Prospective customers can now benefit from on line discounts and the mail in rebate has been dropped. So now the handsets are available for purchase for as little as $149.99 and $79.99.

A Verizon spokesperson commented recently in an article on Wireless week and said that they had a “brief period where they tested mail in rebates on some phones.”

The test led Verizon to conclude that “some customers expected instant rebates,” and that as this is a competitive business they have “responded accordingly.”

Most would say that the new offers that are in place on the Palm Pre Plus and also the Palm Pixi Plus is an attempt from Verizon to increase sales of both of the devices.

In an increasingly crowded marketplace with Apple’s iPhone and Google Android OS-based phones racking up customers, trying to make the price of not so popular phones as these more price competitive only makes sense.