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Palm To Unveil New Device Tomorrow

Palm, one-time innovator of the PDA market and maker of the Treo line of smartphones, has announced that it will be showing off a brand new category of mobile devices tomorrow. A new category? Something other than a PDA, smartphone, or glorified hard drive? My interest is piqued.

The announcement just hit the wires. Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm, will host a live video Webcast on Wednesday to describe a new category of mobile device. The Webcast will follow the announcement of this new product at the D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif.

The All Things Digital conference is not the usual venue for Palm to make a major announcement. For Palm to reserve such an announcement for an executive summit (run by The Wall Street Journal) could mean anything.

What I am trying to figure out is, if the new device doesn't belong to any of the existing categories of devices that Palm markets, then what the heck does Palm have up its collective sleeve? A whole new breed of smartphones? A consumer play? A media player? Will we finally see the Linux-based operating system Palm mentioned?

One thing is for certain: Palm needs a hot new gadget in its lineup. While sales of the Treo line of smartphones are still strong, the device is tired and outdated compared with today's slimmer, sleeker smartphones. Could this be the hit for which we've been waiting?

You can bet that Over The Air will provide all the details tomorrow as they unfold.

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