Palms webOS is making a comeback and not in a big way.

There are various invitations online for HP Veer parties like this one. The Veer will sport a super-small touchscreen: just 2.6 inches. While it might not be for the near-sighted, the Veer is said to feature a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 800MHz processor and 5MP camera, giving most users the tools they want in small package. Look for an announcement about availability to come at the aforementioned parties on May 2.

The HP Veer marks the return of Palms webOS, an operating system considered by many in the industry to be top-notch. It struggled to get out of the gate a couple of years ago when the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi failed to garner big sales, first for the Sprint wireless network, then in later offerings from both AT&T and Verizon Wireless. A few months later, HP bought the flagging Palm and promised to update webOS and deliver new devices in 2011. The Pre 2 made a small splash earlier this year. Now here comes the Veer, followed later in 2011 by the Pre 3 and HPs first tablet computer, the TouchPad.

Will HP be able to compete in this increasingly competitive space that features the consistency of Apple iOS and an Android platform that seems to have no limits? Palm, which was the pioneer of the PDA, couldnt do it two years ago before the Android explosion, but perhaps HP will be able to combine its own corporate savvy with a truly stellar operating system go make a go of it.

There have been no official confirmations just yet, but the Veer is said to be first available from AT&T in the U.S. A tipster told PreCentral that after signing up for the Veer party, he was told to bring an AT&T/Best Buy business card as one piece of identification for admission.