Palm is expected to unveil its first device, running its new operating system, this Thursday at the big Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, and of course, there’s some minor details leaking out early. They are pretty vague, and who knows if they are spot on, but TechCrunch is quoting “a trusted source” as saying the first phone will have a full Qwerty keyboard that will slide down under a touchscreen. The new operating system is described as “amazing” and there will come with a ton of software and have media playback functions along with standard Palm calendar, email, and contact functionality.

It better be pretty “amazing” because in a San Francisco Chronicle story today, doubts are raised as to whether it is too late for Palm to release something new, given products aren’t expected to hit store shelves until mid-2009, and the company is struggling financially. Jack Gold, analyst for J.Gold Associates, said: “The bottom line is this is Palm’s last gasp. They have to come out with a new OS to make themselves relevant again. Their old OS is a geriatric case. It’s been around for a long time and has been marginally improved, but it hasn’t kept pace with the iPhone or (Google) Androids of the world.” Analyst Pablo Perez-Fernandez of Global Crown Capital was even less generous: “There’s no momentum behind Palm (NSDQ: PALM). There’s really no room for Palm. If you ask new developers if they want to write for a marginalized company or a company like Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), the answer is obvious.”