Developers Still Anticipating a Positive WebOS Experience

Posted By: Kris Keilhack Wednesday, May 6, 2009 9:11:06 AM

webosApplication Development Trends Magazine has posted a new article showcasing the continued strong feedback from developers about Palm's WebOS. Entitled "Will Palm Get its ‘Mojo' Back with WebOS and Pre?" the piece is written by ADT editor Jeffrey Schwartz.

In short, ADT surmises that the general consensus amongst the developer is that Palm is back from the brink of oblivion with a compelling, developer-friendly new mobile platform and device. The piece also discusses the various PreDevCamps, which are being formed and operated totally autonomously from Sprint, Palm Inc., or the Palm Developer Network.

ADT interestingly asserts that many Pre developers are attracted to the platform out of dissatisfaction with the difficulty in iPhone development versus the ease in developing for WebOS, not to mention the continued criticisms levied against Apple's licensing and iTunes publishing terms, as evidenced over the recent furor over the rejected Nine Inch Nails iTunes app.

Of course, the usual positive attributes for develops are still hailed by the article, such as the appeal of WebOS' multitasking and Synergy components for integrating all possible data sources. Also covered are the usual questions surrounding WebOS' lack of integrated legacy support for classic Palm OS apps as well as the limited carrier availability of the Pre.

Mitch Allen, Palm's Software Chief Technology Officer and author of the upcoming Palm WebOS development book by O'Reilly Media, is quoted in his assessment of Palm's rival platforms:

"Apple has some excellent tools but it's still largely an embedded platform environment and BlackBerry is Java-based, though I am not very familiar with development on those platforms…but I think they are very different than WebOS, which is built around tools and models for Web applications. That implies a certain kind of workflow for the developer in terms of being able to build their applications fairly rapidly, iterate very rapidly using the kind of browser-based debugging tools. I think that workflow is a lot more productive than any of the embedded workflows, to be honest"

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'Can a Palm Pre multitask better than an iPhone?'

twrock @ 5/8/2009 8:22:47 PM # Q
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10234043-94.html

Hey Palm! Where's my PDA with Wifi and phone capabilities?
RE: 'Can a Palm Pre multitask better than an iPhone?'
BaalthazaaR @ 5/10/2009 8:45:49 AM # Q
CNET's reporting went downhill a long time ago.
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Palm overruns iphone

vetdoctor @ 5/11/2009 3:57:41 AM # M Q
Could Palm become the new cool phone? I think they could position themselves as "the" store selling music and apps w/out stupid rules and become the darling of the cool set.

Just no shaking baby program please

RE: Palm overruns iphone
jca666us @ 5/11/2009 5:52:14 PM # Q
keep dreaming
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