Mitch Allen, Software CTO for Palm, hosted a webcast earlier this week on developing applications for the companies new webOS operating system. The webcast is technical in nature, but might appeal to those looking to gain further insight into Palm's new OS. The webcast video is 60 minutes in length and provides a preview into application development with the Mojo SDK.
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Palm was demonstrating webOS on the new Palm Pre. CNET UK captured a comprehensive look at Palm Synergy, the webOS browser and a great look at the entire UI (user interface).
In a discussion with investors, Palm's CEO Ed Colligan spoke about plans for the upcoming Palm Pre and signaled the end of the Palm OS. The current Centro model running Palm OS could be released on other carriers, but there will not be new devices running the legacy OS. Palm instead will focus their efforts on webOS and Windows Mobile. With the Pre running webOS, Treo devices being exclusively Windows Mobile, that leaves a question mark for the future of the Centro line. There has been speculation of webOS based Centro devices and that certainly appears to be possible in the future.
As for the Palm Pre, the Sprint exclusivity will carry through 2009 and Palm will look at other carriers in 2010. The Palm App Catalog will not be the only method to add apps to your Palm Pre. The Palm Pre will support adding applications that did not originate in the Palm App Catalog. Colligan also mentioned that Epocrates was one of the key applications that he expects will be available at launch.
At the 2009 AlwaysOn OnMedia conference yesterday, Pandora founder Tim Westergren spoke about software development on mobile platforms and indicated that betting on a single "hero" platform could be the way to go. That platform for Westergren is webOS and the phone is the Palm Pre.
