Palm to Announce Verizon, AT&T Deals at 2010 CES Event?

What is Palm planning for the Consumer Electronics Show?

Earlier this week, the company distributed invitations to a press event scheduled for the first day of the annual exposition in early January, but provided few details about what to expect.

Last year at CES, Palm introduced the Pre and its new webOS operating system, so expectations for this gathering are already running high. Some expect Palm (PALM) to uncrate a new webOS handset, one designed to better compete with new rivals like Droid, Google’s (GOOG) Nexus One and the next iteration of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone. The next iteration of the Pre, perhaps. Others expect the company to introduce webOS 1.5 or 2.0.

Reasonable predictions, both. Still, as CL King analyst Lawrence Harris notes, the safest bet of all is a new carrier partnership, something that has been rumored for quite some time and seems a certainty after a recent Federal Communications Commission filing.

“At last year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Palm announced the Pre,” Harris wrote in a note to clients today. “We anticipate that it will officially confirm its relationship with Verizon at this year’s event. Verizon previously indicated that it would begin selling the Pre in early calendar 2010. Also, a version of the Pixi with Wi-Fi was recently approved by the FCC….It is also possible that Palm’s distribution arrangement with AT&T for the Pixi will be announced.”