Shares of Palm Inc. rose $1.05, or 32 percent, to $4.35 Thursday afternoon after the maker of handheld devices unveiled a new operating system and handset designed to help it recoup its position in the smartphone market it helped pioneer.

Palm’s shares have fallen from a 52-week high of $8.94, but a $100 million cash infusion in December from Roger McNamee’s Elevation Partners has bolstered the company’s capital cushion as it seeks to revive its fortunes.

The new smartphone, dubbed the Pre, has a touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard. The mobile device, scheduled to be introduced on the Sprint network in the first half of 2009, has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a 3-megapixel camera and a removable battery.

The company’s new webOS operating system is designed to merge users’ work and recreational lives by merging Google, Outlook, and Facebook calendars and organizing e-mails, phone calls, and text messages with a person in a single thread.

Apple’s iPhone has taken the position as the No. 1 smartphone in a market also populated by Research In Motion’s BlackBerry models and handsets using the Android operating system developed by Google and its partners.

Jeff Kagan, a wireless company consultant, said the lag between introducing and shipping the Pre could hurt Palm’s momentum.

“This new device will be available in stores in the next few months,” he said in a statement. “That's disappointing, but not unexpected. Palm wants to make sure it works well with no complaints, and if it isn't ready yet, it is better they keep users waiting rather than let them get disappointed.”