Palm's Pre to be shadowed by a Pixie named Eos

We're all still waiting for the Palm Pre to make its appearance, most likely this month. But Engadget has a peek at what it calls the second phone that will run Palm's new WebOS operating system. That phone, the Palm Eos, is reportedly headed to AT&T and will serve as a follow-up to Pre, just as the Palm Centro, a lighter, cheaper, smaller model, did to Palm's earlier flagship devices. Check out Engadget for a full list of specs.



Techcrunch, which broke the story Wednesday, said the Palm Eos' code name is Pixie and it will sell for $99. Like the Centro, it will have a fixed keyboard, but run on the new Palm operating system.

It's unclear when this baby would be available. Techcrunch said Palm could put it out in the fall but may be waiting to see how the Pre does first.

This will be a necessary component for Palm's success. It'll need to get its WebOS out to as many customers as possible if it really wants to build developer support for the platform. With the Pre starting on third-place Sprint, Palm will be under pressure to release it or other WebOS devices on other carriers as soon as possible.

Disney buys stake in video site Hulu

Walt Disney Co. is taking a 30 percent stake in Hulu and will bring many of its popular ABC and Disney shows and movies to the online video site.

Disney joins News Corp. and NBC Universal, which built the Hulu site with Fox and NBC programming. Hulu in March became the third-most-watched video site, according to comScore, with 380 million videos viewed.

The deal, which had been rumored for some time, bolsters Hulu's lineup. The site will now get ABC shows like "Grey's Anatomy," "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" and ABC Family shows like "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." It appears that ESPN content and ABC News material, however, will not be part of the deal.

With the addition of ABC, Hulu now boasts content from three of the four major broadcasters. CBS is the only network that hasn't signed on.

For ABC, the deal brings a new avenue for distribution. The network was an early adopter in streaming shows on its ABC.com. But it said Hulu adds another audience that does not overlap with its own video site.

The added partner should push Hulu into the No. 2 online video spot soon. Fox Interactive Media is currently second after YouTube with 3 percent of the market, while Hulu is in third with 2.6 percent.

[Originally posted at businessweek.com]