The Palm Pre hadn’t even launched and we already were hearing about the 2nd WebOS device – the Palm Eos. The health and sustainability of Palm relies on a fruitful inventory of awesome WebOS products, but the company is patiently getting their platform and App Catalog gears running smoothly before they push forward with more hardware which would only complicate things.

But hardware is what people love and want and the Palm Eos offers the next taste of feasible WebOS product. Unfortunately, recently swirling rumors have put the device’s existence into question. Initially rumored for a holiday launch on AT&T, some analysts speculated that the Palm Eos wouldn’t be decking any halls with WebOS jolly:

“We think that the Pixie, which we believe is being geared for AT&T and has a different form factor than the Pre, is not likely to be available for the 2009 holiday season,” Morgan Joseph Analyst Ilya Grozovsky wrote in a research note to clients, adding that Palm (PALM) needs to push the Eos hard if the company hopes to hold its own against Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone–particularly its $99 model–at AT&T (T).

“We do not have significant unit assumptions for this product given the continued success of the iPhone at AT&T,” Grozovsky said. “Nevertheless, we believe that Palm needs all the unit help it can get to achieve profitability and a delay in incremental units at AT&T with the Pixie would be a setback to this goal.”

Only a day later a counter analysis speculated that the Palm Eos would be launching in October! Talk about multiple rumor personality disorder!

Taiwan-based handset maker Compal Communications is expected to start volume shipments of Palm’s entry-level smartphones, the Eos, in October 2009, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.

Monthly orders for the Eos, which features a 2.6-inch multi-touch display and supports GSM/HSPA initially, will reach 400,000-500,000 units, which will help drive up Compal’s revenues starting in the fourth quarter, the paper said, adding Compal will also begin to ship a CDMA EV-DO version of the Eos to Palm in the first quarter of 2010.

So there you have it – the GSM (AT&T) version might see a launch in 2010 but the CDMA (Sprint/Verizon) version is still on track for holidays 2009. This is, of course, assuming that these rumors hold their weight.

It would be great to see another WebOS device by October, but in my opinion, Palm needs a more vibrant App Catalog before they get in over their heads. The promise of these more “open” platforms is 3rd party apps, and at the moment, Palm doesn’t have much to brag about in that arena.

Give us a reason to brag, Palm!