Is Palm's second smartphone to run on its new webOS delayed? The webOS the modern, multitasking and Web-centric operating system that replaced Palm's aging Palm OS platform.

One report says it is, asserting Eos (code-named Pixie) won't ship until 2010. Meanwhile an unconfirmed leak from the manufacturer of the device says the upcoming smartphone will ship this fall as planned.

Whichever report you believe, it is important that Palm's gets get a follow up webOS phone out in the market sooner than later, as sales of the Pre, available only from Sprint so far, have slowed down already. It also needs to get more of webOS-run devices in people's hands as it gears up to fill its fledgling on-device app store with more applications.

Here's what we think we know about Eos so far:

The smartphone should include a QWERTY thumb-keyboard on the front, just below its 320 x 400-pixel, 2.6-inch capacitive touch screen. This is similar to Palm's Treo Pro and Centro models and not like the Pre, whose keyboard slides out from underneath its display.

Rumored additional features include GPS, 4GB of storage, a 2 megapixel camera and, one would think, and Wi-Fi.

Eos measures 4.4 x 2.2 x 0.4 inches (111 x 55 x 10.6 millimeters); slimmer than the already fairly small Pre due to the lack of now-you-see-it-now-you-don't keyboard.

Its 1150 mAh battery is supposed to deliver up to 4 hours of talk time.

Rumor has it a GSM/HSDPA 3G edition is in the works for AT&T and a CDMA/EV-DO Rev A. version for Sprint.

Eos should join the Pre as a lower-priced, entry-level option to enter Palm's new webOS world.