Sprint not troubled by lack of Pre apps, but should they be?
June 5th, 2009 | by Chris Speight |
Recently on a Wall Street Journal Blog Mr. Packingham, senior VP for product and technology development at Sprint, addressed the issue of the Palm Pre rather… empty application store:
“You’re not going to get a critical mass of developers coding for the new platform until you give them devices,” Mr. Packingham said. “There’s only so many things you can control in the initial delivery.”
Well, while Mr. Packingham is indeed correct, the most major thing stifling Palm Pre application development is not actually a like of phones, its a complete lack of the software development kit (AKA SDK). As of now, only a very specific group of invited developers are allowed to develop applications for the device. As things stand currently, whenever the SDK goes public, we will now have to wait several weeks in all likelihood to get any significant applications, and considering the launch of the device is tomorrow, we may be waiting a while…
Other concerns have risen about the SDK as well, mostly because it’s based on Internet standards and protocols. This is excellent news for web developers seeking to develop on the platform, but it poses some security risks and many fear that it simply won’t provide access to many core features of the phone.
The real issue is, will this hurt the Pre in the long run? It seems that Sprint is counting on the shortage to solve their slow start, but in my experience a slow start in any technology field is a bad thing. They are already starting leagues behind the competition, even the humble Nokia Ovi store currently has tons more applications than the Pre will have at launch, and it seems like it may be potentially weeks or months before that changes in the slightest.
