On the 9th of Feb. HP announced that they would be releasing HP Pre 3 smartphone this summer. I will be getting the Pre 3 and the TouchPad. It is my hope that Logos will develop an app for these two new platforms. P.S. It looks like it will give the IPhone a run for it’s money.
Thank you!
Stephen Gunn
http://www.precentral.net/ (bookmark site for all of the latest info on the HP Pre3)
webOS Developers, here is your 2011 to do list- Maintain Mojo, Start on Enyo
After the confusion (and correction) about whether traditional (or as HP called them, "Legacy") webOS apps would run natively on webOS 3, we are happy to say that we now have greater-than-140-character-hints that the answer is yes. HP has responded to that and several other concerns with a statement to us (it's after the break).
Just so that it's very clear to everybody, here's the score for existing apps:
- Mojo Apps will work on webOS 1.4.5, webOS 2.x, and webOS 3 natively. You should probably give some thought to how your app will scale up to the Pre 3's resolution and down to the Veer's, though
- Also give some thought to deprecating the back button and Meta-Taps on your Mojo App, as the former will appear as on-screen buttons in a window on webOS 3 and the latter aren't quite figured out yet
- HP is recommending developers keep maintaining their current webOS Mojo apps because they expect you'll be able to sell plenty of them on Veer and Pre 3.
- HP is also recommending you develop your app in Enyo in parallel. Note, however, that HP doesn't expect Enyo support to phones until an update "later this year."
For new apps, it's a different game and HP recognizes it's a "business" decision. We take that as code for "hard one," because here are the options:
- Develop your new app in Mojo. It will work great on all phones from the Pre to the Veer to the Pre 3 and HP doesn't appear to be sunsetting native support for your apps at least through 2011. However, it will appear in a fussy window at an unknown resolution on Tablets undergirded by back and forward buttons.
- Develop your new app in Enyo. It will not work on any phone older than the Pre 2 and won't work on any phones at all until HP releases a software update "later this year." However, it will be a boss experience on the TouchPad this summer and a killer, easy-to-maintain-for-multiple-devices app once the phones get their update.
We can't make that decision for you, but the Enyo option for new apps is starting to look pretty compelling if you can forego making any money on apps between now and the TouchPad's release. We kind of hate to point this out, but we sort of doubt there are a ton of webOS developers making their entire living off webOS and we sort of doubt that the webOS ecosystem will be getting huge before Enyo lands on phones, so Enyo makes sense.
On the other hand - for real - we want more apps now and will pay for good (or even decent) ones and we are willing to bet most webOS users are in the same boat. The question is: do you think there are enough of us to make it worth the Mojo choice?
In any case, if you're struggling through the business decision, our very own webOS Developer forums are full of people with the same predicament. If you're looking for more details directly from HP, well, you might try asking in their own forums after you read that full statement after the break.
Enyo SDK released to Early Access Program, webOS 2.0 SDK still under NDA
Developers, if you've been waiting to get your hands on the latest code from the folks at HP, now’s your chance. The HP Developer Relations Team has released an SDK for their next-generation Enyo app framework. As noted during the Think Beyond developer presentation, Enyo is still a work in progress - they called it an alpha (i.e. pre-beta) - but it’s the future for webOS. And if you want to start developing for the TouchPad and webOS 3.0, this is how you’ll do it (at least if you want it to work well).
If you’re a developer already enrolled in the Early Access Program, head on over to the Early Access private forum and download the preview. If you’re not, well, enrolling is easy, though you’ll have to sign a confidentiality agreement (i.e. NDA) before you’re allowed to proceed.
Speaking of things that are still under NDA... The Enyo SDK is in essence the SDK for webOS 3.0. That’s under NDA, and we can understand why (though we’d love to get it, pick through it, and report back to you what’s inside). What we don’t understand is this: why in Hades is the webOS 2.0 SDK still under NDA? webOS 2.0 devices are out. We have them, you can buy them. Right. Now. But apps to take advantage of the new(ish) features in webOS 2.0 are few and far between because they’re still cloaked in confidentiality. That’s just silly.
Source: HP Palm Developer Center Blog
Filed Under: Apps, News Tags: Enyo Preview, Enyo SDK, NDA, developers, enyo, preview, sdk, thinkbeyond, webOS 2.0, webOS 3.0, webOS 3.0 SDK, webos 2.0 sdk 