HP webOS Developer Blog

As the HP TouchPad broadens webOS’ footprint around the world, the webOS App Catalog will open its doors in four new countries – Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong. Once people power up their shiny new TouchPads, we want them to access as many of your great apps as possible.

Here are some things we’re doing to help make that happen:

- Developers may now submit apps to the App Catalog specifically for these countries
- All free apps marked in the catalog for “rest of the world” will be made available automatically in the App Catalog for these countries, which include TouchPad apps and smartphone apps that have been tested and approved as TouchPad-compatible.

If you do not wish to make your app available in these countries, you can manually deselect them in the “My Apps” tab when you log into your account. Also, please note that at launch, only free apps will be available in the App Catalog for these countries. We plan to offer paid apps in these App Catalogs soon, so stay tuned for more details.

The HP TouchPad with webOS 3.0 and the Enyo application programming framework bring significant opportunities for developers to leverage web standards for building great mobile applications and services.  The growing availability of the TouchPad in countries outside North America means that developers like you will be able to bring their content to an expanding global audience.  For the greatest opportunity to reach the widest consumer audience possible, it’s thus beneficial to ensure that your applications are available in the native languages of your target market countries.

The Enyo application programming framework makes it very easy to localize your applications.

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For developers that are just getting started with webOS 3.0 and familiarizing themselves with our Enyo framework, the concept of encapsulation – a way to break your app down into smaller, self-contained parts – can make your code easier to understand and maintain.

Once an Enyo app is broken down into self-contained components, they need to be able to interact with each other to perform actions or expose and change properties they contain. In this blog post we will explore encapsulation using Enyo components and the methods that can be used to interact with them.

A simple example

Here is a simple Enyo application without encapsulation. The app will be modified to encapsulate some of its functionality later. The app is a timer that will show a progress bar increasing in value from 0% to 100% over the course of 10, 30 or 60 seconds. It also has radio buttons that determine the duration of the timer and a button to start the timer.
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Around the webOS Developer Relations team, we often like to say that the developer is our customer. It drives what we do and constantly pushes us to keep asking, how can we improve the experience for every developer on our platform?

Investing in your success: Device discounts, support and marketing
Today, we’re excited to announce some significant updates to the HP webOS Developer Program, to provide even more of the resources you need to create, market and sell great apps in the webOS App Catalog.

These updates include:

- Larger discounts on devices, up to 60%
- Loaner device program
- Enhanced support
- Marketing asset kits
- HP co-marketing opportunities
- Access to market development funds

Simply put, we’re investing in developers that invest in webOS. We factor in the apps you develop, your development expertise and your desire to build a thriving business around webOS.

Read here to get all the details.

Announcing HP webOS Certified Developers Program
Another significant update is the addition of the HP webOS Certified Developers program. This program offers certification to developers that want to make their services available to other companies looking for webOS development expertise. Developers are certified around the quantity and quality of apps they have developed, as well as training they’ve completed and other relevant experience they bring to the table.

One of the biggest benefits of being a webOS Certified Developer is significant promotion and referrals from HP, opening up incredible opportunities that leverage you webOS expertise.  Other benefits include:

- Listing in the HP webOS Developer Center for third-party developers
- Dedicated highlight page on the HP webOS Developer Center
- Access to pre-production testing devices
- “webOS Certified developer” marketing assets
- Priority support access

Read here to learn more about the certified developer program.

Along with webOS Pivot, which takes app discovery to a new level and our commitment to offering free membership for all our programs, webOS provides developers with an experience and set of opportunities unmatched by any platform.

Today, you could say we’re literally turning the page, changing how people discover apps – and how we showcase developers behind those apps. We are thrilled to introduce HP webOS Pivot, a monthly supplement to the HP webOS App Catalog that brings app discovery to a new level.

What’s webOS Pivot all about?
We created webOS Pivot to tackle a fundamental issue all of us can relate to – in a world of thousands upon thousands of apps (and counting), how can you discover great apps that mean something to you, especially ones that don’t happen to be in a top 10 list?

webOS Pivot takes you on a journey, providing entertaining and interactive ways for people to learn about apps. It’s made for all kinds of personalities and lifestyles – at home, at the office and everywhere in between:

- Visually-driven editorials
- Engaging columns on digital culture by renowned writers
- Feature stories that weave apps into everyday life
- Balanced, in-depth app reviews
- Matching apps to different profiles of people

Simply put, webOS Pivot is a totally new way to find apps that complement you. And besides being a fun way to discover apps, webOS Pivot is a pleasure to read. It’s great content that’s a tap away on the TouchPad.

Showcasing apps and developers
We also wanted to offer a better way for developers to get their app in the spotlight. webOS Pivot offers developers unprecedented opportunities. Apps are presented in ways that are engaging and meaningful to readers. And as you would expect, people can download an app right from the article, as well as an index of all the apps we feature in every issue.

Our goal is to feature developers and apps of all kinds, and webOS Pivot provides so many interesting possibilities for us to do just that. If you have questions about how apps and developers can get featured in webOS Pivot, contact us at pivot@hp.com.

So if you haven’t yet, get started on the webOS 3.0 SDK that’s now available for public download. We want to fill webOS Pivot with all of your great apps.

Just the beginning…
Of course, this is only the beginning. We have big plans for webOS Pivot, and we think it’s going to change the game for customers and developers alike. Like webOS itself, webOS Pivot works like nothing else.

The HP TouchPad has arrived, and now developers everywhere can access the webOS 3.0 SDK, available for public download. When you take a step back, you realize that it hasn’t been that long since we released webOS 3.0 SDK into Early Access. Since then, the response has been tremendous and it’s very rewarding to see developers create some great stuff in such a short period of time.

There is a tremendous amount of opportunities for developers with webOS 3.0. From taking advantage of webOS 3.0’s amazing new capabilities, new ways to monetize apps with in-app purchase, the game-changing way we’re showcasing apps in HP webOS Pivot, to HP’s commitment around expanding the webOS ecosystem, the time for developers is now.

We’re just getting started. Now that we’re making the webOS 3.0 SDK to everyone, we can’t wait to see what you can do with it.