Confirmed: Palm will introduce Nova OS & new smartphone at CES 2009

Speculations and rumors are beginning to pile up as Palm teased all of us with the "New-ness" invitation spread across the blogosphere. Just few hours ago, Wired was reporting of the likeness Palm will show "a new OS, new user interface and probably new hardware".

And now a confirmation, or as Engadget Mobile puts it as "a lock for CES" is coming from a BusinessWeek's article:

"The smartphone maker debuts its new operating system, code-named Nova, at January's CES. Palm says its phones for it will bridge the BlackBerry-iPhone gap"

"People's work and personal lives are melding," Palm CEO Ed Colligan says, adding that Palm is aiming for the "fat middle of the market."

(Palm) Executives won't be specific about Nova, though Palm is not looking to go toe-to-toe with the iPhone or BlackBerry. The general idea is to create a platform that's flexible enough to support a wide range of customer desires. No single product can satisfy all the unmet needs of today's digital consumers, Silicon Valley financier Roger McNamee says.

What could be the "new-ness" of all-around smartphone that Palm will introduce at CES 2009? Peter Burrows from BusinessWeek can only teases us much longer by reporting: Palm could find a niche in a critical area for tech: mobile Internet. "The next 10 years is all about the transition from notebook to mobile computing," Palm's executive chairman in charge of product development Jon Rubinstein says.

Well, I'll say with an army of talented people working at their side, we definetely have high hopes to see something new & exciting from Palm next year. Start the countdown, please! ;-)