Suddenly, it seems even more fitting that a company called Elevation Partners recently took a stake in Palm.

This might be rock bottom for the storied mobile-computing company. The decision to cancel the Foleo even before letting people get their hands on it is an embarrassing admission that Palm’s vision of the computing world is way off base from the rest of the world, and it’s a black mark on the otherwise stellar career of Palm founder Jeff Hawkins.

Reversing a lower court ruling, a U.S. Court of Appeals ordered an antitrust case brought by Broadcom against Qualcomm to proceed in a New Jersey district court. The case is one of several tangled legal battles between the rival wireless chip makers.

Broadcom originally filed the case in New Jersey on July 1, 2005, claiming Qualcomm violated U.S. antitrust laws by manipulating the standards-setting process and failing to license third-generation cellular technology in a fair and nondiscriminatory manner. The district court dismissed the case on Sept. 1, 2006, and Broadcom promptly appealed the decision.

Well, we have to give kudos when they’re deserved. Active readers will note that we often mock Apple for their Appler-than-thou attitude and generally annoying demeanor. We were particularly disturbed by Apple’s screwing of their most loyal (some would say “stupidly fanatic”, but not us) customers by dropping the iPhone price by $200 just two months after shipment.

However, today Steve Jobs announced that he’s giving these early adopters a $100 credit at the Apple store. Now, it’s not exactly the same as getting your $200 back in cash, but it’s a nod towards the satisfaction of customers and we think that deserves a pat on the back. We fully expected Jobs and company to be as asshole-ish as possible and maybe they’re learning that their installed customer base should not be regularly shat upon.

One note about the credit: for most of us a credit at the Apple online store would be worth, well, not much. But since the iPhone buyers are the most active of Apple customers, there’s no doubt they’ll be back to the Apple online store to buy something anyway.

Let’s hope Apple continues to remember that their best customers are not to be taken for granted.

HTC announced the launch of HTCmail, a fully hosted, secure, and managed email service based on Microsoft Hosted Exchange. HTCmail will bring the benefits of always-connected business to mobile professionals. The HTC offering provides seamless and real-time access to up to five different email accounts, either personal or work mailboxes, aggregated and instantly delivered to a mobile device through Outlook 2007. Features include email, contacts and calendar, enabling users to easily access information and communications while on the go. HTCmail is compatible with all HTC devices, and will be rolling out across selected European markets from September 2007.

NorthGlide has released updates for each of its NeatFreak pack bundles. The NeatFreak Pack for Palm OS comes in three versions, Ultimate, Plus and standard. The Ultimate version includes four applications designed to keep your PDA or smartphone clean and in good shape. The bundle includes Uninstall Manager, a Cleanup application that deletes rogue files, OnGuard Backup and NorthGlide Undo.

Apple announced the first major overhaul of its popular iPod music digital players in nearly two years and slashed the price of its new iPhone. CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a series of iPod upgrades–including more storage and bigger screens–but the showstopper was a new model dubbed the iPod Touch and fashioned after the iPhone.

Apple also announced a new version of its iTunes music store that will allow users to buy songs wirelessly. In iPhone news, Jobs said Apple will discontinue one of the two models sold since late June. The remaining version, with 8 gigabytes of storage, will now sell for $399, or $200 less than before.

Orange has repackaged some of its services for telecommuting workers into a portfolio called Open Office.

Users of Orange Business handsets will be able to choose from a variety of services aimed at telecommuters and workers on the go, including broadband access in the home; a Wi-Fi/GSM dual-mode phone system called “Unique”; mobile email; Orange’s quad-band “Business Everywhere” data card service that allows mobile broadband access via 3G and Wi-Fi networks; and some dedicated-fee mobile-access plans.

Apple rolled out a lot of new stuff today. Here’s the gist of what’s new with the iPod, iPhone, and iTunes, straight outta Apple.

Palm’s Foleo companion, which had mixed prospects, has been canceled so the company can double down on its next-generation software platform. Reading between the lines, it appears the lukewarm reviews of the Foleo had an impact. It’s not a good sign when a company delays a product and no one notices.

In the end, Palm is making the right move. Why distract yourself with a product that could wind up as a doorstop? If Palm is going to right itself it needs to focus on its core smartphone market and developing an OS that will propel the company into the future.

PhatWare announced the release of PhatNotes 5.0, the next generation of the company’s notes organizer software for Microsoft Windows based desktop computers and Windows Mobile smartphones. PhatNotes allows users to create notes and organize them by type, subject, creation, and modification date. The software provides powerful text search with regular expression support, document security, and email capabilities.

Unlike previous versions of PhatNotes, the new version will not include multiple editions of the software. Instead, there will be only one edition of PhatNotes that supports both Standard (non-touch screen) and Professional (touch screen) devices and includes the desktop software and the synchronization module for ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center for Windows Vista.