CC Photo by {eclaire}
The big news from the last week was quite obviously the release of webOS 1.4. First, we’ll bring you up-to-date on the story we mentioned last week about the roller coaster Palm’s shares have been on. Next, we’ll talk about Palm’s Facebook app, which received a major update today. Then, we’ll talk about a little discovery that makes free apps available without geographic restrictions. We’ll follow that with news of the release of the webOS 1.4 SDK. Finally, we’ll catch up the bits and bobs in the Roundup.
Palm Takes Stock
This last week saw a continuation of the rough times for Palm’s stock. Last Thursday, the Wall Street Journal Digits blog published an e-mail from Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein in which he outlined the lower than expected earnings. What’s interesting to take from the letter is that, according to Rubinstein, Verizon is taking some of the blame for lackluster sales of the Palm Pre. Verizon did seem to drop the ball, not advertising the Pre at all when it launched on their network and there continue to be reports of Verizon sales people pushing other devices over the Pre. Palm’s plans include something called Project JumpStart, an initiative to get more training for Verizon personnel, and increased advertising, as reflected by more ad sightings. For our part, we think that Palm is in a good position to grow, particularly with webOS 1.4 generating excitement. Others aren’t so sure.
Facebook App Update
Dion Almaer posted today about the latest update to the Palm-supplied Facebook app. Some of the new features include support for viewing upcoming events, an enhanced inbox and a quick navigation grid. The fine folks at PreCentral have even provided a video of the new version in action (see below). As of this writing it had not appeared in the App Catalog but does show up as an update if you have installed the previous version. If you have not yet downloaded the Facebook app you can still do so, then check for updates.
Free Apps Freed from Geographic Restrictions
When developers submit apps to Palm for inclusion in the App Catalog they can choose the region their apps will be available in. Currently, paid apps are restricted to the US. However, free apps can target more countries. Some authors, however, have not selected all countries so some apps are not available everywhere. Some people discovered that it is possible to directly download the apps from the app catalog, even going so far as to develop a desktop application to download free apps.
There are several thorny issues with this, though. First and foremost, developers of geographically limited applications have the right to choose where their apps are distributed and this mechanism bypasses that. Second, some speculate that downloading these apps directly may prevent the downloads from counting towards a developer’s download count for the Hot Apps program. Thirdly, some paid apps available in the US have been made available for free download in Europe. As usual, there’s been no official response from Palm regarding this but we strongly urge our readers to respect the copyrights of the developers.
webOS 1.4 SDK Available
It wasn’t too long after the release of webOS 1.4 that Palm officially released the corresponding SDK. The latest version of the SDK makes available a number of new features for developers, including an updated audio API and support for the new video capabilities. The biggest change for developers is the move to WebKit 4 and the updated V8 JavaScript engine. The upshot is faster applications and a more compliant browser. There are a number of tool changes as well so developers should check out the change list. Palm has indicated that this is, structurally, one of the biggest changes to webOS and there may be rough edges for developers. In particular, there may be issues with apps that use the Canvas element.
Roundup
An enterprising Pre owner created his own commercial for the Pre, taking the opportunity to show off the best features and apps for webOS. Check it out below. A new version of Preware is available for download now. There were some issues with users attempting to update their patches while the server was overloaded which led to some ‘too many cards’ errors while attempting to launch Preware. Know someone who’s on Sprint or looking to switch and get a Pre or Pixi? Sprint recently announced a buy-back program that allows you to trade in old phones for credit. Read Sprint’s announcement for details. Got something we didn’t cover? Drop a note into the comments below or shoot us a message on Twitter.
Update: Check out another commercial from the same author.
