Palm opens webOS SDK to everyone
updated 11:00 am EDT, Thu July 16, 2009
Palm Opens webOS SDK
Palm this morning acted on vows to expand webOS development and opened the Mojo SDK to any developer with a working e-mail address. The gesture gives anyone free access to writing apps for the Pre or future webOS smartphones and significantly expands the reach of the platform, which was previously limited to a closed beta with at most a few thousand developers.
Programmers for webOS have nearly all the same access as Palm itself and can produce apps that hook into the always-present notification bar or automatically pushing information to other parts of the operating system, such as scheduling a calendar event.
New apps are already in line to be posted to the App Catalog in the near future; regular app submissions will be accepted from the fall onwards.
The expansion is critical for Palm, which launched its store in beta form when the Pre shipped in June but has only had a few dozen apps available as a consequence of the tightly controlled beta process. Despite competing directly against Apple, Palm has as a result of its current program had far fewer apps for webOS than the iPhone, which just this week reached the 65,000 app mark after a year of availability.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2007
In retaliation for Apple
breaking Pre's ability to sync with iTunes. Palm will still have a ways to go before catching up to Apple's App Store in sheer numbers. I wonder if allowing everyone access to the SDK will decrease the quality of apps. This is an interesting move on Palm's part to flood the world with Pre apps.