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CES 2009: Palm Shakes Its Mojo At Developers

Now that we know about the new Pre and webOS, we're naturally curious to know how Palm expects to bring applications and services to webOS. In an answer to that burning query, Palm announced Mojo and the Mojo SDK, its new development tools for webOS.

Palm's webOS is an interesting animal. Linux is providing the base engine, but webOS is really a browser. The entire user interface is based on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, all Web-based standards. In other words, it is completely different from developing for Palm's Garnet OS, which is used currently on Palm Treos. So how will developers create applications for this new OS and can they bring their old ones to webOS?

The answer is Mojo.

According to Palm, "Palm webOS applications are easy to write using Mojo, a new application framework based on the HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript standards that Web developers already know and love. webOS applications are installed and run directly on the device at native speed and have access to a wide range of device services."

Mojo will let developers:

• Build applications with gesture-based navigation, transitions, and scrolling
• Use the webOS notification system to alert users without interrupting them/li>
• Leverage the local storage capabilities of HTML5 so that data is available even when users are offline/li>
• Use a JSON-based message bus to tap into a wide range of device services, including contacts, calendars, and location

How quickly developers will respond to and adopt Mojo for Palm is another story. While I am sure Palm already is talking to its developer community about webOS and Mojo, there have been no announcements from major software creators that they'll develop for webOS.

More information about Mojo and the SDK is available here.

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