Hasta La Gadget!

More than a month after the launch of the Palm Pre, Palm has opened up its webOS Software Developers Kit (SDK) called Mojo to all developers. The move could spark off a flurry of new applications on the Pre app store that seemed to be losing steam after the device’s release.

The SDK can be downloaded from a new developer portal, Palm webOSdev at developer.palm.com. Any developer can access the SDK, its associated documentation and new Mojo forums, said Palm.

“Palm been very methodical about how we roll out the program,” said Michael Abbott, senior vice president, application software and services at Palm at the MobileBeat 2009 conference in San Francisco Thursday. “We we are being very deliberate about scaling it.”

Palm’s move should help quell criticism that the Pre has been lagging behind its peers because of the paucity of apps in the Pre’s app store known as the App Catalog. The Catalog  started with about 18 apps at launch and grew to 30 apps two weeks later.

Experts blamed the lack of widespread availability of the Pre SDK for the slow start. Palm had an early access program that allowed only a few chosen developers to create apps for the phone.

Meanwhile, Apple’s app store, which has become the industry standard, has more than 50,000 apps and 1 billion app downloads.

But Palm seems pleased with its progress. More than 1.8 million apps have been downloaded from the App Catalog since Palm Pre was released about six weeks ago, said the company. The App Catalog submission process will be opened to all developers starting fall, it said.

See Also:

• Palm Pre Scores a Modest Hit, Despite Problems
• 6 Reasons Why the Palm Pre Is Special
• Palm Unveils Its Long-Awaited Smartphone, the Pre
• Palm Pre Review
• Palm Pre App Catalog Makes a Slow Start

Photo: Pre Catalog (rhastings/Flickr)