HP is getting desperate to unload the Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus phones in a crowded marketplace filled with heavyweights like Apple’s iPhone and the Android OS-based line of smartphones like Motorola’s Droid X.

So desperate, in fact, that the price of a Palm Pre Plus dropped from a high of as much as $149.99 back in January before a a $100 discount for activating a new 2yr contract with Verizon Wireless down to FREE – that’s right FREE – after the same discount.

Both Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus come travel-ready with a built-in 3G Mobile Hotspot – a Wi-Fi hotspot that can be shared among five Wi-Fi-capable devices. The 3G Mobile Hotspot is the perfect family vacation companion, and at $40 for 5 GB and 5 cents per megabyte overage, it provides an allowance big enough for sharing with the entire family for downloading games, Internet access and more.