Palm Announces Expanded Mojo SDK Availability

Palm, Inc. released at the Web 2.0 Expo 2009 in San Francisco more details on its developer program for its newly unveiled Palm webOS platform. Michael Abbott, Palm’s senior vice president of Application Software and Services, said in a keynote that the company intended to expand its early access program for the Palm Mojo Software Development Kit (SDK), and also unveiled a few details regarding its plans to integrate cloud services into the platform. At the same time, the company also announced that MotionApps had come up with a new app that would allow Palm OS applications to run on webOS devices.

Previously, Palm made the Mojo SDK available only for a handful of developers, yet now it says that it will be accessible to a larger number of partners, which will have to apply for access to the program at the Palm Developer Network website. Palm also stated that there would be limited access to the program, but that the tools and systems will continue to be improved, and general availability will come later during the ongoing year.

“Developers are an incredibly important part of the webOS ecosystem, and we’re eager to get the SDK into their hands,” said Michael Abbott, senior vice president, Application Software and Services, Palm, Inc. “Now that the SDK will be available to a broader base of developers, we think the enthusiasm for webOS will only grow and accelerate. We’re very excited to work with developers to make this unique development environment even better.”

The Mojo SDK allows developers to integrate their software solutions into core webOS functionality, including linked contacts, layered calendars, multitasking, notifications and GPS capabilities. The applications are developed so as to run natively on the device, without needing a server connection, while also being able to cache data on the handset. Developers will have the possibility to integrate their applications with unique webOS functionality and services that would be offered to users.

“webOS makes mobile application development incredibly easy – we were able to get a version of Pandora running in no time,” said Tom Conrad, chief technology officer, Pandora. “And because webOS has true multitasking capabilities, Pandora runs elegantly in the background while you’re using other applications. The unobtrusive notification bar lets you know what’s currently playing, and allows you to pause and play without having to go back into the application. It’s an incredibly powerful and flexible platform.”