PreDevCamp is Today! (Oh, and the Palm App Catalog has had 2.5 Million Downloads!)
PreDevCamp is today! Above, check out the welcome video from none-other than Palm's own Mitch Allen, CTO of Palm and author of the just-completed webOS development book. It's not too late to checkout PreDevCamp.org to find a local event in your city, but if you can't go to one, there are plenty of options to follow the excitement at home. Your best option is to head over to PreDevCamp.org/live to see live feeds from San Francisco, Kansas City, New York, Dallas, San Diego, and Los Angeles.
We're very pleased to see involvement from Palm here - supporting developers is absolutely the best way to grow a fledgling platform. In addition to Allen's video above, Palm employees are hitting up the 'camps and Palm is also donating 30 copies of Allen's book per city. We at PreCentral.net are pitching in with prizes ranging from Accessory Store Gift Certificates to Palm Pre phones. Yes - those Pre prizes will be going to the developers who have created the best apps in several categories and we're hoping to see a lot of the apps begun today show up in our Homebrew App Gallery.
Yours-truly is heading to Orlando - are you going?
P.S. Hear that about 2.5 million App Catalog downloads? Us too - not bad, eh? Imagine what it will be when the Pre hits other carriers and more apps start becoming officially available?
App Catalog: New Submissions and New Manager Wanted
Palm has started a new round of App Catalog submissions. Earlier today Early Access Program participants got the email from Palm letting them know it's time. Currently it's just open to 'Early Access Program' developers, but the email hints at full open submissions in the near future.
[...] As Palm moves forward with our Application Catalog development, we’re looking for a select set of high-caliber developers who want to be on the inside track as we shift gears to the next phase (and before we open the flood gates to application submissions from the thousands and thousands of developers who have downloaded the Public Mojo SDK).
The email then goes on to describe how you can make an early submission, get a chance for increased exposure through Palm's marketing, and get 'personalized attention.' Palm also wants deets like when you expect it to be complete, business model of your app: free or paid or ad-supported, what country you want it available for, etc. Here's some links to check before you submit: Application Checklist, Top UI Tips, Performance Optimization, and WebOS User Interface Guidelines [pdf link].
Meanwhile, our tipsters have tracked down yet another intriguing job opportunity at Palm: Lead App Catalog Administrator. We have to say: just reading through this description makes us very optimistic that Palm's App Catalog policies won't look like Apple's mess:
The successful candidate will be a skilled communicator adept at resolving complex, sensitive issues. This position will be working under an aggressive schedule to cultivate developer relationships and resolve escalations in a timely manner. Needs to be able to organize and prioritize a heavy workload and be able to thrive in a fast-paced environment and has strong customer service skills.
So if you're waiting for App Catalog goodness, be patient -- Palm is clearly moving as fast as humanly possible without tripping and landing on their face. If you can't be patient, you know what to do.