Some very interesting news for you late this evening (or I guess I should say, early this morning). Engadget is reporting that they've heard from a very reliable source that Matias Duarte, the designer behind Sidekick and Helio, is now developing the new Palm OS (Nova). Wow, Palm just keeps reeling in those talented guys!

According to Engadget, Duarte left Helio late last year to work for Palm:

Although no announcement was made, we hear he and his gang of designers jumped ship (well before Helio completely flooded) to take on the monumental task of designing the UI for Palm's next-gen mobile OS (aka "Palm OS 2.0 or II").

Duarte's online resume from August 2005 until 2007 listed him as "Vice President Experience Design" of Helio.

His current online resume lists him as "Senior Director, Human Interface and User Experience" for September 2007 until present. And beneath those dates, it says, "Something new..."

So if Engadget's source is correct, that "something new" is Nova at Palm, Inc. Ed Colligan sounded pretty confident last week when Palm gave their Q4 FY08 Financial Results. Colligan said that Palm had designed some game changing hardware for their new OS. Palm has some new chefs in the development kitchen and I believe they're cooking up something good for us!

Note: Photo via Engadget