Palm Opening App Development For Palm Pre, WebOS

At the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Michael Abbott, Palm senior vice president of application software and services, said Palm is expanding its early access program for the Palm Mojo Software Development Kit (SDK). Along with detailing the SDK, Abbott also unveiled Palm's plans to integrate cloud services into webOS and announced a new application from MotionApps that will let older applications for the Palm OS run on webOS-enabled devices.

According to Palm, the Mojo SDK has only been available to a select group of partners. Now, the handset maker said, it will be pushed out to a broader set of developers that apply for access to the program via the Palm Developer Network Web site. Palm said access into the program will be limited at the offset, as the tools and systems are retooled. General availability is expected later this year.

"Developers are an incredibly important part of the webOS ecosystem, and we're eager to get the SDK into their hands," Abbott said in a statement. "Now that the SDK will be available to a broader base of developers, we think the enthusiasm for webOS will only grow and accelerate. We're very excited to work with developers to make this unique development environment even better."

Mojo lets application developers integrate their apps into core webOS functionality like linked contacts, layered calendars, multitasking, notifications and GPS capabilities. Because webOS applications run natively on the device, they don't depend on a server connection to run and can cache data locally.

Along with opening up more access to the Mojo SDK, Palm also revealed plans to integrate cloud services, which will give users access to Web apps from their devices and enable developers to build cloud services into their applications.

Palm said that when the Mojo SDK has a broader release later in the year it will include a developer-facing offering called Mojo Messaging Service -- an XMPP publish and subscribe service -- which will let developers exchange information over the Web. When new information is available, it will be published to the cloud and subscribers will be notified that new content is available. It will enable developers to push live content to their apps and services. The Mojo Messaging Service will have a limited feature set and service level upon its release.

Last, Palm also revealed that MotionApps will develop an emulator application that will let most old Palm OS applications run on webOS devices. The "Classic" application will be available for purchase when the Palm Pre, the first webOS device, hits stores in the first half of the year. It will enable users to still take advantage of older applications as they transition to webOS on the Pre, which will be exclusively available through Sprint.

Because Palm OS apps running in Classic can't use core webOS functionality, Palm will work with partners to make sure older applications are optimized for use on webOS. Until then, MotionApps Classic will let users run the applications on Web OS devices.