If you have already submitted a request for a coupon, we are currently processing requests and will be issuing coupons while supplies last.  We thank you for your patience and look forward to seeing your applications in the webOS App Catalog.

Now that you’ve seen the future, we want you to get your hands on it. We’ll soon be offering developers an exclusive preview of Enyo with our SDK Early Access Program. As a member, you get early access to upcoming SDK releases, including a look at the awesome things you’ll be able to do with Enyo. What’s not to like? Best of all, anyone can join.

How developers can join

Applying to the SDK Early Access Program couldn’t be easier. Just send an email to pdc@palm.com. Once you accept the terms of the program, which of course includes a Confidentiality Agreement, you’ll be all set.

Already a member?

Talk about instant gratification. If you’re already in the SDK Early Access Program, head on over to the Early Access private forum and download the Enyo Preview. And get ready to rock and roll.

The great news is that we’re just getting started. We’re working on so many cool things, so expect to hear from us even more in the coming weeks.

So, go for it! Join our early access program, get Enyo and let us know what you think. We look forward to hearing from all of you.

Mobile App World — October 19-20 — London, UK
On October 19th at 2 p.m. Ben Combee will be speaking about one of today’s hot topics: Using Web Technology to Solve Device Fragmentation. Then on October 20th he’ll be presenting a free workshop you won’t want to miss. Building Cross-platform Apps Using WebKit will feature step-by-step instruction for developing a cross platform app that deploys to webOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, and others without restarting development efforts for each platform. Ben will showcase PhoneGap tools in combination with the webOS SDK to develop code that can be easily deployed to many major platforms. Sign up for one of the two-hour sessions: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Space is limited in each session to ensure an in-depth learning experience.

HTML5 Live — November 9 — New York, NY
Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer will be presenting HTML5 vs. Apps? from 6:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. They’ll tackle topics including how HTML5 can power mobile apps that people want, and how web technologies have a material role to play in creating mobile apps and reducing production costs for development.

webOS Developer Day — November 20 — New York, NY
We’re coming to New York City for two in-depth days of webOS training and education. If you’re new to webOS, there will be a special pre-conference tutorial on Friday, November 19th. Then on Saturday, November 20th, Developer Day kicks off with a keynote by HP Personal Systems Group CTO Phil McKinney on the future of webOS, followed by technical sessions and panel discussions designed to enhance your webOS skills. Space is limited, so register soon.

webOS Meetup — December 3 — San Francisco
We look forward to hosting our Bay Area developer community for a holiday webOS Meetup at Terra, 511 Harrison Street in San Francisco from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer will present the latest updates in webOS and our developer community initiatives moving into the new year. Afterwards, we hope you’ll stay to chat, hack, mix and mingle with webOS developers and peers while enjoying beer, wine and delicious hors d’oeuvres. If don’t already have a Palm Pre, we’ll be raffling some off throughout the night. Details and registration information are coming soon.

webOS 2.0 is the next generation of Palm’s mobile operating system, and it brings a number of new features that developers are going to want to use and features to make using webOS devices better. This beta of webOS 2.0 is being made available to let developers start building apps that take advantage of the new feature, and will be released to users later this year.

Here are a few highlights of what’s coming in webOS 2.0.

Stacks

Palm’s groundbreaking card metaphor made multi-tasking on a handheld device easy and intuitive for the first time. webOS 2.0 takes it to the next level by grouping related cards in stacks, reducing clutter, and making it even easier to move quickly between tasks.

Just Type

We’ve renamed Universal Search to Just Type and extended it to do much more. Quick Actions makes it easier than ever for your users to update social status, set reminders, add items to a shopping list — or do whatever it takes to get things done in the context of your app.

Exhibition

Exhibition is a webOS 2.0 feature designed to inform, entertain and delight you while your device is docked. Set your device on the Palm Touchstone Charging Dock, and it will enter a special full-screen mode optimized for passive enjoyment and utility. While a handful of compelling Exhibition options will be built into webOS 2.0, but we’re counting on you and your fellow developers to make Exhibition truly great. You can add Exhibition support to an existing app, or build something new just for Exhibition.

Synergy

In webOS 2.0, we’re opening Synergy up to our developer ecosystem. You’ll be able to develop Synergy connectors for Contacts, Calendar, and Messaging — and later, for other webOS data types as well. Using the new Synergy APIs, you can let your users:

• Connect to your chat or IM network from the webOS Messaging app
• Access their personal contacts, their favorite businesses, or your community’s shared address book from the webOS Contacts UI
• View and manage their personal and shared calendars, keep track of their favorite sports and entertainment events, and more, from within the webOS Calendar app

JavaScript Services

Roll your own services with Node.js: The popular Node.js runtime environment is built into webOS 2.0, which means that you can now develop not just webOS apps but also services in JavaScript. The active Node ecosystem is on hand to provide community support and a rapidly growing library of modules that you can use in your webOS services.

PDK Plug-ins

Today, you can use the webOS Plug-in Development Kit (PDK) to build games and immersive apps in C/C++. But the feature that gives the PDK its name—the ability to build C/C++ plug-ins for your HTML/JavaScript/CSS apps—is still in beta.

This feature will exit beta in webOS 2.0, opening the door for you to distribute apps that incorporate PDK plug-ins. Using plug-ins, you can more easily port app logic from other platforms while leveraging the Mojo Framework to give users a familiar interface and integrate seamlessly into webOS.

HTML5 Enhancements

webOS 2.0 adds a number of new HTML5 features and enhancements, giving you more tools to work with when building apps and sites for webOS.

Don’t think that this is all there is to webOS 2.0—these are just the highlights. We’ve added a lot of features that will give your apps more power and flexibility than ever. We’re excited about what webOS 2.0 has to offer, and we think you will be, too!

There are a bunch of ways to stay in touch:

• Subscribe to our podcast (or via iTunes)
• Subscribe to our developer blog
• Follow us on Twitter

There are a bunch of ways to stay in touch:

• Subscribe to our podcast (or via iTunes)
• Subscribe to our developer blog
• Follow us on Twitter

In addition, Ben is one of five judges of the Startup Competition in the Consumer Applications category on Monday from 9-11a.m. Ten finalists have been selected in the “Consumer Applications” category, and Palm will be awarding them with Pre Pluses. Each finalist will have 4 minutes to present their startup company and idea for a killer app. Congratulations to those who made it!

Look for Lisa Brewster and other Palm reps to be on hand, raffling devices and generally having a great time. Hope to see you there!

What does this mean for you, the developer community?

Phil McKinney, vice president and chief technology officer for HP’s Personal Systems Group (which the new Palm business unit reports into), kindly came to meet us and talk about the opportunity that arises from an HP backed webOS.

Phil discusses reasons why HP was interested in Palm, their commitment to the smartphone space, how they want to grow into new areas of mobility (e.g. slates, netbooks), and how their scale can help us grow to new heights.

Listen in to Phil to get a feel for what he and HP are thinking.

There are a bunch of ways to stay in touch:

• Subscribe to our podcast (or via iTunes)
• Subscribe to our developer blog
• Follow us on Twitter

This is good news for all developers, as you now have more time to get your PDK apps into the catalog. Expect to see Palm continue promoting your apps to give you even more chances of reaching consumers and climbing up the PDK Hot Apps leader Board.

Speaking of Leader board, June 30th marked the close of our first Hot Apps promotion, and we will have much more on the winners in the near future.  In the meantime, we are retooling our Hot Apps Leader Board and will re-launch soon to help you follow along with the progress of our new PDK Hot Apps Promo.

Get your PDK apps in now!
To ensure that your PDK app is reviewed, and in the app catalog on or before July 15th and in time for the start of the promotion, your apps must be submitted for approval by July 7th.  Avoid the rush and get your apps in now.  Developers will want to get in soon and start competing for your share of $1million dollars but remember if you’re not ready by July 7th, you can submit applications at anytime during the promotion and still be considered.

Have PDK questions, want to talk to a real person about porting your app?  Contact PDK@palm.com and one of our team members will get back to you.

To learn more about the promotion go to PDK Hot Apps .