A couple of days ago we announced we were accelerating bringing people into the early access program. I’m happy to say that the first batch of invites went out today and the webOS developer community is now almost double the size it was yesterday.
This is just the first set of new members — our plan is to double the size of the program again in the next week, and then continue the growth as fast as we can until everyone who wants the SDK has access to it. If you didn’t get an invite today, please be patient — we’re working on it and will continue to work to get as many of you into the program as fast as we can.
Please make apps. Two guys at my work iProducts and they are making us look silly. It shouldn’t be too hard to crank out a compass…zippo…beer…(insert easy to code app here).
Pandora is very cool…but I can only check the weather so many times. I have a jet pack and I’m locked in a one room house with a low overhead. I shouldn’t be this bored so soon considering how cool this phone is. Blah. Sorry, I’m done.
I agree Stratboy. Lets get some apps made fast.
I’m very excited to hear that more developers were allowed access to the early access program, but I’m obviously a little bummed one of them wasn’t me. I’m sure I’m not the only one in this position.
It would be nice to know:
1. How the developers are chosen for the program. IS it random? Chronologically? Or some other method?
2. How many developers will be added each cycle as well as how many developers have applied for the program.
(I’m a poker player and like to calculate pot odds).
3. How many release cycles there are going to be.
I got my Pre last week and love it. Now I am more excited then ever to start developing apps. A little feed back with regard to when I could get my hands on the SDK would be greatly appreciated!
This is a fair question, Bill.
For the early part of the access program, we picked out individual applications, looking for developers with mobile programming experience, interesting applications we felt would interest phone owners and be good additions to the catalog, and a diverse set of developers that would help us evaluate the quality and completeness of the SDK and how good the documentation was. We really felt we needed some real-world feedback on whether the SDK worked for developers before giving it to too many people, because one thing worse than not giving out the SDK was giving it out and having you all tell us how it failed — because we probably wouldn’t get a second chance. We had to be careful.
The feedback we got was pretty positive; not perfect, and those early developers really helped us make the SDK better. The primary limitation we have today is the capacity of our developer area, which wasn’t built to support the number of developers who want access. That’s actually a good problem to have, and we have a team working on bulking up the infrastructure, too. There are some really interesting things just over the horizon here, but it takes time.
If you think about it, if we let too many people in too fast and everything does the fail whale, we’ll get yelled at and developers will give up on us. I realize that there are some developers who are tired of waiting — and I fully understand — but I hope they’ll come and take another look at us later when we finish the SDK up and get it out to everyone. If we mess up the SDK or the tools, we risk driving away lots of developers and convincing them not to come back. It’s a fun and challenging balancing act
Our current admission policy is fairly simple: we’re accepting in applications based on how complete and detailed the applications were. I’ve broken that up into a few different piles of applications, and within each pile, we’re admitting them based on when they sent us the application. Right now, the most detailed applications are going in; when we finish that, we’ll grab the next set and do the same until everyone is in the program or we release the SDK to the public and end the early access program.
On your second question, I really don’t want to give out hard numbers, but I will use vague generalities — we doubled the size of the developer program friday, and I’m working to double it again by next friday. Exactly how many get in how fast depends on how our current infrastructure holds up and how quickly we can upgrade it to handle the size of the community. So the formal answer is “it depends. As fast as possible”. (on the pot odds, better than a 7/2 offsuit…)
Hope that explains things a bit for you. If not, ask away.
chuq
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Great news! I didn’t sign up but a few weeks ago, so I doubt I will be granted early access. But I look forward to finally getting the opportunity and seeing some new applications!!
How can it be called “early access” if the phone has been released?
Chuq, thanks a lot for the info. I’m still not quite clear on what’s meant by “the capacity of our developer area”. If this is the closed developer support area, couldn’t access to it be made orthogonal to getting SDK access with docs? E.g. “Base Level” access to just SDK and docs for anyone who registers, vs. a capacity-limited number with “Dev Level” access that includes the support area and the App Store? Could you explain why you’re tying SDK release to your support capacity?
Chuq, with all due respect, your reasoning here is, to use the french, crepe. You guys can spin this all you want, but what you are in actuality doing is hand picking the developers to whom you will extend an extremely unfair advantage. You are hand picking the developers who you will allow to gain experience while the rest of us sit out here twiddling our thumbs. You are hand picking the developers who will have more time to bring their products to market. You are hand picking the developers who will have the first apps in a small pool of paid apps, which will translate directly into stronger sales and bigger profits for them. So, you are hand picking the developers who will have a higher probability of success on your platform, not because they are better developers, but because you picked them. Regardless of your intentions and regardless of the rhetoric, that is the effect, and that is why so many developers are, well, steamed!
Realllllly happy to see Palm opening up the SDK! Now developers will have the opportunity to make good on our enthusiasm to build great apps for a great OS and phone!
chuq, It might of made sense to let us know about your process before we signed up. Our company had completed the application without a specific application in mind. We’ve developed over 30 apps for iPhone, and even some for blackberry and windows mobile. Had we known that your criteeria would be based on “completeness of application” we’d of given you an application that only had one app defined.
Oh well… guess this gives us more time to work on android apps until y’all grow.
For those of us that sent in relatively ambiguous applications early-on although we didn’t have a specific application in mind, but now have a specific app in mind (one that may have widespread appeal), are there avenues with which we can submit revisions to our applications?
I would like to see the Memo or Notes updated to allow a list view, the ability to select multiple notes and delete them, and the ability to have categories for the notes so I don’t have to see entertainment notes, when I want to only look at medical notes.
Further, the Universal search should be able to search notes. That would solve some of the problem of having to look through many notes to find a useful one.
Thanks for the detailed response Chuq it’s nice to get a little feedback. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that a 7/2 hits on the flop and I get selected in the next group.
Chuq-
I have been (and remain) politely critical of Palm for not having this SDK ready-to-go at launch time. I suspect my application for the program is in one of your last piles, since I left most/all of the non-required fields blank.
I really just want access to the emulator so I can make sure my web site and the other sites I manage work properly on the Pre. I did some real light testing on a demo model at a Sprint Store with positive results (and MMS’d myself some screen shots), but that’s not exactly convenient; and I’m not in a position to buy a Pre, being in the middle of a two-year contract with another carrier.
Having said all that, I want to personally thank you for your openness and honesty. The ‘stealth mode’ stuff was driving me crazy, but your postings of-late (and your comment above in response to Bill) are reassuring. I have been a Palm fan for a long time and I’m rooting for you guys.
Man, I was super excited until I found out I wasn’t on the list
. Man, I guess I gotta get better at pleading my case for why I need the SDK. I hope I get chosen in the next round.
Good luck all you developers out there. Remember – QUALITY over quantity and focus on useability/simplicity over too many “features” End users can’t wait to see what you guys come up with.
My problem is that without knowing what is possible in the SDK how will I know what possible App I can create ?
Very happy to hear this “Palm opening up the SDK”, Now we peoples have great opportunity to make powerful apps for a great OS and phone