At Web 2.0 Expo, Palm, revealed more details regarding the Palm Pre and its developer program for the new Palm webOS
platform, their cloud service and a Palm OS emulator that will allow legacy Palm apps to run on the Palm Pre.
The Mojo SDK, previously available only to a select group of
partners, will be provided to a broader set of interested developers
that apply for access to the program at the Palm Developer Network
website (http://developer.palm.com).
Access to the program initially will be limited as the tools and
systems continue to be refined and improved, with general availability
scheduled for later this year.
Palm also announced that it would deploy its first Palm branded
cloud service. Cloud services are software resources provided over the
Internet. These services can deliver direct benefits to the end user,
such as giving them access to their favorite web applications, or can
be incorporated by developers into their applications to enhance the
end-user experience.
With Mojo, developers have the ability to integrate their
applications into core webOS functionality, such as linked contacts,
layered calendars, multitasking, notifications and GPS capabilities.
webOS applications run natively on the device. They don't depend on any
server connection to run and can cache data locally. Providing
developers with the freedom to integrate unique webOS functionality and
services into their applications paves the way for a rich catalog of
innovative offerings for webOS users.
When the Mojo SDK is broadly released later this year, it will
include a developer-facing offering called the Mojo Messaging Service,
an XMPP publish/subscribe service. The Mojo Messaging Service is an
elegant, standards-based way to exchange information over the Internet.
When new information is available, it is "published" to the cloud and
all interested parties who are subscribers are notified that new
information is available. This will allow developers to push live
content to their applications or services. The Mojo Messaging Service
initially will have a limited feature set and service level that will
evolve over time.
Palm webOS is a new kind of mobile platform. Standard web
technologies, such as HTML, JavaScript and CSS, are deeply integrated
into the webOS architecture, enabling a much broader developer
community to easily create compelling applications. The ability to
customize webOS applications will appeal to developers and ultimately
benefit consumers with a unique and differentiated user experience.
Palm also announced that MotionApps (www.motionapps.com)
is creating an emulator application that will allow most Palm OS
applications to run on webOS devices. The application, called
"Classic," will be available for purchase when the Palm Pre™
phone becomes available from Sprint in the first half of 2009, and
gives users peace of mind as they transition to Palm's new webOS.
Since Palm OS applications running in Classic won't be able to
leverage core webOS functionality, Palm is working with partners to
ensure that popular Palm OS applications are made available on the
webOS platform and are optimized to take advantage of everything it has
to offer. In the meantime, the MotionApps Classic application will
allow customers who have invested in the Palm OS platform to use Palm
OS applications they've grown to love and depend upon on their new
webOS devices.