Palm Developer Day reveals interesting bits on the webOS 2010 roadmap
By Chris Ziegler 
posted April 25th 2010 11:55PM
posted April 25th 2010 11:55PM
They'll also be adding support for asynchronous background services written in JavaScript, which should theoretically allow data-intensive apps to be more responsive while they're hard at work; a redesigned App Catalog (pictured); and a new set of developer extensions called Mojo Core that promises to let folks with existing web apps convert them into webOS apps way faster. Palm's being coy about when exactly we'll see this, but the official word is that everything they're discussing this weekend should be in users' hands by Fall. As far as we know, they didn't append "come hell, high water, or acquisition" to that timeline, but we figure it was implied.
[Thanks, David R.]
WebOS roadmap?
I guess Palm believes in love after life.
GO PALM!
and **** da haters! die antwoord style!
@doutorpiranha I'm not a hater. It's called being realistic. Palm is dead. I'm not happy about it either but let's not pretend it's not true.
@jellotime91 Palm is not dead and even if there is a takeover, webos will not die.
@jellotime91 "WebOS roadmap?
I guess Palm believes in love after life."
I am quite sceptic too, yet in the business universe love after life is a possibility.
@kentuckywildcats86 Only time will tell. I mean companies are not stupid, and even HTC moved away from Palm. Obviously there's something underneath Palm as a company that nobody wants.
All I need is Shazaam !!!1
@doutorpiranha While I agree GO PALM. Haters are a hate'n for a reason, beyond "just because". Palm has been sitting on their butt over the last year. The stuff for dev that is coming into the pipe only now should have been in the 1.0 release.....period. End of story. This is the core reason, well beyond market share, why Google hasn't supported WebOS more comprehensively. To put it bluntly: WebOS's dev tools are under powered. Hopefully what is being shown will be out in the next 4 months. Because Palm needs to get their **** together NOW. Not 8 months, not 12 months. NOW. And for the love of god how about new hardware. Yes most manufacturers only put out a small handful of hardware per year. But android has a ton of manufactures backing them now. Ditto with Phone 7. Palm is one company providing the OS and hardware. When you only have 2 months over a 12 month period vs god knows how many on the Android platform it makes you look like you are standing still. New hardware Palm...NOW.
PS- And Apple doesn't count because they have the logo. The logo means you could put out a device every 4 years and everyone would except it as the God Phone until the day the next one comes out. Having sheep as your user base has its perks.
What about HTML5 and hardware accelerated CSS transitions?
@cursive Uh.... built in. WebOS uses Webkit which is HTML5 and CSS3 compatible.
@Toushi Lol you could be right, I'm just quoting what precentral said.
"Palm is not only committed to including but excited about some of the new features in HTML5. Hardware-accelerated CSS transitions are a go, which will really speed up animations and transitions in webOS."
@cursive
HTML 5 is a rather broad term, so it likely means that there are some 'HTML5' things that are going to be supported. But I believe most HTML5 features are currently supported in WebOS.
As for hardware accelerated css transitions, that will be extremely nice to have.
@krische
YES they are my friend yes they are!
4:20p
Sweet.
@ryan420
lol good eye
haha, i've better things to do at 4:20 than take screenshots
it's good to hear some not bad news with palm in it. webOS has the best multitasking scheme out of all the mobile OS's. too bad the hardware can't keep up...
btw, did anyone see the new ad from palm? much better than the creepy lady. thank gawd!
@dypeterc
It's good to hear some not good english.
@dypeterc I think when it comes to multitasking (in real), Maemo on N900 beats everyone. It is really mature.
Now if all the developers would realize how great a platform this is and help pull it out of the water together and make a lot of money in the process...
If no one develops, this thing is going to die, and that is really tragic as it's by far one of the best phone OSs out there.
@ThatGuitarGuy
It's a chicken or the egg argument really. It seems like Palm is trying to encourage developers, but you can really only lead a horse to water. It just seems like developers have the mentality that Palm is doomed or there aren't enough users to make developing apps worthwhile.
@ThatGuitarGuy
As a dev for palm who just posted his first app:
Current API's don't allow devs without cloud computing abilities to make apps that do much more than 2d games or basic productivity, etc. This was true until the advent of the PDK, and no PDK apps from regular devs are going on the catalog, yet. I for one look forward to the new APIs, especially the service, camera, microphone, and bluetooth APIs that will make it really easy for me to make some cutting edge apps. But yeah currently the only thing I've been able to do (and slightly due to a lack of skill) is pull down REST APIs or make 2d canvas games. Looking forward to the update.
Can't wait for the apps that come once the new APIs are ready to go!
Through thick and thin they keep evolving and pushing forward. Shows good attention and support of R&D which is exactly what I like to see. Shows they invest and really care about the customer experience and are far from giving up.
Much better than apples "How can we next give barely anything and continue to get a bunch of money" meetings I'm sure take place biweekly.
I believe in PALM
@Thor e News flash, Rubinstein was an Apple guy. Say whatever bad you want about Apple, but do you think a non-Apple guy would come up with WebOS in the first place? Where were you when Palm was stuck with the old Palm OS and WinMo?
@Thor e
i'm still about here: http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8271/xfilespre.jpg
Palm being coy about the release? Maybe they want their future owners to make that decision for them.
Seriously Engadget, it's about time you covered this, easily the biggest gadget news of the weekend and you're a day late.
If this was Apple Developer day...
@Spaceshipped
you hit that nail on the head...had it been apple dev day, it would be top priority.
webOS is awesome, the lack of flash support is the nail in the coffin for me
@Spaceshipped With all due respect, I personally think that both the N8 hands-on and the new Dell leaks are just as big, if not bigger. Just putting things in perspective -- we're talking about some fairly minor tweaks to the platform here. Collectively, it's really great and exciting news, but it's not a blockbuster.
@Chris Ziegler You're right about it not being the *biggest* news of the week but it's a pretty big deal for WebOS users. I can only imagine if Apple announced something similar there would have been no less than 5 breaking news stories about it.
No matter what it shouldn't have been ignored for 2 days IMO. Glad you guys got around to posting it.
i hope this means shazam for webos
i'm really excited about all of the announcements from this weekend. Here's to hoping that they have some new hardware to make them more relevant, The pre+ simply isn't going to cut it anymore...
I personally don't like apple but I believe that looks like their app store.
@Mivanx77 It's a general idea and layout. Just because Apple uses doesn't make it "magical" as they would like you to believe.
@Mivanx77
Wait a minute... yes... I see it now... the names of the apps are on the left and the prices are on... OMFGITSJUSTLIKEAPPLE!!#$
WebOS is just too good to die. I think it strikes an awesome balance between the slick but closed iPhone system and the super-open but a raw and inconsistent Android one. I'd love to run WebOS on a device with the hardware of the Incredible.
@jonnythan Totally agree with you.
And i'm really excited about an API for the microphone, that will enable chromatic tuners and shazam like apps.
I really need a new phone, my cracked broken limited slow old iPhone 3G is giving up and Ive always liked palm as a company, and their software is awesome, and I know HTML and CSS so learning to develop for them would be doable for me and the free mobile hotspot app is great. But if my phone broke right now I would get a Droid Incredible because the software so rediculously better, and the Google Navigation and gmail integration.
So Palm, get some new hardware!
I am praying for ya palm.
I really don't want WebOS to die. What would be cool is an HTC TP2 with snapdragon and capacitive screen and WebOS!!!!
@Mr iPhone Heck yeah! I'm bummed HTC didn't buy Palm because I really didn't want any other foreign company buying them out. Now I just hope they stay single and go on without a buyout. We need to keep all the American companies we can.
Oops. •Hardware is•
I'm eagerly awaiting the release of a new webOS phone. one with at least a 4-inch screen, 1GHz processor, and 16GB storage. it'd also be great if they could squeeze a huge battery inside a la the next iPhone
No wonder Palm is circling the drain.
It's been quite a long time since their last update, and these are the new "features" they're working on?
Pretty boring stuff here. Nothing exciting to look forward to for most people.
@Johnny Rockets
??? Their last update came out a whole ~3 weeks ago. I remember because it was the last time I rebooted my Pre. Before that, it was ~2 weeks.
They are” circling the drain” because they made some poor business decisions with the release of the Pre, NOT because they don’t update the phone enough. These were their major mistakes:
1. They released a “flag ship” cell phone built with inferior materials at the same price. Apple, Motorola and HTC are all using quality materials (glass, aluminum, etc.) in their flag ship phone; you cannot release a phone hoping it will compete that’s made of cheap/thin plastic.
2. They release the Pre exclusively on Sprint. This was a HUGE mistake. Sprint DOES have some of the cheapest plans if you know how to manipulate their discounts, but their in-network coverage and service has them marked for death. They have been hemorrhaging subscribers for years.
3. When they had a chance to “redeem” themselves on the Verizon network, they did not release a new product with upgraded hardware. Instead, they recycled the same ole’ hardware and added some additional RAM. In this day and age of electronics, as soon as you release a product, you should start focusing on a new product.
4. They failed to release a development kit which developers need to make quality applications that interface with the phone’s hardware. This severely limited the phones capabilities without “hacking” it.
5. Their marketing was atrocious. Instead of showing off the phone’s capabilities, like Apple and Android, they used some weird market technique that had you wondering exactly what the creepy lady was trying to sell.
@Johnny Rockets It has been two weeks since their last update actually. 1.4 came out at the end of February and 1.4.1 came out two weeks ago. 1.3.5 came out in January and enabled support for 3D games that still are not possible on any other platform aside from the iPhone. Palm is really kicking ass with their updates in terms of both quality and frequency and to imply otherwise is delusional trolling.
@Johnny Rockets you're quite mistaken. 1)Palm updates their OS more frequently than any of their competitors. 3 weeks since the last upate isn't long. 2)this was a developer conference, so the highlighted features relate to app developers not consumers. 3) as a consumer their is still reason to be excited because these announcments mean moreand better apps
I see Palm making marketing arrangement with laptops or tablets pc manufacturers for sell together packages:
" Buy a HP slate with a Palm Pre plus and get a Touchstone FREE"
something like that, more or less :)
clearly palm is making new devices there ceo already stated that.. They are coming to at&t and numerous overseas carriers, so I wouldn't count them as dead just yet and if there was a buyout it would just be different money behind there already top of the line os.. I have owned all the top smartphones out and I personally favor the pre.. Palm will grow with there next phone it's gonna be a sprint 4g 4 inch touchscreen with a 1ghz processor and 32gb of storage. I can play need for speed on that while I answer texts and listen to pandora all at once. Written on my pre...
Palm is not dead, yet. Granted they only have maybe a year left without a major cash infusion or major overhaul, but they aren’t exactly having a fire sale just yet. When large corporations start to lose buoyancy in the financial district, they start looking for investment “partners”. Usually a partnership allows the failing company to continue its planned operations while guaranteeing xx% of the overall profits from operations to the lender. From my understanding, Palm is trying to partner with a company that can help them survive yet allow them to focus development of WebOS and Palm branded smart phones. This is why companies like HTC, Lenovo, Dell and others have rejected offers. Competing companies would rather eliminate the company altogether with a purchase than invest in a company that competes with their products. As time goes on and Palm does not regain buoyancy, I think you will see a little more desperate approach on Palm’s part. I think you will see them willingly licensing their OS to hardware developers and/or completely turning over all operations for the right price. When this happens, you will see a lot more interest from companies that want to purchase them for their intellectual property and to eliminate them from the equation.