This is Palm's chance | Hacker News Reader

This is Palm's chance

8 pointsevancaine3 comments

Palm has always had a good relationship with developers. I used to develop for the original Palm OS 3 using both the official tools and a GCC tool chain. It was a pleasure developing for the platform and virtually no part of the system was off limits.

Palm needs to start courting developers again. They have a state of the art mobile operating system, a very open API, an excellent set of tools and terms of use that don't dictate how apps can be developed. All of that makes for a fun development environment.

Palm hasn't sold as many devices as apple or android so they won't attract as many developers who are writing apps for profit, but what they will attract are hackers and tinkerers and creative types who like to push and poke and see what happens when they do xyz. I think that in itself will attract higher quality apps and that will be key: quality not quantity.

As a user, would I really care that your platform has 150000 apps and mine has only 2200? No. As long as the major apps are there (which they are for webOS) it doesn't really matter.

Palm should stop trying to be Apple and start being Palm again

Palm also allows you root access on your device so that you can do whatever you want with it. With the new PDK you can use C/C++ (or any language that compiles with the same API) to develop your app and use SDL and OpenGL. With Verizon's latest deal you can get a Pre Plus for $50 and the wireless hotspot capability for free. The better development policies make WebOS a better development platform and the Verizon deal makes it a great cell phone.

With the new PDK you can use C/C++ (or any language that compiles with the same API) to develop your app and use SDL and OpenGL.

Which is awesome, if you're making a game. If you want to make any other kind of application with a Mojo UI and a C/C++ backend, you're still out of luck. Or if you want to access the microphone or camera directly, you're out of luck, regardless of if you use the SDK or PDK. Or… for a lot of other small things, that do make a difference.

Don't get me wrong; I have a Palm Pre with Verizon and love it. But, as far as their SDK and PDK goes, there is a long way to go. Especially if they're playing catch-up with Apple and Cocoa Touch.

Doesn't it still boil down to the willingness of users to spend money on applications? The last research I saw still had the iPhone/iPod platform exceeding Android and the competitors hands down. Regardless, paid applications aren't everything and Palm can't out-Apple Apple, as you said. Why does Palm need to beat Apple/Android in the first place besides not going bankrupt?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com