Palm webOS Developer Talk Last Night at Pivotal Labs in San Francisco
Yesterday, I attended the Palm Developer talk at Pivotal Labs in San Francisco. Several items were up for discussion but the main topic was developing basic for the recently released SDK by Palm.
In attendance were, Mitch Allen, CTO for Palm Inc., Jesse Donaldson, Sr. Manager for Mojo Framework and Davis W. Frank of Pivotal Labs. The goal of the event was to bring developers for the webOS closer to Palm in a quaint setting to get some feedback from both sides and discuss the implementation of the Mojo framwork.
Many of the topics discussed included:
· the original name for the webOS “luna”
· screens in cards are ‘scenes’ and scenes can be ‘stacked’
· aapinfo.json file tells the difference between apps
· mojo offers help to integrate into the system
· assistant directory
· mojo provides generic controller objects
· apps implement assistants for them
At that point, the audience had a few questions of their own:
QUESTION (from early access program developer): How long will it take to get an app on a device once developed?
MITCH: A couple of months for formal submissions and release of apps. A lot more information is to come.
QUESTION: How to protect a dev’s Javascript code?
JESSE: Binaries can be decompiled from source anyways. “We are working on it but we have ‘no good answer’ right now.”
QUESTION: What is the direction of Palm development handsets on webOS and are there areas that Palm does not want to talk about?
JESSE: Palm does have the ability to change plans. “Can’t comment on specific features of future devices. Can’t discuss the process for application signing either.”
MITCH: “Backwords compatibility to bridge other devices is going to happen – just not clear on how this will be implemented. We have intentions to give devs Palm’s tools to use for development in the future. Planning to have a graphical debugger but we’re not sure when it will be available.”
USER COMMENT: After the early developer program was released, Palm was fast and responded back in as little as six hours after submission. Really impressed by Palm’s speed.
QUESTION: Gaming wise, Flash or Java?
JESSE: I built an asteroids type game in Div & Javascript. It ran “Buttery Smooth.”
MITCH: “We have no specific announcements on Game support. But we are working with new stuff that you will be excited about”
All in all, it was a very positive experience and it shows that Palm is methodically not rushing out anything and everything believing that there is much more valuable software to be run on the Palm Pre, unlike the Fart Apps on iPhone.
Palm webOS developer talk
Tony Peric
Smart applications are those that use your data to filter events and information on the web to give you what you need when you need it. Some examples mentioned are:
- A Calendar application that not only reminds you of your upcoming trip to New York, but that it’s 40° and raining there
- An alarm clock that wakes you earlier than usual due to reported traffic on your commute route.
The future looks bright for Palm and the webOS.
Flash Games, Game development, Game support, Palm Engineers, Palm Mojo SDK, mojo framework | in News | Permalink 
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (7)
Good to know that Palm is listening to Devs. Important move into gaming is icing on the cake. Turn time 6 hours for a response is much better than Apple and a few weeks.
App approval takes months? Does anyone else thinks that's way too long? I was hoping for something more open than the Apple system, but it seems that's not the case.
Why the stamp of approval process at all for apps? What ever happened to the days of code and distribute your apps any way you wanted. Those coming from the palmOS are familiar with the several websites that you could get free and paid apps. I just don't get the we have to look at your app and then months later the public can have access to it if we approve. I thought palm was going to not do this because it being such a huge issue with apple and the iphone. Seriously do a way with the stamp of approval or loosen the process up to be like days not months.
I believe that they meant the approval process to "begin" will take months. Not the approvals themselves as indicated by a statement by one of the early Devs stating he got answers back in 6 hours. Please keep that in mind.
I would like to hear more on Flash and its role with web OS.
love the idea of smart apps, other than fart apps on iphone
Another point is that this is approval for the app store that Palm runs. There are tons of "homebrew" apps already out there that Palm is letting live.