webOS SDK bemoaned by iPhone developer as Palm seeks game engineers
With such amazing software capabilities flourishing on the iPhone, Palm can't afford to wait a year while they make the transition from web apps to native apps in their SDK. Palm might have had a chance against the 2007 Apple SDK, but not the 2009 version. Not even close. With this limitation, webOS will not be taken seriously by consumers who place importance on games or sophisticated third party apps.Of course Palm, now with its deep Apple roots isn't blind to the issue. In fact, the kids at PreCentral have uncovered a Palm job listing from June 29th seeking Game Frameworks Engineers who will "design, implement, debug, and optimize frameworks for game development." So while the beta release of the webOS SDK might be limited, we'll key on the word beta for now. Remember, Super Monkey Ball wasn't built in a day -- it took a bit more than 365 of them before being offered after the launch of the original iPhone.
Read -- Craig A. Hunter
Read -- Palm game engineer listing
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mobile Enthusiast @ Jul 20th 2009 11:24AM
Um- funny, since we already saw psx4all playing on a Pre, and the developer already mentioned how he was impressed that the performance was BETTER than the iPhone at gaming.
In fact, the news came from your very own Joshua Topolsky who said "We at Engadget know everyone will rest a bit easier tonight knowing that real gaming on the Pre is at hand".
So, basically this report is saying that the Pre will be a poor gaming device because of some "self proclaimed" expert's opinion (Craig A. Hunter)?
Puh-lease. I would trust the opinion of ZodTTD (the creator of PSX4all for both iPhone and Pre) in a heartbeat over some guy who's claim to fame is being a "pretty dedicated iPhone developer".
Thomas- this blog post IMO is a FAIL.
Ravnos @ Jul 20th 2009 2:15PM
I have to agree. If these comments were coming from people who did a lot of cross-platform development, I'd be a lot more worried. Instead it's the usual Apple fans complaining about something that's not Apple. I'm sure the webOS SDK isn't perfect and has its quirks, and we've all suspected for some time that it wouldn't form the foundation of any serious gaming on the Pre, but I'd hardly call this the end of the world for Palm.
Bailers @ Jul 20th 2009 2:47PM
Is this guy really sure consumers place an importance on sophisticated 3rd party apps, or just a fun little game to take up the 20 minute commute that is less than $2.99? Sophisticated apps are great, but that's what my game systems are for.
This comment sounds similar to what developers say about the PS3 dev kit. Funny, they seem to get plenty of sophisticated software despite the limitations. Sounds more like fanboy-ism than a real commentary to me.
Philly Z! @ Jul 20th 2009 3:08PM
Must suck 2 be a Pre owner!!! Hahaha
:-p
Flare576 @ Jul 20th 2009 3:10PM
Add to his list of anti-credentials that he says
"Palm can't afford to wait a year while they make the transition from web apps to native apps in their SDK."
Palm's apps ARE Native, they just are written in web-language. The apps have access to internal storage, including a database, and can run without network connection.
Just one more iPhone lover looking to try to douse Palm's flame.
estrouse @ Jul 20th 2009 5:41PM
not being a huge programming nerd, what was said doesn't sound great when i'm thinking about jumping to the pre... however, i don't necessarily get super worried because all i want for applications is a banking app, both ability to view my accounts (like pageonce so jump platforms pageonce...) and to track my accounts like a checking book, and maybe something that allows real time updates of the DC metro trains... all this other crap that apple has is retarded. seriously, who wants a beerpong game? yeah.. teenagers. great. thanks. there should have been some antibiased subjectiveness thrown into this that doesn't belittle palm... but whatever, smart people will add their own subjectiveness i guess.
Riz @ Jul 20th 2009 8:05PM
This was a FAR more balanced post than Gizmodo. Well done, Engadget.
Colonel Kernel @ Jul 20th 2009 8:15PM
I love how "sophisticated 3rd part apps" always trails "gaming" in the list of things webOS can't do. WebOS apps will be plenty sophisticatedm it's just that the navigation will be more useful than it will be flashy.
JoshT @ Jul 20th 2009 9:21PM
I'm afraid no developer would want to invest time and money on the company is about to fold in a year. And half baked SDK isn't going to help either.
Sivan @ Jul 21st 2009 1:30AM
Today's smartphones have a long list of things they still can't do right. There is so much to fix in areas of productivity, user interface interaction, power management, build quality, phone call management, and above all, carrier control.
Saying anything about games, as if everything is great and we've found our perfect communications device is silly. Be honest with yourselves and ask how come those devices have so many problems, say, not being able to run an application in the background on the iPhone, or a sluggish calendar on the Pre. That's it? No more things to fix that we can now worry about games?
Buy a game console, develop for a game console, let the phones be good phones first. Games can wait.