You may be familiar with our Application RSS feeds, a unique feature in the mobile app universe that we added recently. The feeds have given developers unprecedented access to a wider range of customers by allowing website developers to create their own catalogs of App Catalog, Web Distribution, and/or Beta webOS applications. Currently, webOS School, Pre|Central, and other sites are creating custom catalogs and views of the webOS application ecosystem. Our own sample catalog, Project Appetite is an open source demonstration of these capabilities.
With the latest update to My Apps, we’ve added to the flexibility you already have with app distribution. You now can choose whether or not to include your application in the RSS feeds. So, if you have a beta application that you’re not quite ready for the world to see, but you want your friends to be able to test it, now you can.
On the “Application Basics” page, you’ll find a new checkbox labeled “Include this app in Feeds.” If you check the box, website developers who subscribe to the feeds can list your application on their websites. Otherwise, it will be left out. You’ll still get a unique application URL to distribute the way YOU want, and your users will still get notified of updates in the App Catalog. Note that this doesn’t mean distribution is restricted – anybody with the URL will be able to download your app. But it does give you a greater degree of control.
We hope you enjoy this feature. As always, if you have any questions or comments about it, we’d love to hear from you.