Palm made a surprise announcement today that WebOS 2.0 is on the way.

Palm has been relatively quiet since being acquired by Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and hasn't issued any new hardware or software releases in some time as employees jump ship. However, the company has indicated it would release a WebOS product in early 2011, most likely a tablet.

Some of the top features of the updated WebOS platform include:

• Developer access to Synergy, allowing developers to merge their own services into the unified contact book, calendar and messaging inbox;
• Multitasking stack, which means WebOS turns apps into "cards" with stacks sorting related cards together;
• A Just Type feature that enables developers create "quick actions" to let users begin an email, create a message, update statuses, search websites without having to launch an app;
• A dock mode feature that allows apps to put up special screens when a Palm device is sitting on its Touchstone dock. "Think slide shows; stock, news and sports tickers; social network updates; virtual pets; a killer alarm clock," Palm wrote on its website;
• Enhanced access to native hardware to give more developers access to the Plug-In Developers Kit.

Palm hasn't given a date as to when the update will become available but indicated WebOS 2.0 will come later this year.

Back in May, former HP CEO Mark Hurd said webOS would go well beyond smartphones and tablet PCs and into connected devices such as web printers complete with an app store. HP's aim is to also grow Palm's smartphone business.

For more:
- see this PCMag article

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