HP promises TouchPad will run older webOS apps in a shell
updated 10:30 am EST, Fri February 11, 2011
HP TouchPad, webOS 3 to run legacy apps
HP developer Ben Combee promised late Thursday that the TouchPad would run older webOS apps. The tablet and any other webOS 3.0 devices would run apps built in the old Mojo kit as-is, with an onscreen gesture space to make up for a small app running on the much larger screen. They won't scale up, however.
The emulation is necessary since full-size webOS 3 apps need to use the Enyo development platform, whose kit was released just on Wednesday. Only Enyo supports significantly different screen sizes and an onscreen keyboard.
HP's new smartphones, the Pre3 and Veer, are expected to run webOS 2.x and will still support legacy apps without needing special support. The move still risks temporarily fragmenting webOS development as those with older apps either have to port to Enyo or develop separate versions for the TouchPad.
