iPhone Developer: webOS SDK Too Limited

Looks like the first version of the webOS SDK may limit the Palm Pre’s appeal to app developers. According to Craig Hunter, “a pretty dedicated iPhone developer”, the hardware is there, but there’s currently no way to maximize it:

Sadly, my suspicions were confirmed — there is no way for developers to tap into OpenGL ES using the webOS SDK, despite the fact that the hardware supports it. So that’s a major blow. Then I took a look at the accelerometer capabilities. The accelerometer is desirable for games that use tilt control of course, but is also key to apps based on the equations of motion, like my gMeter (vehicle performance) and greenMeter (eco driving) apps.

Needless to say, Mr. Hunter also had issues with the accelerometer, asserting that Pre devotes too little computing power (4MHz) to tilt-detection functions—according to him, at least 20MHz is required.

Craig may very well have voiced out a common mindset among developers: while there’s still a chance to make it big on the iPhone platform, “the iTunes store is horribly crowded and it’s really challenging to get a toehold with new apps.”

The ultimate point was that while the webOS SDK has potential—if you’re into more “basic” technologies like HTML, CSS, and Javascript—Palm needs to provide more direct access to the hardware of the phone, if it wants to attract the attention of hardcore and “artiste” developers like Craig.

Hunter’s short essay was featured on Engadget this morning, so it’s reasonable to assume Palm knows about Craig’s issues. Maybe that’s why Palm is now looking for a game engineer, who will be responsible for establishing a better framework for game development.

Looks like a PC reality applies to mobile platforms as well: if your platform can support potentially great gaming experiences, you’re pretty much set.