Palm's Mojo SDK beta for webOS leaks into the wild

Palm has done its darnedest to keep the riffraff away from webOS development while it finishes up its Mojo SDK for webOS development, but the floodgates have finally opened with an opportune leak of Mojo to Torrent-vill. Naturally, Palm will still be locking out unapproved developers from releasing their creations to the App Catalog for the time being, but this should hopefully give the everyman a chance to hone apps in anticipation of a day of approval -- and should really beef up the homebrew community in the meantime. The other good news is that Palm is actually adding developers to its "early access program" at a fairly rapid pace, announcing that it doubled its membership this week, and plans to double it again next week. It's all coming together.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: The original leak was strictly Windows-style, but PreThinking notes that it's available for Mac now as well.

[Unknown @ Jun 27th 2009 11:44AM]

The leak should be considered a favor for Palm.

[Freakin Ijit @ Jun 27th 2009 11:51AM]

The leak should be considered from Palm.

[gouken85 @ Jun 27th 2009 1:33PM]

I agree. Palm could be the one that leaked the sdk on purpose to attract developers even before the official release.
Right now, they must do everything to capture a part of the mindshare with developers. Especially if you consider last week's favorable news for Android with the htc mytouch 3g and htc hero.

[A-style @ Jun 27th 2009 3:46PM]

30,000 palm nerds all over the world rejoiced.

[Hashbrown Hunter (OneGiantCluster.blogspot.com) @ Jun 27th 2009 3:53PM]

It seems likely Palm was behind the leak, but it will only be known depending on the quality of the SDK and if it is fully complete or not.

If it is, Palm leaked it.
If it isn't, someone else leaked it.

[iKurt 7 @ Jun 27th 2009 10:49PM]

And that is.... what she said.

[Nikesh @ Jun 28th 2009 5:19AM]

Exactly...this is a win/win for Palm. They get free press and developers to actively code for their platform while they are still working out the bugs in the SDK. Any bugs or problems with the SDK and they can sit back and say "It wasn't ready for release and we didn't release it," and then just make the bugfix or feature change that was needed.

[El Cartel @ Jun 27th 2009 11:53AM]

Palm Mojo I gotta say thats a pretty cool name for an SDK

[Michael @ Jun 27th 2009 12:40PM]

Palm Mojo: Sexy Development Kit

Yeah baby....

[Malweran @ Jun 27th 2009 8:52PM]

I'm having a boner.

[mass murderer @ Jun 27th 2009 11:58AM]

Got it installed already :) playing with the palm pre emulator atm.

[KeyBcodeR @ Jun 27th 2009 12:03PM]

I want, I want, I want... Where??? Please!?!?!?!?

[mass murderer @ Jun 27th 2009 12:07PM]

http://preinsiders.com/home/2009/06/26/palm-pre-mojo-sdk-download-leaked-to-the-web/

check the links at the bottom of that page. i downloaded the torrent http://www.mininova.org/tor/2719050

Then you need to install safari 4, virtualbox and java 6. then you can install and run the palm pre emulator in the sdk.

your welcome.

[sweet greggo @ Jun 27th 2009 12:17PM]

I think you can use Chrome instead of Safari... both are WebKit browsers

[Mike10010100 @ Jun 27th 2009 12:25PM]

Awesome! I told everyone that as soon as it was released to a few beta developers that it would be released to the world! Downloading now! I want to play on the emulator!

[notorious @ Jun 27th 2009 12:31PM]

After installing the SDK and Safari, I keep getting an error. When I try to open the emulator, nothing happens. Then when I try to run the inspector, it gives me an error about a missing WebKit dll. I'm on Windows 7 here, but so far no luck.

[DerfBWH08 @ Jun 27th 2009 12:36PM]

I'm having the same issue as notorious under both Windows 7 and Windows XP. :(

[mass murderer @ Jun 27th 2009 12:43PM]

do you guys have sun virtualbox installed and open? launching the emu will first create the needed virtual machine to virtualbox and then launch.

[Ethos @ Jun 27th 2009 1:58PM]

You shouldn't be having any issues under 7 so long as 7 is update and your installed the SDK,Java6 and Sunbox software I installed Safari(only did it as a safety measure) but I already use chrome.

It's running fine and smooth just trying to figure out how to "load" my music, photos and video's on it...anyone?

[Templarian @ Jun 27th 2009 2:00PM]

It works under all Windows OS's, you're just mixing the docs for 64bit (it's not hard to figure out a computer savy person could fix the problem in like 2 minutes).

Feel free to join #webos on freenode.

[Brad Green @ Jun 27th 2009 2:20PM]

Posting from the Palm Pre Emulator :)

[collegekid13 @ Jun 27th 2009 3:18PM]

I found that the sdk wouldn't work on my brand new x64 vista. However it is working fine in 32 XP in fact I'm posting this from the emulator!

[Anil @ Jun 27th 2009 11:59AM]

Yes! I want more apps. I love that it was "Leaked" lol. Good move

[Monkey with glasses @ Jun 27th 2009 12:01PM]

Please Torrent pre-vill

[Brad Green @ Jun 27th 2009 12:03PM]

Who knows Palm didn't leak it. They aren't being evil here, they are just trying to be careful. They already said they will allow apps from outside their app store to run on the device, but they have to make sure this is done in a secure manner, and that the baseline of applications in their store is safe and stable.

[Ethos @ Jun 27th 2009 12:05PM]

This is the best news to come home to!

[sweet greggo @ Jun 27th 2009 12:14PM]

This is a great day in Pre news! I'm betting Palm leaked this after the outcry of last weeks announcement of the delay. People want to develop NOW. I'm sure there are still bugs in the SDK but they probably don't affect 90% of the developers out there.

[Beau Giles @ Jun 27th 2009 12:21PM]

Obviously Palm has hired over Apple's security people.

[Kal-El @ Jun 27th 2009 12:31PM]

I cant wait for the HomeBrews!

[Charlie DaCoda @ Jun 27th 2009 12:32PM]

Why would any decent developer waste their time with Palm that has a user base of around 100k (with a long term peak of probably 250k) when they can develop for iPhone & Touch with a 40MM+ base? Sure there may be some third tier "developers" who can't get their trash approved for the Apple App store, but Palm would probably welcome them with open arms.

[david @ Jun 27th 2009 12:37PM]

less competition? If they can sell an app for even a 2$ to half of those 250k they just made a tone of money. Your also assuming that sprint is going to be the only one to carry pre/webOS, which isnt the case. More carriers will get more people. More people will buy more apps and more developers will come. Simple enough

[joshua @ Jun 27th 2009 12:37PM]

Well here is why: because you are a dickhead.

[Ethos @ Jun 27th 2009 12:40PM]

You know market researchers have predicted that Palm will sell anywhere between 4.1 - 7.7million "WebOS" devices. That doesn't only include the Pre but all the device in the future that will be running that same OS.

So I think that user base is large enough to make significant profits from the WebOS customers.

[Webber @ Jun 27th 2009 12:41PM]

Because the App Store DOES approve trash. With all the iMob copies, crappy Facebook tests, fart apps, and "hot girls" apps dominating the charts (just take one look), real developers making awesome stuff get pushed back to the bottom, or just don't get approved for stupid reasons. Plus, people making stuff like Pandora or Last.fm need multitasking in order to be of use. So, for real developers, Web OS is the way to go.

[Jim @ Jun 27th 2009 12:57PM]

I'd rather sell to a couple hundred thousand users that only have 50 or so app choices than a few million that have 50,000 choices.

[sweet greggo @ Jun 27th 2009 1:01PM]

@David

Why would people post comments on a blog when they clearly have no idea what they're talking about?

[sweet greggo @ Jun 27th 2009 1:02PM]

dammit, that was for Charlie, not David. :/ commentfail.

[F. C. @ Jun 27th 2009 9:14PM]

You may not know it, but quite a few iPhone devs have old, solid relationships with Palm from the Palm OS days. Maybe they see it not as an opportunity to run back to 'open arms', but as a natural progression of sorts or back to their roots.

[Charlie DaCoda @ Jun 27th 2009 9:29PM]

Wow, you iPhone haters sure do have a lot of built up anger. Look, make it easy on yourselves and get an iPhone now. Otherwise, you will continue to live a miserable life. Remember, JesusPhone loves u!

[Loonie @ Jun 28th 2009 1:34AM]

Dear Charlie,

No one cares about your stupid phone.

[Kal-El @ Jun 27th 2009 12:34PM]

I can't wait for the different Homebrews!

[Phoenix @ Jun 27th 2009 12:35PM]

You won't be able to access the development guides, resources and forum. I know how it works, I just got my access a couple of days ago. You get a password which lets you into their development pages, which contain a lot of information and lists and descriptions of the APIs, and there's a support forum. Apps are also submitted through this site, meaning people who torrent it will not be able to submit apps, as they don't have accounts there.

Also, installing the eclipse plugin requires your username and password, so I doubt they'll be able to use that.

[SoulinEther @ Jun 27th 2009 9:08PM]

Can't you just get an account later, and then submit the app?

[Napsterking @ Jun 27th 2009 12:36PM]

Why isn't this breaking?

awesome that it leaked gonna download it

[sweet greggo @ Jun 27th 2009 1:28PM]

You're right, this should qualify as breaking news... if it was Apple's SDK leaking engadget would have made it a full page report.

[joshua @ Jun 27th 2009 12:39PM]

I wish a mac version leaked. Not gonna run windows to run virtual box to run the OS already on my phone.

[Webber @ Jun 27th 2009 12:44PM]

I share your troubles, but it will leak, eventualy. Does anyone know if you already asked for an invitation (official Palm) to develop for Web OS, when will they start rolling out?

[Phoenix @ Jun 27th 2009 12:47PM]

They've opened it up a little bit more, but it's still not yet at full release.

[Dayne @ Jun 27th 2009 12:43PM]

Hooray! The only thing the Pre is missing is a fart app!

seriously this is gonna rock. Bring the rain.

[Webber @ Jun 27th 2009 12:46PM]

NO fart apps! The App Store was great until flooded by riff-raff from people looking to make a quick buck. I'm looking at you, iMob copies, "hot girls" apps, and crappy Facebook tests!