To me the missing answer is the one to the question “when we can put non-free apps into the App Catalog?”

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.

> 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.