If you don’t know, webOS is the new operating system that Palm have created. Instead of having to write apps in Objective C or Java, Palm have opted for having HTML, Javascript and CSS as the language of choice. I think this might be a smart move on their part; the number of applications that developers write is directly proportional to the number of developers who actually have the expertise to code for this platform. However, I think Palm have only made half of this smart move.

If you want to change the game, you sometimes need to bring in new players. Right now, the smartphone application development arena is populated by Objectve C developers and Java developers. Many of these developers have been mobile application developers for a long time. They bring great experience with them, but they also bring history. They look at applications in a ‘mobile’ way; this is not necessarily the best way. Palm seem to have opened the door, but they’re not doing anything to point the door out to people or to encourage them to walk through it.

I want to see web developers sit up and take notice of webOS and the Palm Pre. For one thing, it’s an opportunity for them to branch out and extend their repetoire. They don’t need to learn a new language; just an alteration in architecture and a new framework. With very little effort, a seasoned web developer can become a webOS developer.
Also, web developers are used to the stateless nature of web pages and have learned to work around this with cookies and HTML 5 Storage functions. In addition, they’re used to JSON and working with DOM manipulation. That means that they can concentrate on the important aspect of generating innovative ideas for apps, instead of getting to grips with a new language.

Bringing in developers without a traditional mobile mindset will, no doubt, result in some applications that really don’t perform well on a mobile platform. However, it also brings the potential for some really great ideas, unfettered by the idea of ‘what is possible’. Again, Palm do not appear to be highlighting this; instead they are highlighting the number of PalmOS developers that they have.

The thing is, the number of web developers in the world is staggering. Palm claim 30,000 developers in the Palm development community; contrast this with the over 4.5m downloads of the development version of  jQuery last year alone… that gives you some kind of indication of how many web developers are out there.

If you’re a web developer out there, looking for a new challenge, take a long hard look at the Palm Pre. If you’re interested, go over to the preDevCamp website and sign up or organizer a local event; join an evergrowing group of developers excited by this new platform. As a founder of preDevCamp, I have to admit a bias, but I’m not waiting for Palm to realise what they’ve got here

O’reilly release the first chapter of their new webOS book in the past few days and it has been a welcome island in a sea of tedious rumours. While others may wildly speculate on when the Pre will appear, at least we now have some idea of what it will be running.

So what does this chapter tell us about webOS? Well, a lot of the chapter is spent with the usual overview. I tend to skip these chapters in technical books, but webOS is brand new to me, so I gave it the time. Here’s what I learned:

• webOS is expressly intended to support multiple hardware environments with all sorts over screen sizes, resolutions and orientations – This tells me that a good webOS App will not restrict itself to functioning on a Pre form factor
• webOS will use HTML 5 tags to provide storage functions and some graphic functions (using the canvas) – This tells me that I need to get up to speed on HTML 5 and start playing with it in Firefox
• webOS will give you access to Calendar and Contact data, Location Services, Accelerometer data and XMPP messaging  – This tells me that the apps we can make are going to be awwwwesome!
• Mojo will come bundled with the Prototype framework – Since I’m a jQuery fan, this means that I have to learn another JS framework, if I’m going to be able to fully exploit the Pre
• The Core OS will support fat32 for media file partitions (with a mention of mounting via USB) – This suggests that it may be possible to plug a USB drive into the Pre for extra storage and ease of file transfer!

There are some  nice pieces about design philosophy and UI considerations in the first chapter and some high level introduction to concepts such as stages and scenes.

All in all, and interesting read; certainly enough to whet my appetite for the Pre. Here’s what I’m going to be doing in preparation:

1. Learn HTML 5
2. Learn Prototype

I think focusing on those two, for now, will put me in good stead. I recommend the same to you.