Palm is set to preview this week its latest incarnation of mobile operating system -- Nova -- in a bid to re-ignite the company as a smartphone leader. Latest developments say that Palm will also release a new device that runs Nova as well. The unveiling is expected during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2009, which starts on Thursday, January 8 in Las Vegas.

In anticipation of this week's event, Jon Rubinstein, Palm's executive chairman revealed last month in a BusinessWeek interview a few details on the Nova OS. However, CrunchGear found out last night - from a "trusted source" - that Palm will release a new device as well on Thursday.

The new Palm smartphone is said to feature a full QWERTY keyboard, but unlike previous models, the keyboard will slide down under a large touchscreen. CrunchGear also speculates that the device will be sourced by HTC, same as the Treo Pro. Taiwan-based HTC also manufactured the T-Mobile G1 (Google Phone) and many other Windows Mobile based devices for wireless carriers in the U.S. and Europe.

It is still unclear whether the new Palm device will focus on the consumer or on the corporate market. Palm is expected to put in the new phone a plethora of apps, ranging from media playback to the usual PIM such as email, calendar and contacts, probably to show off the capabilities of its long-expected OS.

Palm has struggled in 2008 and reported a loss of over $500 million for the second quarter of this fiscal year together with a 13 percent drop in sales. After a $100 million cash infusion in December, the Nova OS and the along-coming handset are probably Palm's last hope to gain some share in the smartphone market dominated by innovators such as Apple and Research In Motion.