Years ago, Palm CEO Ed Colligan coined the term ‘mobile accomplisher,’ meant to describe the type of folks that used Palm’s PDAs and smartphones. Today, Colligan and the gang are gone and Palm is now owned by HP, and it’s time for a new advertising campaign: the mobile expressionists.

Palm is reaching out to webOS developers to feature their works in a new marketing campaign focusing on ‘mobile expressionism.’ What is that, you ask? As Palm explained in an email to developers, the mobile expressionist is the innovative and artistic developer, many of whom were just honored with our Best of 2010 Awards. Palm is looking to feature these developers in success stories and even short documentaries to be advertised on ‘developer and tech web sites.’

While Palm isn’t direct about their intent, the purpose behind this campaign is made clear by the targeted websites: getting more developers on board with webOS. Applications are the key to any modern smartphone platform, and the relatively low number of webOS apps (at least in comparison to the oodles available to iOS and Android users) was part of Palm’s downfall. By targeting the sites that mobile developers frequent, Palm is hoping to convince more of them to ‘join the movement.’ We can think of more than a few webOS developers that would be perfect for this kind of campaign.

Source: Palm, Via: webOSroundup

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CES 2011 is just a few weeks away, and we’re all assuming (and hoping) that Palm announces some awesome new devices to replace the aging hardware that’s out there right now. At this point, given the current marketshare numbers, what might be needed more than the new hardware is a new consumer mindset pertaining to Palm.

According to the latest numbers from Nielsen, Palm’s marketshare stands at a paltry 1.3% in the United States, and we’d reason that international marketshare is around that, if not lower in countries where Palm products are even available.

With Palm’s market penetration so low, the question weighing heavily on our minds right now is how do Palm and HP turn around their fortunes with webOS – especially if we need to wait some time for new hardware? The answer lies not with rebuilding marketshare. No, the answer is to reboot the public perception and start over. webOS is a fantastic operating system, but it was already fighting an uphill battle against iOS when it launched, and has since been eclipsed by Android and is facing competition for the bottom rung from, of all companies, Microsoft with their turn-the-smartphone-OS-on-its-ear Windows Phone 7.

In this mess of smartphone operating systems, how is Palm to differentiate itself and make the case for why Joe Consumer should buy a webOS phone over an iPhone or Droid? Reboot, reset, and start over. Palm needs to be aggressive with their advertising. It can’t be “We’re still here.” No, the message must be “We are here. This is why we’re awesome.”

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We’re on the ground at HP’s webOS Developer Day(s) in New York City. Stay tuned for posts on our favorite sessions over the next two days, but don’t expect big gigantic news from this event – it’s by developers for developers. The event is at capacity & sold-out, which is mighty impressive. We also heard that Phil McKinney couldn’t make it because of travel problems. We’ll soldier on.

That said, be sure to check back tomorrow when we expect to see some news about Enyo, which will apparently be the "next generation webOS app framework." If you’re here at devday, well, come find us as we gadabout the event and show us your app or app-to-be. 

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If the question “What platform do you see yourself developing for in 12 months?” had been posed a few months ago, the responses for webOS would have plummeted through the floor. But with the power, scale, and enormous bags of cash of HP at Palm’s back, it turns out that developer interest has turned around. In fact, it’s a doubling of interest, though that’s not saying a lot when you were standing at 3% current interest (dead last).

The doubling to 6% ties webOS with Symbian for one-year-out developer intent, but it pales in comparison to Android (up 56% to 61-out-of-100) and of course iOS (still leading with a resounding 82%. Interestingly, it appears that developers are looking to expand their reach across multiple platforms, with interest in HTML5, Windows Phone, BlackBerry OS, and even Symbian up. The only platforms that are staring down the tunnel of declining developer intent are Java and Flash, which comes as little surprise to us. Now all we need is some kick-ass hardware from Palm and some gangbusters sales to get devices in hands and developer interest up.

Source: GigaOM; Thanks to Jimmy for the tip!

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Ed. Note: Give a warm welcome to Tim Stiffler-Dean , aka @anotherguy!

There are a lot of new features in webOS 2.0, enough that it could raise a concern for some developers. With Android and iOS, there’s an app for that. With webOS, it’s already built in.

At least, that’s the sentiment that a lot of people have now that we’ve seen some webOS 2.0 leaks. WebOS is getting a lot of attention from H/Palm to bake some great features right into the next device, but is Palm actually leaving developers out in the cold? Should developers be pumped?

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We’ve covered the new features (that we know about) coming in webOS 2.0 from a user-perspective with a side of development. But the real focus of today’s announcement is the webOS 2.0 Beta SDK availability. This new SDK is a Big Deal for two reasons:

• webOS is even more compatible with web-technology
• It’s easier than ever to create differentiating features that can only happen on webOS 2.0

The former is a big deal for bringing more developers into the fold. The latter is a big deal for any developers who want to see webOS succeed. Read on for our thoughts on what opportunities for cool apps and features can be found in the new APIs coming with webOS 2.0.

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webOS 2.0 is due out later this year and Palm has dropped some serious details about what’s coming in the new OS to us. In addition to lots of goodness for developers in the form of new APIs and a SDK Beta download available today, we have the details on some user-facing features. Here’s the short version:

• Palm’s multitasking ‘card’ metaphor is getting a refresh with Stacks
• Universal Search is getting majorly beefed up with ‘Quick Actions,’ will be opened to developers, and rebranded as Just Type
• Apps can have custom Touchstone at-a-glance views with Exhibition
• Synergy is opening up to developers
• HTML5 and Javascript support is much improved
• Hybrid PDK/SDK apps will be fully supported

Palm’s announcements today are primarily directed toward developers, so much of what you’re going to see is about frameworks and not features – the killer user-facing features will come from webOS developers and (hopefully) from Palm themselves in future announcements. There’s still plenty to dig into with the above features, though, so join us after the break as we get a peek into what Palm has planned for webOS 2.0.

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Palm has released the webOS 2.0 Beta SDK to developers – go grab it at Palm’s Developer Center (developers will need to sign up for the early access program). The SDK is emulator-only for now, but developers can use it to get a glimpse as some of the many features coming in webOS 2.0 – see our full breakdown.

The Beta SDK will give Early Access developers their first look at the new features available to them, including Stacks, improved Synergy support, Just Type & Quick Actions, Hybrid PDK/SDK apps, improved Javascript support, Mojo Core, improved HTML5, and more. Palm’s Touchstone-based Exhibition feature isn’t present in this release, but should be available soon. 

Developers interested in getting their hands on the webOS 2.0 SDK should send an email to pdc@palm.com to join the Early Access Program. To be eligible, you need to be both a registered developer and have an app in the Palm App Catalog. If you’re already registered with the Early Access Program, all you need do is log in and get to it.

Palm says they’re committed to opening up webOS with 2.0 and extending what’s already great about it. Developers – how’s it look to you?

Source: Palm Developer Center

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In the latest demonstration of Palm’s support for (and appreciation of) the third-party development community, the company has posted a list of developers ready and able to assist others in creating or porting apps for webOS on its Developer Center. While Palm and HP are careful to point out that they “can’t guarantee your results, of course – your mileage will vary,” the list is a nice way for developers to get themselves some attention (from Palm as well as potential customers). Palm has also included an e-mail link for those not yet on the list to see if they qualify to be added.

Source: Palm Developer Center (via akitayo in our forums)
 

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Palm has announced the winners for their first Hot Apps competition, where they gave away a total of one million dollars to webOS developers based on download count, split between paid and free apps.

The top winners were Pandora and PC-favorite YouView visual voicemail, each receiving $100,000.

After that we have a bunch of developers we know and love at PC taking $10,000 prizes: Absolute Fitness, Crosswords, Flashcards, FlightView, Golf Caddie, GolfPinFinder, IM+, iStayFit, jVault, My Home Keyboard, MyQ for Netflix, Paratrooper, Pink Pad, Safe Box, SMS MMS Emoticons Pro, SplashID, Twee, Tweed, What’s for Dinner, and WiFi Media Sync.

Free apps winners, who also won $10,000: AccuWeather, All Games Free, Backgrounds, Balloon Pop, Block Breaker Lite, Bubbles Free, Destroids, Dictionary, Emoticons Free, Flashlight, Guns of War, Kamasutra, Mazer, Paintr Lite, Party sign, Photo Effects, RadioTime, Helicopter Game, Weather Channel, and Topple Ball Mini.

That, friends, is a lot of apps and a lot of winners – pretty much all of which we think are great apps. The list of $1,000 winners is even larger. Congrats to all the developers who won cash in Hot Apps.

Right now we have another one million dollar competition, the PDK Hot Apps competition for apps with utilize Palm’s Plugin Development Kit for 3D gaming.

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