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Earlier, we reported on several interviews conducted with up-and-coming webOS developers by PDA-247. These included Loftcat, Iambic, Resco, and Natara. Today, we look at three more developer interviews to round off the series, as well as the overall impressions of how PalmOS developers feel about the new webOS. To summarize the main points:

Tamoggemon: The Pre's hardware "does not deserve praise", primarily because high specs are a "must-have" in today's industry. Build quality is what will really make or break the Pre. There are no plans to develop for webOS immediately, but he predicts that there are "a lot of stuff upcoming for the webOS". Palm is back in the game sales-wise, but PalmOS apps are done for.

In another interview courtesy of PDA-247, we take a look at what an independent developer, Tony Kingsmill of Loftcat, has to say about WebOS and the Pre. When asked about his initial impressions of the Palm Pre, Kingsmill was impressed with the direction Palm was taking, stating:

The hardware looks decent enough...on the software side Palm is talking up the ease of PIM functionality, which is obviously one thing they have done well in the past. I’m interested to see how easy to use the whole platform turns out. For me Palm OS simplifies everything such as connecting Bluetooth devices and installing programs.

Asked about Palm's future, Kingsmill said that mass-marketing the new device is the key to their success. 

preDevCamp continues to grow, with more and more cities around the world wanting to get in on the fun. Developers in Kansas City, Paris, Mumbai, and Boston can now dust of their laptops and get on the webOS bandwagon. We'll keep you posted as new venues are added. In addition, each city has their own page for you to to keep up with developments in your area. See the Event Guide to check if your city is listed, or if you would like to organize an event in your area.

Visit preDevCamp to learn more about this great event.

Another in a series of webOS interviews, PDA-247 asks Palm developer, iambic, about their thoughts on the new platform. In the interview, Adriano Chiaretta from iambic expresses their disappointment regarding backwards compatibility, but offers an optimistic view on the potential of the system:

Palm appears to have put together a formidable solution (especially with its touch optimization and the focus on ensuring user-friendliness) that should stand up nicely to the iPhone.  In fact, it could truly be the strongest competitor to the iPhone yet. 

They also went on to say that they plan on developing for the Pre. "we are...looking forward to getting our hands on the SDK", Chiaretta said.

Shaun from PDA-247 interviews another developer, Jan Slodicka from Resco. In it, he echoed the mixed feelings of other established developers in that the device was attractive to consumers, but offered little in the way of compatibility with existing software. Will we see Resco software on the Pre? Probably, but it could take a while:

"We shall not port any of our titles to WebOS. In fact they can’t be ported - we would have to develop them from scratch. To be fair, I can imagine less risky ways how to earn money."

When asked if Palm was "back in the game", Slodicka was slightly reserved but still optimistic:

"I would give them good chances, so maybe 2:1. Perhaps even higher if everything worked as advertised...I don’t think they will ever restore their leadership, but they might become one of the key players in the mass market - iPhone, Palm, Symbian, Android."

Resco, founded in 1999, has been developing popular software such as photo viewers, file explorers, and games for handhelds running Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile.

For the full interview, go here.

Update: February 6

It turns out that everything pointing to Dojo as the basis for the Mojo SDK was just an interesting series of coincidences.  Blast Radius (the company that redesigned Palm's website) uses a proprietary framework called mojo that IS based on dojo.  So we still have little information about the the Mojo SDK.

But you can still learn a lot about webOS development from our tutorials, which are based on what Palm HAS said about the Mojo framework.  So check them out!

As the Palm Pre nears launch, we will be hearing from more and more developers about their expectations and experience with the new platform. Shaun from PDA-247 interviewed Bryan Nystrom from Natara Software about webOS. Bryan had a somewhat pessimistic take on WebOS, stressing the point that Palm will succeed only if they achieve mass-market distribution of the Pre.

"Although Palm made a great showing at CES with the Palm Pre, and made even myself wish I had one, they need to sell a lot of devices and have a lot of great 3rd party software at launch time."

Another point he brought up is that distrubuters such as Handango and PalmGear are taking higher and higher cuts from sales, while doing little to promote software from the smaller developers. Will the Palm App Catalog be the solution to 3rd party distribution? The App Store has done wonders for iPhone developers, so we think developers such as Natara Software may have a bright future after all.

The interview can be found here.

Megawoot reports that while Slingplayer Mobile already supports Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Symbian and select Blackberrys, it is still too early for webOS. Will Pre users be left out of all the TV-to-go fun? With such a diverse compatibility already, we hope not. Looks like new users may have to resort to other streaming video programs such as YouTube to get their TV fix for now.

For those unfamiliar, Slingplayer works in conjunction with a Slingbox device at home, allowing users to view their cable, satellite or PVR stations anywhere on an internet-connected device such as laptop or smartphone.

Read the article here.