Homebrew webOS Documentation

To Pre or Not to Pre

Last time we hacked up one of the built-in Palm webOS applications. Nothing very serious mind you, we simply changed the title of the Calculator application and ran it in the emulator to demonstrate our skills. That was simple and fun, so perhaps now you are intrigued by the webOS and might like to write your own application but perhaps wondering if:

• A) you should bother?
• B) just where to start?

Let’s address the first question: should you bother writing an application for Pre? Well, iPhone and BlackBerry are the market-share kings with Android poised for a strong Q3 as new devices are on the near horizon, so where is the opportunity with Pre? Does it have a chance? Well, the Palm Pre is a new device with a very small but growing market-share, and Palm has just introduced their second device, the Pixi. It is a “cute” device — it looks like a cross between the Pre, a BlackBerry and a Palm Centro on slim-fast. It is supposed to be aimed at a younger crowd that is interested in text messaging. Probably a smart move as texting (and other less edifying uses of phone-cameras…) is a dominant mobile application, and certainly so in the younger market demographic segments. Palm has released this device in time to be on the early side of holiday shopping — yes, the holiday season is just around the corner! The Palm webOS App Store is…