Palm Up, but Please Hold Your Applause

Updated from 2:03 p.m. EST

Palm (PALM Quote) shares have surged more than 75% since the fallen device star introduced its Pre touchscreen phone that stole the show at CES Thursday.

Gadget fans and Palm investors were thrilled by the newest Apple (AAPL Quote) iPhone imitator, but can one best-in-show phone turn Palm's fortunes around?

Ever since Research In Motion's (RIMM Quote) BlackBerry and later Apple's iPhone pushed Palm's Treo off the top of the smartphone mountain, Palm has struggled to recapture its glory. Without a hot phone to sell, the company has been running deep in the red, booking a $650 million net loss on $1.2 billion in sales over the past year. Thanks to two cash infusions from Elevation Partners, the Sunnyvale, Calif., tech shop has managed to keep on ticking. ...