To wrap up their Developer Day in New York City, Palm gave a brief preview of Enyo, which will become their framework for webOS apps next year, replacing the current "Mojo" framework that webOS developers currently use (though Mojo is sticking around for a long time).

Enyo’s key features? It’s faster, apps launch faster, it’s able to work easily on multiple screen sizes without rewriting the app, conforms better to HTML5 web standards, and is generally much easier to develop for because it is object-oriented, has better event handling (with fewer memory leaks & too many card errors), …and so on.

Palm developed Enyo to work with their Ares framework for designing apps – in fact Palm has spent the vast majority of their time developing Enyo apps in the browser instead of the emulator. In fact, Enyo was essentially built by the Ares team

The most impressive demo was of an email app proof-of-concept (not, they say, the next version of the email app – but we like the way they’re thinking with it). Running inside the Chrome desktop browser, they showed how the same app can be seen in a device-sized window or a full-sized (you might say PalmPad-sized) window and is able to display its data differently as appropriate to the size of the screen.

In addition to that, Palm showed off plenty of the reasons that it’s more elegant to code with – for example if a developer uses the Ares app builder to make their GUI it will come out as the same size as if it were hand-coded. Palm suggested that some apps that took as long as 7 seconds to launch with Mojo could launch in just a second with Enyo. There were other benefits (that were over our head), but the gist is that the thing is faster, more elegant, and more flexible. 

Palm will start releasing the tool to developers early next year. They also said that Mojo isn’t going away anytime soon so developers need not wait for Enyo or worry about rewriting their apps in the new framework anytime soon. However Palm has said this is their framework moving forward and it sounds like the benefits are going to be strong enough to convince many developers to take advantage of it.

Check out the slides after the break!

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We just wrapped up the keynote for Palm’s Developer Day in New York City. A tag-team of Ben Galbraith, Dion Almaer, Phil McKinney, and Joe Hayashi took the stage to give an overview of where they see web and mobile development now and where they see it going in the future.

Ben and Dion noted that the web and HTML5 really are going to become a first-class app development and distribution platform – as evidenced by even Microsoft’s new and surprising support for HTML5 standards.

Phil McKinney gave his ’stump speech’  about the excitement within HP for webOS and reiterated that HP is looking to drive webOS to lots of form factors and devices to fill the gap between the smartphone and the PC. Phil also broke out his flexible display technology. We asked him how he’s going to keep excitement up over the next few months for webOS in the consumer market and his response: it will be easier to generate excitement when you have new devices. Expect HP to bring tablets, new phones, and "really interesting new form factors" in 2011. McKinney also noted that HP controls literally 10% of the shelf space in the consumer electronics space and they plan to make Palm "to play an important part for that shelf space."

Later on, Joe Hayashi teased that HP will be moving away from the current application framework (called Mojo) to something called "Enyo" that will be faster, support multiple form factors, and work with Palm’s online, drag-n-drop development Ares system. (in fact, "Enyo" is a Greek goddess of war and a companion to the war-god Ares – get it?). Hayashi notes that the Early Access Developer SDK will see support for both Enyo and tablets in early 2011. Also pegged for "Early 2011"  - those slates and phones that Palm is very much aware we are all waiting on.

We’ll have more on the Enyo app framework later this afternoon. Keep it locked to PreCentral!

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webOS is moving up to version 2.0 and bringing along with it a whole host of new features sure to please even the most jaded of webOS users. There’s the stuff that we’ve already covered: card-grouping Stacks, enhanced and more capable Just Type with search and Quick Actions, Exhibition Touchstone dock modes, and expandable Synergy plug-ins.

That’s a lot, but if you ask us, not quite worthy of bringing the big 2.0. Here’s what else Palm didn’t let slip until today:

webOS finally supports Adobe Flash Player 10.1 (beta), and it comes baked right into webOS 2.0. Flash support is limited to the browser, but by and large it’s a rich and fluid experience, and one that we’re glad we can stop wondering if we’ll ever get.

You can now tag contacts as a “favorite.” Doing so has two consequences. One: the contact will show up under the new Favorites view in the Phone app. Two: contacts tagged as such will appear at the top of searches in Contacts, Email, Messaging, and Phone.

As glimpsed in earlier leaks, webOS 2.0 comes along with Text Assist. The new app and service build upon and greatly expand the auto-correction capabilities of webOS, including general spell checking, dictionary customization, and the ability to set your own macros (custom text strings with a short typed trigger).

Skype Mobile is coming to webOS, so long as you’re on Verizon. This leverages that exclusive Verizon deal, so don’t count on seeing Skype calling on any other webOS devices any time soon.

The new Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite is included from the start, displacing DataViz’s abandoned Documents to Go package. But the only thing you’ll get by default in webOS 2.0 is the Quickoffice viewer, which lets you read Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. There’s no editing just yet (we suspect Quickoffice wants to charge for that, which is reasonable, albeit disappointing), but the included app does sync with online services like Google Docs and Dropbox.

The Facebook app is also getting a bump to 2.0, which brings along support for Facebook Chat in Messaging, through the magic of Synergy. The new Facebook app also leverages the other new webOS tools, like Stacks, Quick Actions, and Exhibition.

And that’s just the beginning – explore the world of webOS 2.0 updated features after the break.

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Palm has gone to great lengths to make developing for webOS as easy as possible, what with Mojo apps based on web technologies and the PDK making it easy as pie to bring C/C+ apps to webOS. The Palm Developer Relations team has also made great strides in improving the documentation for webOS development, but sometimes there are tips and tricks that only a seasoned developer can provide.

That’s where the webOS 101 wiki comes into play. Palm launched pointed the way to the webOS 101 yesterday. WebOS 101 is a community effort launched by Roy Sutton, laying the foundation for the webOS developer community to build a set of developer documents that makes sense for them. The focus of the wiki is broad: they wants to see documents built for programming tools and languages, concepts, and best practices for both Mojo SDK and PDK development. To get the ball rolling there’s a list of 147 pages they’d like to see written by the community, though we’re sure there are plenty of other articles developers have their eyes on composing.

As the Just Type and Synergy plug-ins Palm unveiled for webOS 2.0 put the onus on developers to make the chat and search they want to see happen, webOS 101 is encouraging developers to build the better documentation that they keep asking for. Who’s in?

CORRECTION: Palm has chimed in to let us know that webOS 101 actually is not a Palm creation. But it’s still something that they thought highly enough to give prominent position on the Palm Developer Center community page, alongside Palm’s own developer forums. So really, we guess it’s even cooler that it’s a community effort – we like that kind of stuff here!

Source: webOS 101; Via: webOSdev on Twitter

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One of the most popular JavaScript frameworks on the web these days is jQuery. It’s used by some 31% of of the 10,000 most visited websites on the internet and companies like Microsoft and Nokia are looking to integrate the framework into their development tools.  Just this past week, the organization responsible for jQuery launched a mobile initiative that aims to bring a unified user interface to a wide variety of web connected devices, and helping to sponsor that initiative is none other than Palm.  Palm has long been a champion of web technologies (their operating system has a web runtime at its core), and this is big news that bodes well for both developers and consumers alike.

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Developers have plenty of options when it comes to mobile platforms to develop for. You have, just to name a few:  Android, MeeGo, Bada, iOS, Windows Phone 7, Symbian, BlackBerry and well, the list could continue on.  Despite this huge amount of choice, developers still choose webOS as their platform of choice, with one of the bigger reasons being cited being how quickly they can iterate their applications and add features when compared to some of the other platforms.

One such developer is YouVersion, who has applications deployed across a few of the platforms mentioned above.  In the latest post on their blog introducing a new "profiles" feature for their flagship application, they sing praises about developing for webOS and why their Pre and Pixi users will often see features before others do: that the speed of development that webOS  allows has (read that bit about rapid iteration above) has turned the platform into a proving ground for them: "Our Palm app is likely to be a preview of what you’ll see very soon in all of our other apps."

And if Palm’s most recent developer podcast talking all about Ares is any indication, developing for webOS is only going to get easier as time goes on as  tool-chains become ever more efficient.  

Source: YouVersion Blog; thanks to Jake for the tip!

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We’re fresh off the Palm Developer Day Keynote and a crazy-good interview – both with Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer of Palm. We’ll have a full write up of the interview on Monday, but we wanted to hit up the big developer news from this morning’s keynote for those who missed the liveblog.

Though Palm’s dynamic duo didn’t say what version number we’re looking at, they did suggest that ‘by fall’ we should see the features they described today. Primarily we’re talking about new APIs and tools for developers – the main new user-facing feature is an updated version of the App Catalog.

After the break, a preview of some of what’s coming in the next version of webOS.

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Good news, developers and prospective developers. Palm has taken another step forward in developer relations and has decided to start a YouTube video podcast series.

The first episode of Palm’s video podcast series was posted yesterday and it doesn’t disappoint. Hosted by the well-known Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer, the presentation reaffirms Palm’s deep commitment to their developer base.

This episode covered the current status of developing on webOS. Ben and Dion delve into why they love the webOS and their decision to join Palm. Listening to them, it’s hard not to like webOS. It’s also clear that they’re beyond passionate on the matter and want prospective developers to be too.

Ben and Dion continued the discussion, talking about the Plugin Development Kit (PDK) and the inclusive environment they want the webOS to be. Looking at the possible official/unofficial coding options, it seems to show a lot of potential there; normal HTML/CSS/JS webOS apps, native C plugin apps, Qt plugin apps and future Adobe AIR/Flash apps.  Palm webOS really does seem to be a "can-do" mobile operating system. Personally, I’m excited to see the fantastic HTML5-PDK hybrid apps coming out once the App Catalog opens up for them.

For a half-hour video, Ben and Dion managed to cover a lot. Everything from Project Appetite and Project Ares (with Project Appetite, we learned the site has a few neat Easter eggs) to app distribution methods and the Hot Apps contest.

It will be very exciting to see where this series goes. From the sounds of it, this could be a very popular, providing both valuable information for developers as well as a great communication tool between Palm and developers, directly from 2 big names in the company. Definitely a sign Palm wants to be involved on a more personal level with developers, welcomed with open arms.

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Palm has started a new round of App Catalog submissions. Earlier today Early Access Program participants got the email from Palm letting them know it’s time.  Currently it’s just open to ‘Early Access Program’ developers, but the email hints at full open submissions in the near future.

[...] As Palm moves forward with our Application Catalog development, we’re looking for a select set of high-caliber developers who want to be on the inside track as we shift gears to the next phase (and before we open the flood gates to application submissions from the thousands and thousands of developers who have downloaded the Public Mojo SDK).

The email then goes on to describe how you can make an early submission, get a chance for increased exposure through Palm’s marketing, and get ‘personalized attention.’  Palm also wants deets like when you expect it to be complete, business model of your app: free or paid or ad-supported, what country you want it available for, etc.  Here’s some links to check before you submit: Application Checklist, Top UI Tips, Performance Optimization, and WebOS User Interface Guidelines [pdf link].

Meanwhile, our tipsters have tracked down yet another intriguing job opportunity at Palm: Lead App Catalog Administrator. We have to say: just reading through this description makes us very optimistic that Palm’s App Catalog policies won’t look like Apple’s mess:

The successful candidate will be a skilled communicator adept at resolving complex, sensitive issues. This position will be working under an aggressive schedule to cultivate developer relationships and resolve escalations in a timely manner. Needs to be able to organize and prioritize a heavy workload and be able to thrive in a fast-paced environment and has strong customer service skills.

So if you’re waiting for App Catalog goodness, be patient — Palm is clearly moving as fast as humanly possible without tripping and landing on their face. If you can’t be patient, you know what to do.

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Palm has just announced that the Mojo SDK for developing for the webOS and Palm Pre is now available to all! You can now officially (instead of on-the-sly) get the SDK and Palm Pre emulator for yourself and start coding up apps!  Palm will begin taking app submissions in the fall, so get going.

How easy is coding for webOS?  Dead easy.  So easy that you, yes you reading this right now, could do it.  Ken M went from very basic HTML experience to nearly having an Exchange Calculator app ready in a matter of months.  If you already know HTML and Javascript, you know how to code for webOS.

If you’re looking for more help, our webOS Developer forum is chock full of helpful people.  Looking to get your app out into the world before the Fall?  Check out our Homebrew forum, where SirataXero can get you started with a great Hello World type app.

What are you waiting for?  Go get the SDK and start playing!

Thanks to everybody who sent this in!

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