Palm Developer Center Blog
An update on the early access program and the SDK.
June 19 — Topics: SDK, The webOS Community — Chuq Von Rospach
With the Pre now in customers’ hands and reports of webOS hacks in the news, we know that you are more anxious than ever to get access to the SDK and start developing for webOS.
We’ve been working very hard on the SDK and are eager to open access on a wider scale, but the software and the developer services to support it just aren’t ready yet.
Our goal is to make the SDK available to everyone by the end of this summer, and to get there in stages:
- Beginning immediately, we’ll accelerate the growth of the early access program, expanding as quickly as resources allow. Over the next few weeks, the program will grow from hundreds to thousands of developers.
- Simultaneously, we’ll begin publishing more content outside the early access program, and we’ll launch new confidentiality rules that will allow early Mojo developers to communicate more freely with the rest of the world.
- As soon as we can, we’ll open the SDK to all legitimate requests.
Until you have the SDK, we encourage you to explore other public webOS resources, including the Rough Cuts edition of Mitch Allen’s upcoming book and the sites run by our great community of enthusiasts.
We’ve also begun getting questions about Palm’s stance toward the webOS development “experiments” that have emerged outside the early access program over the last week. We’re focused on building a robust and easy-to-use Mojo SDK, and an ecosystem that benefits developers, end users, carriers and Palm alike. As on any popular platform, we recognize that some developers will experiment in ways that cross official boundaries, but we believe that our formal offerings – and community efforts built around those offerings – will provide the best experience for the vast majority of webOS developers and users.
Thanks again for your enthusiasm and support as we roll webOS out to the world!
81 Comments
END OF SUMMER!? Am I the only one apauled at this??
Great! Can you send me the unsupported version? I will deal with the issues
Good for you guys for being so up-front and clear and responsive. I’m wondering where I might fit in. I’ve been a web developer for a while trying more recently to transition to application development (.Net). I’d love to develop something for the Pre, but it would just be in my spare time. Should I wait for Mojo to go public or apply for early access?
I’ve read the RoughCuts book and it hasn’t allowed me to get an app in customers’ hands. I’ve worked with the various community site and it hasn’t allowed me to get an app in customers’ hands. I’ve built a couple apps using the community methods available without the SDK, but it hasn’t allowed me to get an app in customers’ hands.
You have developers climbing all over themselves trying to help your platform be a success and trying to help your ecosystem grow, but you just keep putting us off with vague promises of releasing Soon or the End of the Summer or Early Access or “hundreds” and “thousands”, but the longer you delay actually getting the SDK in the hands of developers like myself who are ready, willing, and able to use it to make your platform a success the more of an uphill battle it will be once you finally do.
I’ve been an applicant for the early access program for I don’t know how long, but right now I can release apps for the iPhone, I can release apps for Windows Mobile, and I can release apps for the BlackBerry. I can’t release apps for the Pre and so I just can’t commit scarce development resources based on vague promises and half-finished books.
This is not the way to get developers into your camp.
Still doesn’t give me warm fuzzies. After all the number of apps for WebOS is still very pathetic. There are tons of developers jumping at the bit to write software for it. We have very few applications to show for how many months of early access to MojoSDK?
By the end of the summer. What do you think this lack of applications is doing when people compare the Pre to the iPhone? or the Blackberry?
One of the number one drawbacks of the Palm Pre, if one is to believe the media hype machine (which many people do) is the lack of third-party applications available for the Pre.
Given the success of the experimental/homebrew community in less than two weeks, *without* official support, documentation, or debugging tools, I can only imagine that the pool of quality apps will explode exponentially once the SDK is released.
Wider availability of the SDK is going to catapult the Pre forward in the market, and I really want this device to be successful.
Take your time, my apps aren’t finished yet!
Boy, I could not agree with you more, Kyle. We’re chomping at the bit to get our hands on the SDK and our products into that disti channel. This feels badly mismanaged.
The good news is they’re opening things up a bit, so that should help – we’ll see how things progress.
Come on guys. You need to open up this phone and get the apps flowing. It’s sad that more exciting things are coming out of the Palm/webOS dev wiki instead of Palm itself! It’s like you’ve dropped a wonderful gadget into the hands of thousands of people and now it has to just sit there looking pretty for months before it’s potential can be unleashed!
You need to pull all-nighters and get this SDK released BEFORE that fall deadline.
So what do I have to do to get into Palm inner circle and get access to the SDK? It sounds like a cheep way to give some developers a “headstart” and really isn’t fair to the rest of us! Also, we’re developers – not consumers! We donlt need a perfect SDK right away! Just look at the hacking community. We’re trying to do our part to help make webOS a success but you Palm don’t seam to wan tour help!
I would apply. you have to start sometime, and with the expansion we’re working to get going, there’s going to be a lot more room for people to get started.
Yes, people, while “end of summer” is not only seemingly far away but also an ambiguous “release date”, I think we have to realize that Palm needs to iron out the kinks. The Pre is a great device, but you cannot deny the facts that there are some features that need work. Undoubtedly Palm is spending time and resources to fix those problems instead of prepping the SDK for release. Yes, I agree, it is an imperative component to a successful smartphone, but I would rather have a working phone with 30 apps then a buggy one with 1000 apps. Look, we ARE getting the SDK and while it may not be tomorrow, it isn’t a year-long wait. I applaud Palm on giving somewhat of an estimate for the release, as well as what appears to be widening the early-access program to more developers. If you have any information or questions or even Palm-flaming to do, post on our forums about it – PreInsiders Forums
What does that mean for the planned preDevCamp events on August 8? Will the SDK be in the hands of all developers who registered to attend well in advance before those meetings?
The RoughCuts book is a well written resource and shaping up nicely however without an SDK to explore the examples its use is limited.
Just release the sdk unsupported. This delay is a big failure on palms part. There are very few apps available now, most of which are of ppoor quality. This mistake could ultimately kill the pre. End of summer? If it is released that late, you might as well takw the phone off of the market right now.
This is a very poor decision on part of Palm. A fully matured SDK and App release system should have been in place at the same time the Pre launched. This is weak sauce and I expected much more from Palm. Especially with how important a full App Catalog is in this post-iPhone world.
You need to clarify your stance on distribution. I am rooting for Palm to introduce some much-needed competition to the smartphones-worth-a-damn category and shake Apple’s complacency. When the time came to upgrade my iPhone 2G, I considered the Palm. I ended up getting an iPhone 3GS for the following reasons:
1) SDK openness: according to this article only signed apps will be allowed to be installed on the Pre. In other words, the same level of control by the handset maker and the carrier as with Apple. As a developer I don’t want to be a slave on Steve Job’s plantation, that doesn’t mean I am going to volunteer for Rubinstein’s. If the platform doesn’t allow me to install apps without the blessing of someone else, I won’t consider developing for it.
2) Tethering, or lack thereof. Enough said…
3) The Pre has a plastic shell prone to scratches. You would think Palm would have learnt from the criticism Apple encountered with the plastic iPods.
You do realize that all you are doing is allowing a large and destructive snowball to get larger…right?
With the SDK, even an immature one, we would be developing within Palm’s desired process and with their technology stack.
Without the SDK, we will roam around the phone at the OS level…and start doing whatever we want. Will we create apps usig Mojo? Sure, we have everything that we need on the phone. Will they be as high quality and stable without IDE plugins and emulators to develop and test on? Heck no. Will non-techies need to root their phone to install them? yes. Will many of them break their phones and complain widely after doing so. Yes again. Will it be easier to mod your apps rather than roll our on? Yes again.
Not only that, we will start playing with the JVM on the phone…and moving out from underneath the WebOS sandbox. Why the heck would I live in the WebOS box if you won’t even give me the SDK? Yeah, okay thanks, but I’ll start writing right against the metal thanks. Perhaps we’ll install LAMP. Who knows, but you are *far* to behind the iPhone to not have an SDK on the streets today…and you will most likely live to regret this decision after you see what we are about to do to this phone.
Look, it’s more than app developers. Little ol’ webmasters like me run a lot of mobile SDKs to make sure our web sites work properly on all available platforms.
You guys really need to get an SDK in our hands, and in the devs’ hands, right away. You don’t have to provide ’support’ for all SDK users.
Google (Android), BlackBerry, Apple (iPhone), Nokia (S60), Microsoft (WM), and even Palm (Palm OS) have mobile SDKs available for free download for EVERYBODY, complete with emulators that allow webmasters to test their sites.
WebOS is the only major mobile platform that I can’t emulate on my machine for browser testing.
While I appreciate that a few months is faster than the iPhone got their SDK out, ease of programming for third party apps was one of the BIGGEST selling points in many people’s decision to buy a pre.
Palm needs to get an unofficial SDK out sooner. Not something clean and shiney, but if some devs can use it, why can’t all of them? SDK Beta would be a brilliant move and show a commitment to getting tools in our hands. Devs are used to beta.
I love the phone, but Palm screwing things up was a big fear of mine and this isn’t looking good at all…
I suspect Palm is caught between these tensions:
1) webOS 1.x is not final. We’ve seen Comments in code that seems to reflect that.
2) webOS 1.x will have at least one more — if not two — OTA updates that will greatly change APIs.
3) With those APIs being changed, it would create a hellacious developer support situation for Palm.
4) The bottom line of that would be wasting the time of developers and possibly alienating them too.
It is hard to be patient and I find the delay odd too, but I suspect the above is what is happening behind the scenes.
I purchased a Pre on launch day, apparently lured under false pretenses. The phone launched without basic features (an alarm) and key components (synergy) are broken (i.e. syncing with facebook). Now I’m being told that I have to wait months until the phone is finally ready for prime-time? That’s simply unfair to your most loyal customers…
Further, I’m not sure if this is Palm’s goal, but with every announcement of a delay it seriosuly degrades the value of the Sprint exclusivity. Why switch to Sprint when the phone isn’t even ready yet? It’s looking more and more like Palm’s true completion of the Pre is simply timed to coincide with Verizon’s launch of the device…
Please get the SDK into the hands of developers AND get the App Store to a point of being able to charge for the apps!!! I’m a user that wants nothing more right now than for my wife and I to be able to spend MONEY buying apps for our Pre phones. Please Palm, take our money!!!
I’m glad Palm is going the get the SDK out relatively soon. I disagree with posters like #15 — it would have been a bad decision to delay the release of the phone until the SDK was ready. It’s better to have a great device out there that can gather a user base, then have the SDK available than to have an SDK out for a device that never ships.
It’s frustrating but Palm should take its time and this is understandable.
It’s one thing for tools and documentation to be premature, but a premature framework API could cause long term damage to development on the platform.
This looks bad guys. Very bad.
I purchased a Pre on launch day, apparently lured under false pretenses. The phone launched without basic features (an alarm) and key components (synergy) are still broken (i.e. syncing with facebook). Now I’m being told that I have to wait months until the phone is finally ready for prime-time? It sounds cliche, but that’s simply unfair to your most loyal customers…
Further, I’m sure this isn’t Palm’s goal, but with every announcement of a delay it seriosuly degrades the value of the Sprint exclusivity. Why switch to Sprint when the phone isn’t even ready yet? It’s looking more and more like Palm’s true completion of the Pre is simply timed to coincide with Verizon’s launch of the device…
Communication creates hope. Please increase the level of communication and release more information to the community to give us hope. You need to go far beyond what you’ve been doing. You have tens of thousands of early adopters taking a chance on this once-and-future great company. The iPhone is tugging at us, and it’s very strong, but it’s also a very closed platform and ecosystem, and we appreciate that. Yours is a platform founded on open source and openness.
Give us a timeframe for when you are planning to release the next OS update, even if you don’t give the exact day. Tell us what’s going to be fixed or added in that release. And, crazy thought, tell us about the next one after that. Give us something to look forward to. Yes, you’ll annoy people because their personal pet peeve isn’t going to be addressed in that particular release. But you’ll please hundreds, if not thousands more. Tell us why it’s taking so long to get apps into the App Catalog. Own up to it, give us the nitty gritty details. We understand you had to deliver a ton of functionality on day one, more than Apple did on their day one for sure. But today is not then and you’re up against juggernauts. Give us a reason not to return this phone before 30 days are up.
This SDK announcement was a huge disappointment to me, because it means I will have to decide whether to take a leap of faith by keeping this device after 30 days. This is a 2-year contract I’m on the hook for, and if you don’t come through, I’m the chump. On what shall I base this leap of faith? I bought my Pre just this Tuesday. It’s great, but it’s not yet great enough to keep me from looking longingly at the iPhone and its vast catalog of apps. I need to know what I can expect from you and your platform, because in my eyes, you’re a new, unproven entity. You have a rich history, and I’ve bought many Handspring and Palm products in the past. My company has both written software for and sold Palm OS hardware. But now I think we all must properly consider you a completely new and somewhat risky endeavor (which is lucky for you, because I owned a 700p).
Leading up to the release of the phone, new details were leaking out on a daily basis. I suspect that was planned to kindle interest. Since the launch, it’s like everyone went to Tahiti to celebrate. It’s been very very quiet. You guys are underdogs, and sadly there’s no rest for underdogs. You’re probably exhausted after a two year marathon, but you’re in a fight for your lives and the clock is running down. The more information you deliver, the fewer returns you’re going to have at the end of 30 days.
Perhaps you’ve got an ace up your sleeve. Maybe next week one morning I’m going to wake up with a Pre update waiting to install, and it’s going to be amazing, and it’ll save everyone from wanting to return the phone rather than take the leap of faith. If this is your plan, please realize that every day until then is an added day of concern and much teeth gnashing for people like me. It’s another day of cumulative psychic weight that Palm will have to somehow overcome if/when they do deliver the goods.
Silence begets fear and dread. In this age of advanced communication, blogs, and twitter, silence breeds contempt. It makes us wonder what you’re not telling us. I’m sure it’s hard to see this from the inside. Out here, we’re wondering if we’re going to be stuck with a glitchy phone, serious buyer’s remorse, the balance of a 2-year contract and an empty App Catalog in six months.
You cannot communicate too much, Palm. Although honestly, you might want to intervene and prevent Sprint from doing another Facebook chat.
Palm, you cannot afford to wait until ‘by the end of the summer’ You have a bunch of eager developers who are just not going to care anymore by the time the end of the summer gets here. Release it now!
Thanks, folks for the thoughtful and candid comments.
Expanding your access, even though it’s still private, is the best lever we have to pull right now.
The big problem is scalability. We still have manual bottlenecks in the process, and we’re knocking those out as fast as we can.
We *are* listening, and we don’t for a second expect you to let us off the hook
best,
pd
Sorry if this is a bit blunt but this is horse doo doo. I switched from an iPhone to the Pre KNOWING the 3GS was coming out but I wanted something new and exciting and thought the Pre was it. For a smartphone it’s pretty dumb right now, and it’s not the phone’s fault…You guys are totally getting the Lee Trevino from me.
Very UGLY move… shame on you Palm…!!! Don’t be like Apple… Give us the SDK now!!!
Keep up the great work, Palm. I’m extremely impressed with the device. I can’t wait to see what incredible improvements gen 2 and 3 bring!
Stay the course on the SDK, and get it to us as soon as it’s ready. The earlier the better, but I trust your judgment about when it will be ready for prime time.
There’s an easy solution to this. “Accidentally” leak the SDK.
I’m glad to see ANY further response from Palm here.
However, I’m not sure why Palm can’t more widely release an SDK with an agreement that it is released WITHOUT SUPPORT to those choosing that option. If apps have to be approved before release and distribution, as I’m sure they do, at least this would give developers a chance to get building .. and would leave the delay restricted to distribution AFTER approval .. preventing any “out of bounds” issues.
Hacks are going to occur in any event.. but the lack of an official SDK, even an unsupported one, makes the likelihood of ugly hacks higher.
The fact that Palm has released an OS which can run standard-language apps natively on the Pre is BRILLIANT .. but we can’t help Palm and Sprint win market enthusiasm OR meet our own project goals without a toolset…even an imperfect one.
Please, Palm, release an unsupported SDK and let us deal with any irregularities…
wow…. pretty disappointing. considering how much is riding on the success of this phone and OS, it seems extremely ill-advised to take this approach. who is running the show there – steve jobs?
I agree with Jaron: we’re developers, we don’t need the SDK to be polished or completely finished. I wish I had noted that in the application. I wish you could give the early access to developers like us who expressed our opinion like that and wait for a public release until it’s finished for the rest of the crowds.
What a bunch of impatient whiners!
Re-read the 1st two bullet points in this announcement. They are significantly expanding the early access program. So Kyle Goodwin, if you’ve signed up for it, you may get the pre-release SDK in a week or two. They’re also going to be releasing more content and relaxing the restrictions on the people who are already in the program. Both are very good things. I would rather have a finished SDK than one that was rushed out and is incomplete.
I’m pretty sure that I’ll get a Pre and I’ll probably play around developing code for it too. But I’m patient enough to wait for the SDK to be released. I know that developers inside of Palm and other companies are busy working on code for it. Updates are in the pipeline according to the rumors. IMHO, it’s better to let them do it right the first time than it is to rush them into releasing a half-baked product. The hacker community is finding all sorts of things about it and that will satisfy my curiosity for now.
Tick…Tick…Tick…Palm, your window of opportunity is closing very fast – like a ticking time bomb. This whole nonsense of waiting until the “SDK” is basked perfectly isn’t doing Palm and this excited developer community any good. Just release it “as is” and let developers know its still “Beta” and that the API/Platform is still a moving target…then, let them make the decision if they wish to jump into the pool or not. Simple as that!
Thanks for updating us!
Speaking from a user (SPrint) point of view, i’ve waited for this phone since CES. Stood in line at 445AM (first in line) to get this phone.I’ve owned 300, 600p, 700p, 700wx, and the 800w (a major investment in Palm). Started looking for another phone b/c i got tired of the same ole design though the 800w was the best of them all. Then CES hit…i was blown away..and decided to stay with Palm. I was very happy that Palm was not after the Iphone or Bberry. But you were after everybody else (me). I read alot of blogs and make my own decisions based on info tht i collect. Palm, i am patiently waiting for you to release the SDK to these eager developers. Why? because it will make my PRE that much more valuable to me. Iphone didnt have 50k apps when it was initially released.. neither did BBerry. I know the world looks at you as the underdog…but please don’t act like one. I understand that you wann do it right the first time. And I understand that anything overlooked can be fatel to your bottom line. Plese be alittle more open reguarding the SDK. Just imagine…if it was available today, lot more phones will be sold. Sincerely, A long time Palm customer..
Oh for God’s sake… I want it too, but get real. Palm is 1/20th the size of Rim, less than 1/20th the size of the iphone division at apple.
you can NOT expect them to have the app store, approval process for devs and etc up yet. The first _absolutely first_ attempt at programming webos by an person not on the development team was only August ‘08. 10 months ago.
Breath people. Go to the pre dev wiki, get on the irc, and get apps written and ready.
Has anyone at Palm considered that by releasing the current tools, it’d give Palm a free pool of testers for the SDK?
Also it’d give us a head start on learning. Reading chapters from an incomplete book, or rummaging the internet for hacks is hardly what we need at this point in time. We need access!!! NOW!
Palm’s seen fit to give access to a few that they have “blessed”, but it’s clearly unfair to leave everyone else in the dark.
As noted above in all the other posts… the clock is clicking away… and may run out before the end of summer rolls around.
Help us, Help you, because you need it more than we do
Exactly Osborne, the beta must reach a more broad developer pool. Let those who want to play risk modding a few API’s after the full release. Small price to pay for a faster growing, more dynamic application pool — which is exactly Palm needs right now to compete.
I was initially excited about developing for the Pre (I’m currently an iPhone developer). But now, still waiting for the SDK that I applied for, I feel that Palm is too stupid, or clumsy, to be worth bothering with. This is a *JavaScript* SDK we’re talking about, vastly less complex than Apple’s! It should have/could have been released LONG before this.
“The big problem is scalability. We still have manual bottlenecks in the process…” That’s meaningless, mealy-mouthed BS.
Palm, RIP. Pre purchasers are suckers. And at this point, it looks like even this comment system no longer works (can’t take the criticism, Palm?)
Tiered feedback cycles make a lot of sense. It takes time to read comments. Better to start small, check the work, then draw in a larger group to be sure.
Thanks but no thanks. I’m getting myself an iPhone and develop for it.
Classic Palm fail. You can see they haven’t changed much, it’s only a facade. Apple might be App Store Nazis, but at least you can develop apps for it. Hell, when the iPhone came out, you could easily get access to documents about writing WEB APPS for it, which is essentially what this whole SDK thing is. What a joke. You’re delaying the WEB APP SDK, NOT EVEN SOMETHING WE CAN USE TO WRITE NATIVE APPS! I was hoping the Pre would make it, to drive competition, but my hopes have been all but diminished by this stupid SDK policy. I think in the end it will be Android vs iPhone, and Palm and it’s Pre will slowly disappear. Palm might even start making Android phones, at least they have an SDK!
I can appreciate not wanting to release software before it’s baked. As someone who has worked on APIs used by millions of people I can really appreciate why the release might be delayed if the APIs are changing. What I can’t appreciate is why we can’t at least have documentation. If you guys can sell a book with this info months in advance of the os’s release and you can give the info out to a select few, why can’t we all have access to it?
While I want to get my hands on the SDK right now, like all of you. I do actually want it to be a finished product. Developing on an SDK that’s not done, is like building a house with the ground shifting underfoot. So Palm, take your time (though not too much time
) and get it right.
Palm Pre release could have been more successful if you all were concerned enough to know the importance of apps. But I think you are not and happy with the things are going on.
Well, at least this is an answer to one question: “Palm, can you give us an actual time estimate?” It’s not really the answer most developers were hoping to hear, but kudos to you, Palm, for giving up the straight dope!
Now here is the next question burning its way through my troubled mind: how true is it when you say that ‘we’, as anxious developers tap tap tapping away at our keyboards, need not send more than one application? Can one be confident that their application, sent lo those many weeks back… is still resting somewhere deep in your pile of accusations, pleas, complaints, and condemnation? Or, should I prepare an all new application full of these things?
Please advise.
Yours truly;
steamed jobs
I should probably add to my earlier comment that I, for one, am sticking with the Leap of faith .. as it’s been described.
Writing native iPhone apps of any complexity frankly sucks .. and I completely support Palm’s move to standardized languages and open source support. It’s the right move for the industry and could have far more impact than the iPhone platform did.
For business, it’s sort of like “iFun” versus “Pre-paredness”. I have both … the Pre simply .. works … Better! Synergy, tho not perfect, is fantastic.
Ironically, it’s the fact that the Pre CAN do so much that makes the wait for the SDK harder to take ….
There is an old saying that is very apt….”Better a good plan today, than a perfect plan too late.”
Maybe Palm is working on the “good plan” rather than the “Perfect Plan?”
I also am anxious for the SDK, but hope that it is not too late. I know they are doing their best.
I have the pre…but I want Apps!!!! I waited for a year to upgrade my phone so I could get the Pre. Now I’m bummed about the lack of apps. Why do you wanna bum your customer out man?
END OF SUMMER – Late August 2009 ? 2 or 3 months from now !?
Since most of us heard about the PRE SDK from the CES announcement in early January of 2009 it’ll be more like 8 or 9 months from announcement to (promised) SDK release.
I hope the PRE is successful, as this is greater than the entire life-span of some cell phones.
“END OF SUMMER!? Am I the only one apauled at this?? – Comment by Jeremy — June 19, 2009 @ 10:23 am”
Probably – the rest of us are appalled
Having recently developed one App for Apple, I would make three suggestions.
1. Treat developers well. I spend four months developing a finance application for Apple (which is highly competitive with the best Finance Apps out there) and yet the review team keeps shoving around (a month now) because some info was wrong in my marketing description. They give preferential treatment to top 100 apps and treat all apps the same if they are 0.99 cent or $9.99. This is retarded. I am disgusted with Apple.
2. Do not drive the price of an App down the way Apple. Flooding the App Catalog with free and $0.99 cent apps will make it really hard for customers to find good apps. If you still need free and 0.99 cent apps keep it separate.
3. If Palm wants to beat Apple, you should consider a strategy such as Microsoft. License the software to other hardware vendors such as Nokia, Motorola and so on. Palm, does make the best OS on a mobile, I have seen, you need to leverage and get out of the hardware game. Its a commodity business.
Regards and All the best.
Augustus
at least release a modified emulator for webmasters to do content site testing so that the thousands of webapps released for iphone/ipod touch (apple.com/webapps) can be modified to work on the pre screen and underlying webkit engine…duh..
And if Palm “leaks” the SDK and people start posting apps outside the App Catalog, and these apps disable a Pre or delete data or act otherwise maliciously, who’s going to blame the developer? No one! PALM will be blamed.
What about Flash?
There’s a million Flashers waiting to start creating apps for this splendid phone. When will someone let us in? Give us a hook into the Pre and we’ll make the world forget about the iPhone.
Am I missing something? This seems like a no-brainer to me. A more useful phone means more customers buying the phone. Thousands of professional Flashers do this stuff for a living. No other development community comes close when it comes to creating creative, gorgeous and highly functional Uers Interfaces.
As someone who is sitting on the sidelines right now (Canadian) watching what is unfolding in the U.S. it’s a slightly disappointing to see how long it’s taking to actually get new apps released. I’m not a developer but many out there (and here) have expressed that they want to see an unsupported release rather than no release at all. The iPhone’s huge app catalog is the single largest draw for consumers (myself included) and Palm needs to show that they are going to be able to keep up and compete with the other guys.
And as Jeff said, maybe someone might make a mistake and accidentally release the SDK.
I am not a developer but I do understand this.
-This phone has something to it. There is more freedom with this phone than apple.
-Please make high quality apps. I DO NOT CARE how many apps. I care about Usful and quality apps. I am willing to pay for that.
-There will be NOTHING worse then trying to use an app catalog that is loaded with crap apps. Just like ebay is loaded with crap auctions.
-Lets go quality folks.
-If palm is taking this long to release the SDK. You better have the BEST app catalog possible with user reviews and all. You better have a way of seperating quality with some little new programers test apps.
Seeing that there are quite a few non-developer users here, I wonder if you’d be interested in saying WHAT apps you’re looking for? It’s amazing that in only 1-2 years the expectations of the consumer market for smartphones has gone so quickly from smart PHONE … to phone-capable APPS platform.
Since the SDK is in-process .. and since the SDK can determine to some extent what kind of apps are possible … maybe this is a GREAT time for both Palm and Pre-hopeful developers to hear from users following the subject WHAT apps they want??
Just a thought…
Just do it as fast as possible. World is waiting, developers are waiting…
just do it.
I owned the Pre for 13 days. I returned it after I read this blog. My iPhone contract was about to expire at which time I was switching to the Pre. I was hoping the Pre would have the same support of developer as the iPhone but with the news of this delay, I’ll stick with my iPhone for now. I enjoyed my time with the Pre and hope to get another one when supports pick up. Let’s go Palm. I want my Pre back!
I have to agree with the folks who think Palm is making a strategic mistake here. Palm should immediately release whatever they have in the way of an SDK with the caveats that a) it’s alpha quality, with little documentation, bugs, semi-functional emulator, whatever b) the underlying OS is likely to change further, possibly breaking apps when it does c) no support, no submission to app store until end of the summer or by invitation.
I, and many others, would be fine with this. We understand that it’s a brand new platform, and your priority is on a stable OS. However, for those making purchasing decisions, having literally 10,000 times fewer apps available than for the iPhone will sway most purchasers, especially with the 3G now half the price of a Pre.
If you just push the SDK out the door with the above caveats, whenever you do get around to fixing your “manual processes”, there would be a large stable of high-quality apps ready to go.
It occurs to me that Palm’s delay may be somewhat deliberate. It’s possible that the initial production run has already sold out, and they won’t be ramping up until later in the year, so they don’t really care about app availability for “early adopters.” That would still make the decision not to release the SDK now foolishly shortsighted. Developer expertise takes a while to develop, and having some cool apps that aren’t available on the iPhone would be a marketing boon.
Think about it this way. If Palm releases the SDK in alpha/beta here’s what could happen.
1. Professional developers hop on and develop apps that can’t be deployed and can’t be sold because the infrastructure is not in place. They’ll develop apps quickly but sit around frustrated because they can’t deploy and can’t monetize their work for months. Or sit around for months only to find out that they have to completely redesign their app when the full SDK is released.
2. Amateur developers will flood the support channels with inane questions despite any disclaimer about support placed on the SDK.
3. Unethical hackers will start looking for holes left in incomplete code that will allow remote access to the phone data. Exploits will be published and cause further bad press.
4. Inquisitive users will install hacked together code risking bricking or otherwise breaking the phone, causing unintended side effects and flooding support channels with issues that Palm doesn’t have the infrastructure to support. Despite repeated efforts by Palm to tell users that they aren’t responsible for 3rd party software they’ll get hate mail, angry phone calls, lawsuits, and poor reviews.
5. Partners who signed NDAs and probably paid a premium to be early adopters start wondering what they are paying for, since everyone else is getting what they got but without having to do much of anything.
6. Technically minded sites start pouring over the code and complaining about it’s unfinished state, lack of documentation, lack of functionality, potentially unprofessional comments in the code, and inevitably compare it with the “awesomeness” that is the iPhone SDK or Android.
Each of those situations is a legal and marketing nightmare and brings with it unplanned costs to Palm at a time when they need to pinch every penny to make sure the Pre is successful. There are so many things that can go wrong with releasing an unfinished SDK versus releasing it when it’s baked. The risks just aren’t worth the rewards.
Professionals will grouse a little but wait the two months and then start knocking out apps quickly once the infrastructure is complete. Some smaller shops and amateurs will grouse significantly more, decry the death of palm and whine about how they are being abused because they’re not being provided with what they are entitled to. Users will mostly wait impatiently and a few loud obnoxious and vocal people will troll the message boards looking for reasons to slight Palm and playing armchair CEO.
Be patient. Be polite. Be ready.
The iPhone SDK/appstore lagged the initial release. Remember when iPhone “native-looking” webapps were all the rage because you couldn’t actually do anything native?
Apple got away with it. I won’t hold Palm to a double standard.
And as much as you as an individual developer wants the Pre SDK, you can bet that Palm and its shareholders wants you to have it even more, so they can truly compete with the iPhone. They’re not dumb. They’ll get it out as soon as they can.
(Btw, I liked the comment about becoming Microsoft and licensing the webOS to other hardware vendors. That makes a lot of sense.)
I too am chomping at the bit to make apps for the pre, and, like many of the other developers here, am worried that I will be far behind the curve when the app store is released because I was not one of the lucky few to gain access to the early access program.
I also feel tempted to submit more applications to the program. Again, like others have noted, how can I be sure that my application is still being considered? Can palm send out an e-mail to those who are not selected for the next expansion of the program, so that we at least know we are under consideration still?
I’d love to write apps for my pre, mostly because they are apps I actually want to use.
We need to get at the SDK. The longer the delay, the more of this kind of press we’ll see:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=20070&tag=nl.e539
We’re on the team, and eager to help, but stymied until we get a real environment to work in! Please help, Palm!
I see a lot of people here talking about how Apple did not have an SDK when they released the iPhone. That’s true, they had no native SDK. But they DID have a web app SDK that was available, and well documented. Palm doesn’t even have that, and WebOS apps are glorified web apps. Palm is horrendous about developer relations, and this is just another example of that. They announce that they are dramatically increasing the number of developers in the early program, but guess what? I don’t know ANYONE who has been accepted. NOT ONE. My own emails have gone completely unanswered; they might as well be being delivered into a black hole, and for all I know, they ARE. Look around. How many of the developers posting here have been ‘admitted’ into the program. I haven’t seen a comment from anyone yet. So, where is this dramatic increase? Is it just one more episode of hot air being blown past some flapping lips at Palm? From my perspective, it sure seems like it. Or is the sin of having spoken negatively here enough to get one banned from the early program? That seems plausible at this point. In fact, aliens having abducted key Palm staff and replaced them with malfunctioning androids seems equally plausible to about ANYTHING Palm or anyone else has said, because there IS NO FOLLOW-THROUGH and NO STATUS for whatever feeble attempts at communication we make. Hey, how hard is it, really, to write a freaking PHP email responder to at least let us dumbkoffs know our email actually got through to someone? How about an automated ‘your email got read’ notice? This is not rocket science! What the heck, we are supposed to think that WebOS is so snazzy and they guys making it can’t even build a freaking web site that generates a ‘gee we got your stinkin’ email’ response? That sure inspires a load of confidence! This whole thing seems like it is being run and orchestrated by Larry, Darryl, and his other brother Darryl.
Some guy on here talked about professional developers. You know, professional developers want to make some money. Professional developers don’t sit around in their mamma’s basement calmly waiting for Palm to yank various parts of anatomy out of various other parts of anatomy, they go develop apps for other platforms where the company running the show seems to have a clue with the OS (iPhone, Android, WinMobile, RIM) – who the heck needs or wants to sit around all calm and zen like while Palm takes aim with the guns a blazin at both feet? It’s painful to watch. PAINFUL.
I had some hopes for Palm and the Pre. I thought ‘gee, competition, its a good thing.’ This is not competition, this is a joke – a disaster. iPhone 3GS has already sold well over a million units, while Pre sold what, 100K? 150? That could be generous. Apple stores are still selling out of 5 DAYS after launch.
Every day that Palm delays getting this thing off the ground is one more day that the darn thing sputters around the concrete of the launch pad busting itself all up. And, I am sooooo thoroughly peeved about the complete lack of respect we are collectively getting from Palm that I’m not sure I even WANT to provide software for their platform anymore. Seriously, this is being handled worse than a bunch of those bozos on an episode of Donny Trump’s show, and with almost as much drama. I’m not really sure it could get much worse.
Yup, signed up for the SDK (you can check my email in the palm database), and still waiting. I understand that Palm really has to shine with developers to make it a worthwile iPhone killer… I would hope they would release what ‘works’ and leave out what doesn’t work to get our feet wet.
How can I use the TAB button on keyboard, PALM PRE? There are some website that the touch screen does not work on PASSWORD BOX.
@nhavar, I don’t know your arguments are the same as ones being made inside Palm, but they vary from non-issues to the completely impossible.
> 1. Professional developers hop on and develop apps that can’t be deployed and can’t be sold because the infrastructure is not in place. They’ll develop apps quickly but sit around frustrated because they can’t deploy and can’t monetize their work for months. Or sit around for months only to find out that they have to completely redesign their app when the full SDK is released.
You’re arguing that we don’t actually want what we’re all saying we want. You are wrong. We do want access now, even with caveats. Waiting a few months would be a lot easier if we could at least look at the documentation and some sample code while we’re waiting.
> 2. Amateur developers will flood the support channels with inane questions despite any disclaimer about support placed on the SDK.
I have no idea what you’re even thinking of with this one. How would anyone flood closed support channels? If we had magical access to the restricted areas of the Palm development site, we’d already have the SDK.
> 3. Unethical hackers will start looking for holes left in incomplete code that will allow remote access to the phone data. Exploits will be published and cause further bad press.
The full root image of the Pre has already leaked, if you hadn’t noticed, and interested hackers are already going at it. Not sure what this has to do with an early SDK release, or what you’re referring to with “further bad press”. Most of the stories I’ve seen online about the ROM hacking have been positive, and most of the negative press has been about this very blog entry we’re complaining about.
> 4. Inquisitive users will install hacked together code risking bricking or otherwise breaking the phone, causing unintended side effects and flooding support channels with issues that Palm doesn’t have the infrastructure to support. Despite repeated efforts by Palm to tell users that they aren’t responsible for 3rd party software they’ll get hate mail, angry phone calls, lawsuits, and poor reviews.
The Pre only runs signed code. No one will be “flooding support lines” unless they’ve already hacked their ROM. The only way to get apps onto user devices is through the app store.
> 5. Partners who signed NDAs and probably paid a premium to be early adopters start wondering what they are paying for, since everyone else is getting what they got but without having to do much of anything.
Aside from actual access to the App Store, they would have support from Palm.
> 6. Technically minded sites start pouring over the code and complaining about it’s unfinished state, lack of documentation, lack of functionality, potentially unprofessional comments in the code, and inevitably compare it with the “awesomeness” that is the iPhone SDK or Android.
Or not. Most of the buzz I’ve seen suggests that WebOS is much easier to program than Android apps, and much, much easier than iPhone apps. If it’s that ugly, the truth will come out eventually anyway, but I’m guessing it’s not.
Note that I’m not suggesting that they just dump the SDK on a public FTP server. They can still limit it to developer applicants and still require an NDA.
> Each of those situations is a legal and marketing nightmare and brings with it unplanned costs to Palm at a time when they need to pinch every penny to make sure the Pre is successful. There are so many things that can go wrong with releasing an unfinished SDK versus releasing it when it’s baked. The risks just aren’t worth the rewards.
I hope Palm is not as paralyzingly risk-averse as you describe, and their reasons for continuing to withhold the SDK are far sounder than those you put forward, but I fear not on both counts.
> Professionals will grouse a little but wait the two months and then start knocking out apps quickly once the infrastructure is complete. Some smaller shops and amateurs will grouse significantly more, decry the death of palm and whine about how they are being abused because they’re not being provided with what they are entitled to. Users will mostly wait impatiently and a few loud obnoxious and vocal people will troll the message boards looking for reasons to slight Palm and playing armchair CEO.
So “professionals” want to twiddle their thumbs for two months while trying to ignore sales of 1m units in a week for the new iPhone, vs. “amateur” “obnoxious” “troll” “armchair CEO”s, who are trying to point out to Palm that this seems to be a terrible decision from both a technical and a business perspective?
The SmartPhone market is nothing like it was when the iPhone was released. Both Apple and RIM have gigantic installed bases and stuffed app stores, and it will be extremely difficult for another player to break in. I very much want Palm to succeed, but they will need all the help they can get. A good start would be to give those who want to develop for the platform a basic SDK.
Palm, take note, the media is starting to pick up on this major let-down: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/technology/companies/24palm.html?ref=technology
Palm must prioritize finishing the SDK and correcting the glaring bugs/ommisions in WebOS over anything else. Future devices will be irrelevant if popular sentiment is that WebOS is just an also-ran.
Calm down people. Its a matter of 2-3 MONTHS(60-90 days). By the time you end up writing a a few hundred or thousand posts on forums complaining about this, it will be out. Its summertime people. Take yourself out to some nice place where you don’t get any cellular coverage and do some hiking, boating, fishing, climbing, swimming, or some type or exercise. When you are finally done enjoying yourself, hopefully the SDK release will be around the corner and you will have all fall and winter to make as many worthwhile and worthless apps as you would like.
Good news from Chuq.
To me the missing answer is the one to the question “when we can put non-free apps into the App Catalog?”
I am a phone blogger and I know many people who are in the cell phone business. I live nothing but cell phones. I know Palm really does need to get their act together and they know I am right saying that since release date that at least 10% of Sprint’s new customers returned their Pre and got out of their contract. The Pre is not 30 days old yet and I know if I do not see something before the 6th of July, I will go back to AT&T and get the iPhone 3GS and cancel out my palmprehelp twitter account and youtube account also. I do believe they should allow developers to put apps in now and charge for it that way they are inspired to develop apps….palmprehelp@gmail.com soon to be iPhone3gshelp@gmail.com
There’s something to be said for a controlled roll-out. It does build a lot of anticipation, and it’s likely that there’ll be a net larger pool of developers waiting for the SDK to come out compared to if Palm had just thrown the SDK out as a Beta. Here’s to more quality apps on the catalog.
I am a sprint customer who thought about leaving sprint for another provider because of the poor selection of phones sprint offers. For me, it matters that I am getting a quality phone with quality service that can do what other providers offer. After researching all the major providers, I found that AT&T SUCKS with their coverage and t-mobile is slow as hell when in comes to web surfing. Verizon is alright, but their phones are super cheap and fall apart. Sprint has the worst phone selection, but the best coverage (at least for me cause I NEVER have dropeed calls). After playing with the Pre, the iphone, the G1, and the Storm, I found that the Pre kicks ass compared to the other major competetors. I agree that palm needs to make their apps catalog kick ass, but I think it will be worth the wait. If it’s not, it’s just a phone. I can always get another one. Make a phone that is great quality with good service and people will buy. Remember, if you build it, they will come…
Hey, ok, I get it, I guess – but does this really work?
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