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If you've been staring at your inbox the past week waiting for that email from Palm saying you've been accepted into the SDK early access program, don't despair.  Palm and CTO Mitch Allen have released chapter 3 of Palm webOS by O'Reilly, with lots of great new material about Mojo widgets that you can incorporate into your applications now.  We'll have a summary up soon!

Engadget reports today from a computer "somewhere deep inside Sprint", the Palm Touchstone (first in a possible line of Touchstone devices) shows as retailing for $69.99. We'll let the screenshot speak for itself. Although we would expect to pay good money for a first-party accessory, it does seem a little steep, even for an uber-cool charger.

At least it includes the matte battery cover that is required to use it. Would this price affect your decision to buy the Touchstone with your new Pre?

A few questions regarding webOS and the Classic emulator were answered today, as well as some new information regarding the Touchstone dock.

webOS games a priority

Since webOS was announced, questions have arisen as to whether gaming would take a back seat to other apps. We previously discussed the possibility that Flash could boost gaming on the Pre, and Palm already stated in their webcast that webOS would support casual and web-centric games at launch.  However like the iPhone, games can only be as good as the developers who create them, so support is key to having good games at launch. Precentral notes that in a comment by Palm Developer Community Manager, Chuq Von Rospach, he states games are high on the priority list for developers. And the lowest priority? Fart apps.

Games are definitely NOT last on the list of priorities. They’re actually fairly high on the list; they’re also a very popular option for people submitting applications, which makes our life tough choosing — which is a good thing. Lowest thing on the priority list? Probably applications that emit noises that represent various bodily functions. But that’s just my opinion...

So if you plan on developing games for webOS, you should have a good support base from Palm. Meanwhile, if you're looking to create the next best thing to iFart, you may not get full backing from Palm just yet.

Touchstone to be a product line

Although Palm has been withholding specific details of launch date and pricing so far (although rumors predict a mid-May launch), occasionally details slip through the cracks. During a 43-minute demo of the Pre at CTIA, a Palm marketing manager describes the Touchstone dock:

"The Touchstone is the name of a entire line of products. This is the first Touchstone product in that family. This is the charging dock."

So there you have it. Prethinking speculates that if indeed true, inductive technology could be used in peripherals such as speakers, a USB dock, and Pre-to-Pre transfers simply by placing the device against the respective peripherals. Sounds cool; an update will be posted if more details arise.

MotionApps Classic Q&A

Last week, Palm confirmed emulation of Palm OS software on the Pre using MotionApps Classic, due out at launch. A full video walkthrough has since been posted, although many questions arose as to the level of functionality that would be available with emulation. PalmWebOS noted that on a blog post on the company website, MotionApps recently posted a detailed Q&A about Classic that should answer most, if not all of your questions.

The full Q&A is posted after the break; also check out the official website for more info.

If you've been accepted to the Palm webOS SDK early access program, or even if you've only just applied, we want to hear from you!  Tell us what type of application you're building (unless it's top-secret, of course :), how Palm notified you that you had been accepted, what it's like inside Palm's developer portal, and anything else you are allowed to discuss! (We haven't seen the NDA so we don't know what's covered, but please review it before you post anything.)

Here's the forum thread...webOS junkies anxiously await your post!

When Palm first revealed the contents of the appinfo.json file, we took a closer look at its contents in the first official Mojo SDK tutorial from Palm   released February 25th, 2009:

{
   "title": "MyApp",   
   "type": "web",   
   "main": "index.html"   
   "icon": "icon.png",  
   "id": "com.yourdomain.app.myapp",   
   "version": "1.0",   
   "vendorid": "com.yourdomain.app.myapp",   
   "removable": true   
}

We covered the basic elements including title, icon, and id, and took a guess at main, version, removable, and type.  We speculated that removable might refer to the ability to store applications on removable media in future devices and type might refer to native vs. web (Mojo) based (a stretch, yes, but what else would it mean)?

In any case, when chapter 2 of the Palm webOS book was released on March 19th, 2009, appinfo.json had evolved into this:

Property	Values	Required	Description
title	Any	Yes	Name of application as it appears in Launcher and in app window
type	web	Yes	Conventional application
main	index.html	Yes	Application entry point; defaults to index.html
id	Any	Yes	Must be unique for each application
version	x.y	Yes	Application version number
noWindow	true false	No	Headless application; defaults to false
icon	file path	No	Application's launcher icon; defaults icon.png
minicon	file path	No	Notification icon; defaults to miniicon.png
category	Any	No	Default category for application

As we can see, there were a few differences:

• removable and vendorid are gone
• nowindow, minicon, and category were added

So what does this mean?  Perhaps nothing of long-term consequence.  However, it does show that when the developer webcast was held in February, webOS was still in a state of major flux as this core application configuration file was still undergoing changes of this magnitude.  Will it change again?  As the book is still only in the "rough cuts" edition and Palm is actively seeking feedback on Mojo with its early access program, it's possible.  We'll keep you up to date with any new developments.

It seems Palm's new webOS handset has finally reached the home stretch. According to leaked internal memos from Sprint retail stores, front-end employees have a vacation freeze in the month of May and Palm Pre training has already begun. The alleged release date is Sunday, May 17; but if initial shipments are inadequate the date could be pushed back to Sunday, June 29.

The Palm and Sprint ad campaign for the Pre is also continuing to roll on. In addition to the latest commercial, last Monday the Wall Street Journal featured the Pre and Sprint in the advertising section, reports Precentral. Palm also recently sent out an e-mail to customers touting Pre apps, including FlightView and Fandango with synergy integration, reports MyPre. Palm is touting a strong third-party library at launch, discussed previously in Palm's all-star lineup.

Sprint is known for official releases on Sundays, so coupled with the vacation ban, extended ad campaign, and upcoming Apple WWDC on June 8 (which could spoil the Pre party), a May release is sounding likely; as long as OEM manufacturer Chi Mei can get enough units out the door. The price has also been rumored to be $299 on a two-year contract, but hopefully the price will be lower to compete with the base iPhone. After all, we'll need the spare change for the svelte touchstone dock.

Here's a few Palm Pre and webOS news tidbits from industry sources to kick off Easter weekend:

First batch of developers get Palm Mojo SDK

Last week, Palm announced the Mojo SDK early access program for developers. They have since posted an update of the program on their blog, and stated that after "about a gazillion applications", they have let in the first batch of developers late last week, and another batch early this week. That means we could be seeing webOS programs soon, and no doubt preDevCamp, the worldwide event for up-and-coming webOS developers, is gearing up in anticipation of the public release.

Multitouch battle back on

Looks like the patent stalemate over multitouch between Apple and Palm has a new player, and they don't want to prolong the cold war any longer. Engadget reports that Elan, best known for keypads found in Asus Eee PCs, won a court injunction against Synaptics for infringement over patents, and are now seeking an injunction against Apple to prevent them from selling the Macbook, iPhone and iPod Touch until the case is settled. While it's unlikely anything drastic will happen, it could be just the distraction to take Apple away from focusing on the Palm and the Pre's multitouch capabilites. Check out some other articles discussing Apple and Palm's role so far.

Palm Pre - What's in a name?

The name of Palm's latest handheld has been much a mystery until their joint webcast with Sprint, when Palm's Matt Crowley stated that the name was "anticipatory, looking ahead to the future...It's thinking ahead of what you want it to do." Precentral reports on some new details behind the Pre name; Palm actually hired Catchword Branding to come up with the name, and in an e-mail they outlined the painstaking process of choosing a name for their next-gen handset. A few points from the document are below.

• Palm Pre rolls off the tongue nicely.
• It makes use of an accented "e" consistent with other Palm products, such as the Treo and Foleo, and distinguishes it in the market.
• The name associates intentionally with words like PREcident and rhymes with Grand PRIX, which help to redifine what it means to be a smartphone.
• The name doesn't try to "outcool" other phones, such as "Dare", "Sway" (Bold?), etc. You just buy the phone because it IS cool.

New Palm Pre accessory rolled out

A slick new holster for the Pre is being released by AGF, designed to make it easily accessible while preventing scratches. PalmWebOS reports that the "AGF Holster with shell door" has a unique design that allows the face of the phone to point inwards, with a smooth hinge to drop the phone down and view it, without actually removing it. The main priority behind the product was "a carry solution that would not scratch or cause any wear to the gloss finish". Looks like a great solution to mobile professionals and those of us who want to maximize accessibility.

External keyboard support is also expected, with companies such as Freedom Input looking to port their bluetooth keyboard drivers to webOS.

Sprint has been busy gearing up for the launch of the Pre, with a recent TV ad featuring the new webOS handset, and rumors of a late April release, among other dates. Sprint employees are now starting to gear up; according to an internal e-mail from Sprint (most likely their "Weekly Product Update"), employee training for the Pre may have already begun. The e-mail states:

"Employees can expect training to start in April as well as multiple communications to get them excited and ready to help our customers," and they confirm with, "...Sprint is in the process of providing the training for the new Palm Pre."

Also mentioned in the e-mail, the Palm Pre wil compete favorably with the flagship products from other carriers such as the iPhone, Blackberry Storm, and Android G1. It will be marketed heavily against the competition, and will be "bigger and better" than the 2008 launch of the Instinct.

The e-mail closes with a warning not to allow any "important information" to be leaked to the public before they are set up and ready to go. Considering the leaked EOL sheets in Feburary and leaked confidential Sprint documents in March, so far they are doing a bang-up job in this department. But we're not complaining.

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