-Enabled!
2. Newer Palm Pres Have Been Tweaked… Better Build?
3. Leaked WebOS Update Officially Available

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Only hours away from Palm launching paid apps, news from Palm Developer Community Manager Chuq Von Rospach, is positive, but not entirely promising:
We got more applications than we could handle well, which is a good …

Related posts:

1. Palm to Open E-commerce Beta Program for Palm App Catalog
2. Classic HotSync for Palm Pre Coming Soon
3. Start developing for Palm Pre today!

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To some the Palm Pre may not have sold as well as other phones (read iPhone), but those who understood Palm and Sprint’s strategy know that it was never the goal. Even Palm will agree …

Related posts:

1. webOS Theme for Windows Mobile Phones Now Available
2. Analyst: Palm Pre Sales “Stable” at Sprint @ 25,000/Week
3. The Missing Sync for Palm Pre for Windows Pre-Release Now Available

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Palm has announced their newest WebOS device, the Palm Pixi, a candybar style smartphone with full QWERTY keyboard. Essentially it is the Palm Pre made a bit smaller, add an easier to use keyboard and …

Related posts:

1. Palm Pixi Will Be Available November 15th on Sprint for $99.99
2. Sprint Makes It Even Easier To Switch To Switch To The Pre
3. How Low Can It Go?

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