14 DAY TRIAL // Sunnyvale-based mobile phone maker Palm is getting ready to enhance the user experience on its recently launched high-end Palm Pre with the development of new applications and games for the handset's platform, the webOS. After making the Mojo SDK accessible to all developers around the world, the company has also started working on its own enhancements for the platform in terms of software solutions, and announced that it was searching for a Game Frameworks Engineer.
As many of you might already know, the operating system on the Palm Pre is a brand new platform, and the Pre is the first handset to come to the market running under it. As such, the platform enjoys only a small number of applications, although the company has already launched a software portal for it, the App Catalog. While some developers complained about the lack of power when it comes to Pre's gaming capabilities, it seems that some things are about to change in the near future.
“The launch of Palm webOS and Palm Pre was a major milestone in Palm’s transformation; we have now officially reentered the race,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s chairman and chief executive officer, in the job posting. “We have more to accomplish, but the groundwork is laid for a very promising future here at Palm. Our senior management team is capable, motivated and focused on execution; there is large group of developers waiting to build great applications for Palm webOS; and we have a new product pipeline that we think will set a standard for the industry.”
The job posting can be seen here. While the details on the job requirements might interest only developers, especially those who are passionate about gaming, handhelds and mobile communication, one piece of information on what Jon Rubinstein says is more likely to catch users' attention. There will be a new product coming from Palm in the near future, one that will change the industry, as the company's official states.
Either Palm is gearing up to come to the market with a new software solution that will make a standard, or it is already working on the development of fresh handsets that will prove more attractive and much better built than the Palm Pre. While the first assumption seems little plausible, there are great chances for new Palm phones to make it into the wild soon, for the Pre has repeatedly been stated to be only the first device in the webOS line. And the upcoming handsets are likely to be more powerful than the existing one (the already rumored Pixie does not count here, obviously), so things are about to get a little more interesting for Palm. Stay tuned to learn what the company has in store for us.