After over a year of exclusivity with Sprint's network, it looks like the next generation Palm Pre termed the Palm Pre Plus will be making its way to the big red. During the Palm press conference today, CEO Jon Rubinstein announced that Verizon Wireless would be getting a new and improved version of the company's highly-successful Pre smartphone.

Dubbed the Pre Plus, this new handset features double the internal memory of the original Pre (16 GB compared to 8 GB). The Pre Plus also does away with the home/navigation button on the front of the original Pre, and includes a touchstone-compatible cover right out of the box.

There is no official word on pricing just yet, but I would guess that the Pre Plus wil be about $200 with a two year contract.