[dandbj13]

When I read this article, I didn't know what to think. It sounds strange, to say the least. They are going to develop apps in-house, then give them away to select developers to polish and brand. Thoughts?

[sorli]

Interesting and i think it is a great idea. One look at some of their latest creations (email, photo, etc) show them making significant headway in this direction and HPalm's last big effort would point squarely at Facebook.

Perfect example would be when Palm's former developer relation team (Ben and Deon) took a very basic implementation of Facebook and made it one of the or the best Facebook client on any mobile platform. They wanted to contribute, build something different, enhance, and simply give it away to support the users and spur developer interaction.

They were also very specific in saying they don't plan to compete against the developer community (unlike Apple has done for years...sorry that walks and talks too much like iTunes for us to support it). Question comes to mind though, how do they create something, give it away, and still allow developers the option to making a living using it? I guess it would be somewhat like Music Remix that was extended significantly and soon to be released publicly for sale.

Thanks for the link, Sorli...

[Spade]

I think they mean they will give it to the third-party for free, not to webOS users. Then the third party can charge whatever they want.

It would be nice if they made a limit on the app price for apps they make in-house...like $0.99

When I read this article today, it made me have a resurgance of faith in webos. It just makes me happy to see they understand that this will be an issue, and they have a good plan for overcoming it.

Apps will be the #1/#2 issue along with getting webOS into users hands. If you get the apps, I think you solve the other half of the problem.

[nimer55]

I think the article said they aren't charging for apps made by them. I think it i'll mainly be stuff like netflix.

[dandbj13]

How would this benefit indie developers? Can they get in on the free app goodness? Are these just free apps to fill in the gaps in the catalogue? I would love to have more information on this initiative. I am curious why others have not reported on it.

[PalmoAnest]

good, ahem. now make an epocrate app n give it to them!

[malpha]

I was under the impression they meant HP would not charge *developers* for the apps they made for them. Developers may choose to set their own prices after receiving them, especially if the app uses their hardware and support resources.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums

[mikeisnowonfire]

I think it is a great idea. HP gets more apps, the companies get the exposure, the consumer gets more apps. Everyone wins.

[spectre686]

This is smart. Why wasn't this promoted harder the last couple days. This would mean companies like Netflix could have an app on the platform without any risk and it gives HP the benefit of saying you can do that on our phones as well!

[jetsetter883]

More power to HP. It's unfortunate that they have to 'resort' to building certain apps in-house, but if its what they have to do to get key apps on webOS then go for it. It will absolutely benefit the consumer and I look forward to these apps making their way into the catalogue.

[Sapient2k7]

What My understanding is this .. Facebook wouldn't commit resources to make an app for webOS deeming it not worth their time and Palm made an app that beats everyone else's implementation. For consumers this was a win as otherwise there would be no facebook app for webOS.

They just plan to expand the idea to other BIG names. Indie developers on the other hand will come to webOS on their own because once the BIG names are there there is no barrier for entry.

Consider this scenario, A layman goes into a phone shop and asks the assistant does this phone show netflix? will I be able to watch hulu on it? Can I read my kindle books? Does it have an app that can recognize music and allow me to buy it? for now the answer to all four questions is no for any webOS device out there. The customer is thus shown an iphone which can do all or an android which can do some and moved away from WebOS. We can't really fault the sales man because in spite of its great UI and ease of use and multitasking ability it can't do any of these tasks.

HP is just making sure these type of questions can be answered in a "yes". The alternative for them was to pull a microsoft and PAY these companies to make apps.

[dandbj13]

Contrary to popular belief, it is not about having the 100 most popular apps. It is about having the one, current, popular app. That app will never be available for WebOS. It doesn't matter what the app is. By the time there is a port, the app will no longer be the killer app.

The underlying problem with the app catalogue is not that it is missing Netflix, but that the platform does not inspire killer apps in the first place. Best case scenario, HP builds a bunch of apps already available for other platforms. In a couple of years, they will be able to claim a credible "me too" status. That will not put them in a leadership position.

[spectre686]

You can tell that there are a lot of non-developers here because they are looking at apps as something that is simply developed and handed-over rather than developed and maintained. Who's going to do the updates? If Netflix updates their protocols and the webOS version isn't compatible then who gets the complaints? Who does the update? Who has to give the refunds?

There's a reason why we say that a company "supports" a platform because it requires just that - support. Additionally, I don't know of any software company that would allow another company to write an app for them, then put their name on it, and distribute it as their own. I think the idea goes nowhere except for companies that don't develop their own software.

I believe they said these would be free apps so that they wouldn't have to worry about refunds etc. But I'm not 100% on that. Also if at the point that updates are needed not enough users are using WebOs to make it worth it to spend some update time on the software then WebOS has failed anyways so no big deal. If WebOs can't grow to be self sustainable attracting more users and more developers then it just won't matter.

[Sapient2k7]

Contrary to popular belief, it is not about having the 100 most popular apps. It is about having the one, current, popular app. That app will never be available for WebOS. It doesn't matter what the app is. By the time there is a port, the app will no longer be the killer app.

The underlying problem with the app catalogue is not that it is missing Netflix, but that the platform does not inspire killer apps in the first place. Best case scenario, HP builds a bunch of apps already available for other platforms. In a couple of years, they will be able to claim a credible "me too" status. That will not put them in a leadership position.

WebOS has been stuck in the chicken or egg scenario for fr too long. People won't buy phones unless they have the apps they hear about or want and developers won't build apps unless there are enough people that have the devices. this way consumers will come to the webOS community and developers will have a big enough audience to make it worth their while to develop for webOS. HP is also making sure tht developing for webOS is easy and it is easy to port apps from other OSes. This is a 3 pronged approach. Build devices that get people excited, make it easy to port and develop apps, give incentives to app developers so that Big name apps are available on the platform which drives growth.

[spectre686]

Contrary to popular belief, it is not about having the 100 most popular apps. It is about having the one, current, popular app. That app will never be available for WebOS. It doesn't matter what the app is. By the time there is a port, the app will no longer be the killer app.

The underlying problem with the app catalogue is not that it is missing Netflix, but that the platform does not inspire killer apps in the first place. Best case scenario, HP builds a bunch of apps already available for other platforms. In a couple of years, they will be able to claim a credible "me too" status. That will not put them in a leadership position.

No It won't put them in the leadership position but having the apps to do the things that people can do on other phones will certainly make the platform more attractive to potential buyers.

[nappy]

This is really more of the vague HP gibberish that sounds good on the surface but doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny. What does this even mean? Will HP hand the source code over? What happens when APIs change? How will HP maintain feature parity with multi-platform apps? What criteria will they use for deciding which apps they want to bootleg?

[dandbj13]

This is really more of the vague HP gibberish that sounds good on the surface but doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny. What does this even mean? Will HP hand the source code over? What happens when APIs change? How will HP maintain feature parity with multi-platform apps? What criteria will they use for deciding which apps they want to bootleg?

I have to agree with that assessment. This does not sound like official HP messaging at all. It sounds like the kind of thing that is tossed out for discussion in a brainstorming session. Otherwise, why didn't this get attention at the developer event, as opposed to something told to one PCMag reporter? HP needs to say more about this.

[Olidie]

I'm all for this as long as we get the essentials apps. My top 5 apps for me are:
1. Document editor
2. Netflix
3. nook/kindle
4. comcast Xfinity
5. Music screaming app (allowing me to scream my content from my pc)

[dandbj13]

I'm all for this as long as we get the essentials apps. My top 5 apps for me are:
1. Document editor
2. Netflix
3. nook/kindle
4. comcast Xfinity
5. Music screaming app (allowing me to scream my content from my pc)

The problem with top five lists is that there are tens of thousands of them, all different. You would need a catalogue the size of, say, the App Store to cover it. That's the problem with trying to cherry pick the top five, 100, 500 apps. You never can, and you will always be missing the killer app of the moment.

[nimer55]

The problem with top five lists is that there are tens of thousands of them, all different. You would need a catalogue the size of, say, the App Store to cover it. That's the problem with trying to cherry pick the top five, 100, 500 apps. You never can, and you will always be missing the killer app of the moment.

or, you cherry pick the top 500, and then offer a GIGANTIC hot apps program. Or you have a 5 million dollar one every month. (app would need to result in an extra .6 million devices sold a year to cover costs)