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Palm announced it will no longer make Windows Mobile devices.  Instead it will concentrate on its new webOS.  Their current offering, the Palm Pre, runs it and has generated both praise and criticism.  Most love the OS itself but are less pleased with the build quality of the device.  Numerous complaints about the touchscreen and keyboard have been reported.

Palm is also reporting a first quarter loss of $164.5 million, up from $41.9 million for the first quarter of 2008.  They shipped 823,000 phones during that period, a whopping 134% increase over the last quarter of 2008, but a 30% decrease from a year ago.  The Pre, once proclaimed an iPhone killer, isn’t making up for the decline in sales hitting the Palm Centro, which runs the old Palm OS, and Palm Treo Pro, which runs Windows Mobile.

The news will likely not be received well by Microsoft, whose once dominant Windows Mobile platform is falling behind in popularity to BlackBerry devices and the iPhone, along with the up and coming Android platform.  Windows Mobile’s much needed and anticipated upgrade won’t happen until next year.

“Palm has been and remains a great partner to Microsoft, and they are one of the many companies we work with to deliver a compelling range of mobile offerings,” a Microsoft spokesman said in a statement.

Palm will release its second webOS device, the Pixi, by the end of the year on the Sprint network.  At the same time the Pre will hit the European market, courtesy of Telefonica.

Read [PCWorld]