A press event scheduled in San Francisco for Monday will see Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Palm CEO Ed Colligan Verizon Wireless President and CEO Denny Strigl make an announcement. Representatives for the three companies have declined to comment on the news, but analysts see only one possible possibility – the long-anticipated arrival of the first Palm Treo smart phone based on the Windows.

Reports state features for the 700w will include Windows Mobile 5.0, a one megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 64mb of memory, and EV-DO connectivity.

Since the split of PalmSource and Palm, Palm has said that it would entertain offering devices based on other operating systems, and the recent acquisition of PalmSource is believed to have accelerated this plan. This move would also be a reasonable advancement of the deal Palm signed with Microsoft last October that allowed Palm OS-based Treos to connect directly to Microsoft Exchange 2003 email servers.

Verizon Wireless is known for quick movements into new high-end phone, and consumers should expect to see this new Windows-based Treo available from Verizon outlets shortly, but we’ll have to wait for the press conference for the specifics.