www.webOShelp.net

Pre fans can soon look forward to free software updates, much like the upcoming iPhone 3.0 software has been garnishing attention for recently. PalmWebOS.org reports on a set of "confidential" documents that details how the company will handle accounting for the Palm Pre and other webOS revenue.

The slides state that all revenue and expenses for the Palm Pre will be distributed across 24 months, thereby spreading out the 2-year contract/device cost evenly over that time. Revenue from other Palm OS products such as the Centro and Treo will be recognized immediately. Apple already has a similar system in place for the iPhone. 

Similar to a large family reunion, many generations gathered to fill a long banquet table; both young and old, big and small. Except this time the guests weren't people, but a huge lineup of now "legacy" Palm OS devices. The HKPUG (Hong Kong PDA User Group) has posted photos from a Palm OS farewell party with nearly every Palm OS device on the table, including the Pilot 1000, Handspring and Sony CLIÉ lines, Treo, Centro; even the Palm OS wristwatch made an appearance (almost all were in good working order).

The handheld and smartphone line started with the Pilot line in 1996, and have been instrumental in shaping many devices that came after. Palm cofounder and CEO Ed Colligan stated last month that the 12-year-old Palm OS platform would be discontinued to make room for the webOS platform and Palm Pre. Read on for photos and video from the event.

A few days ago, we reported on what Palm needed to do to become a leader in app stores over iPhone, Android, RIM, WM, and Nokia. Criteria included: time to market, developer attraction, store interface, number of apps and more. PalmAddicts have released their own summary entitled "(Prē)dicting Palm success", adding some good points to the app store discussion. Here's a summary of the points:

Better quality of apps: With a library of over 15000 apps and growing (25 000+ according to 148apps.com), how does this affect quality? Looking at the numbers, iPhone users tend to download an average of 5 apps per visit, but only 30% use them a day after purchase, and only 5% use them after 20 days. This gives the App Store "an ugly side on the back", and Palm needs to do a few things to avoid this.

Better pricing: Pinch Media CEO Greg Yardley advises developers to get their money up front, and stop depending on a free/ad-subsidized model. Last time we analyzed a chart of respective app prices among Apple, RIM, and others, with Apple far cheaper than their competitors. However, higher prices can mean more money for developers. RIM's audience of mostly business users are willing to pay more for "real apps that deliver". Palm needs to appeal to these customers as well.

As one of Palm's launch partners for the Pre unveiled at CES 2009, SplashData plays an important role in promoting interest for the new device, both among new webOS developers and established PalmOS developers. Previously, Palm Infocenter contacted CEO Morgan Slain, who stated in his response that a new version of SplashID and SplashID Live (a web-oriented version of SplashID) would make their way onto webOS.

To continue our webOS coverage, we asked Splashdata's VP of Product Management, Justin Cepelak, about other potential webOS software from Splashdata and his thoughts on the new platform:

1) Does SplashData plan on developing new applications for the webOS platform?

Yes, we are excited about developing for WebOS. We will be porting some of our existing applications that have been staple productivity products for Palm customers over the years. We will likely also develop some new applications for this unique new platform that take advantage of the Web enabled orientation of the device.

Up to now, we have heard very little about Palm's answer to Apple's App Store, which has enjoyed widespread success among the developer community and consumers alike. MyTriniPhone has an article describing a recent study from the Global Intelligence Alliance Group (GIA) that found the iPhone "miles ahead" of competing app stores. Several criteria are included in the study, including time to market, developer appeal, price and availability.

Because the Pre isn't out yet, as expected it ranked poorly in many areas. However, based on the facts so far, we can speculate on what Palm will do to earn them a top spot once the Pre is released. Handsets in the study included the iPhone, Pre, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile (WM), and Nokia devices.

In terms of time to market, Apple and Google both ranked "strong". Apple has been selling software since July 2008 and now has over 15,000 apps available, with over 17 million handsets sold through the end of 2008. The market widens as most apps also run on the iPod touch.

Wired has an interesting editorial on how Palm is appealing to what is "arguably most critical to the new phone's success", which is the developer community. We heard from Pivotal Labs in an interview earlier, and as one of the key partners for the Palm Pre release, they were one of the first to develop for the platform. "You can do some great things with the iPhone, but if you are not a Mac developer you have to learn something new...and there are a lot more web developers out there than Mac guys", states Chris Sepulveda, VP of business development for Pivotal.

He was referring to the fact that the Palm Mojo SDK would be based on standard web technologies such as JavaScript and CSS, that is in contrast to the iPhone's C based SDK and Android's Java SDK. We saw how easy it was to create a simple program during the developer webcast held wednesday by O'Reilly Media, hosted by Palm CTO Mitch Allen and attended by hundreds from the developer community, including Sepulveda.

Update: Part 2 of the webcast summary has been posted. Click here.

Earlier today, we were on hand for the webOS webcast presented by Mitch Allen, vice president and software CTO of Palm. The event, titled "Developing Applications for webOS: a Preview" was approximately 1 hour long, and gave us a preview into application development and the Mojo SDK. It also served as a recap for the material introduced in chapter one of "Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo(tm) Framework" by O'Reilly.

This article will only be a short summary of the first part of the presentation; we will get into more details later (for now, you can check out our summary of Chapter 1 of the O'Reilly book, which elaborates on much of the same material). Also, full HD video footage is available below in case you missed the webcast.

To begin, Allen gave an introduction on the anatomy of webOS, including basic architecture, cards, and notifications.�

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The application model and anatomy of a webOS Application were then covered, using charts describing differences between the native application model, classic web app model, and ajax web app model (with Javascript).

PreDevCamp continues to grow, with more international destinations being added each week. Cities including Hong Kong, Bangalore, Xiamen, and Zurich, among others have joined the camp, bringing the list of participants just shy of 60 cities.

Recently, more information about the international format of the camp has been posted from Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), below is a summary:

• Developers from around the world will meet on the same day (right after the release of the SDK), writing code, apps, and performing live demos.