Palm announced WebOS 1.2 for the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi, featuring a new App Catalog, LinkedIn support, Amazon MP3 downloads, and numerous fixes and enhancements. Palm also announced that more carriers will offer the Pre smartphone late next year, according to an industry report.

Palm's WebOS 1.2 is the second upgrade to the Linux-based operating system for the Palm Pre and the scaled-down Palm Pixi, after the company released version 1.1 in July. The 1.1 release featured enhanced support for Exchange ActiveSync, as well as a patch that overcame Apple's blockage of Palm Pre users from accessing iTunes.

The 1.2 release appears to add a greater number of features, led by UI support for the new App Catalog. Palm announced its intention to start an "App Catalog" online store back in August, stating that the store — now in beta — would support both free and paid WebOS applications. At the time, Palm stated that developers for the Palm App Catalog would receive 70 percent of the revenues generated by their application sales.

WebOS Palm Synergy interface

New features in WebOS 1.2 are said to include:

• App Catalog support, including preferences, search and share buttons, and more
• Amazon MP3 download support now available via cellular, not just WiFi
• Web bookmarks now backed up to Palm profile
• Palm Synergy updated to add LinkedIn support
• Bluetooth enhancements, including improved Bluetooth car-kit support
• Calendar improvements, including displaying event locations in Google Maps
• Contacts enhancements, including "Send Contact" and "Copy All" options
• Email improvements, including easier searching and better inline image support
• Messaging now displays IM buddy's status, plus improved message search
• Music playback enhancements, including pause and resume after interruptions
• Call and ringtone volume enhancements
• New photo support for JPG, BMP, and PNG
• Web browser supports downloading files from web pages
• Various system improvements, including new universal search features
• Improvements to clock alarms, media sync, memo options, security, Sprint navigation, and tasks

Palm tips new carriers for Pre

Also this week, Palm appeared to respond to recent rumors that Verizon Wireless had changed its mind about offering the Palm Pre. According to a story in Bloomberg, the company announced that "additional wireless carriers" in addition to its current partner Sprint would carry the phone in the second half of fiscal 2010.

The company did not, however, deny the Verizon Wireless rumor, started by The Street, which has been questioned by some, including most recently the BoyGeniusReport. The latter site now reports that insiders have informed the publication that the Verizon Wireless "snub" rumor is "totally and 100% bogus." It did not provide further details, however.

Availability

Palm's announcement of its WebOS 1.2 may be found here.

The Bloomberg story on Palm's 2010 carrier plans should be here, and the BoyGeniusReport item on the Verizon Wireless rumors should be here.

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