HP announces Promo Codes for developers; Let's promote some apps! 25
In a blog post on the HP webOS Developer Blog, HP has announced that they've finally made those Promo Codes for developers they've been touting since November available - well ahead of the previously promised Summer launch date and not too long after the rolled out the feature in an App Catalog update.
Promo codes work thusly: Developers can create up to 1,000 of them for "each major release" of their app, valid for up to 60 days. The codes can be organized into campaigns and fully tracked. The Promo Code option appears during the standard purchase process in the App Catalog, so users can easily enter them there (although, truth be told, we're not sure that's the best place for the button).
We've long be huge proponents of Promo Codes here at PreCentral so obviously we're pretty chuffed that they've finally launched. So much so that we're looking to help YOU, dear developer, promote your apps with them. We know from our sister sites like CrackBerry.com and TiPb.com that giving away a bunch of apps can be a great way to drive interest and ultimately sales of your app. We'll be expanding our Featured Apps Program soon to include easy for developers to give away apps as a part of a promotion, but in the meantime please contact us with the "Featured Apps" option on our contact page if you're interested in promoting your app with Promo Codes on our site.
Source: HP webOS Developer Blog
25 Comments
So...
I take it those of us on Sprint languishing w/ 1.4.5 will not be able to promo codes to get apps??
Please tell me this isn't true...
Unless you have a Pixi, you don't have to languish with 1.4.5. Just go to 2.1.
Some of us on Sprint and VZW can't upgrade yet because we're not close enough to primary networks to re-program for data use afterwards.
Yay all 124 webOS 2.0 users can use promo codes! Hurray!
If you are still on 1.4.5 then you are cheap enough to need these promo codes. its so so so so so so so worth buying the pre 2 unlocked. Either frankenpre it or get a t mobile account and rock it until the pre 3 comes out. Then sell the pre 2. take a little loss but **** I could never go back to being tortured on a pre- and recommend everyone get a pre 2 asap.
It doesn't cost any money to metadoctor your Pre 1.4.5 to 2.1.
Of course if you have a Pixi then tough luck.
So you're saying because I own a pre minus I am cheap?
If you're not cheap then why don't you buy and ship to me an unlocked pre 2?
Go ahead... prove yourself right.
I guess cheap would depend on how much of a price you put on a good working phone. I had my pre- doctored to 2.0 but it was terribly slow before, and almost a dead dog on 2.x. I never had a so called chuck phone, just a van damn. my friends pre- was noticably a chuck and to this day he is rocking 2.x with no problems. I was never so lucky. I got an unlocked pre 2 after i couldn't take it anymore and threw a t mobile month to month chip in the phone. This all cost me about 450. I then sold my used pre- for 50 so 400.
Now in june, when the pre 3 comes out Im willing to bet i can get 200-250 for my pre 2. So in the end ill spend about 150-200 total.
Is being el pincho any longer worth it? I know times are tough and all, but so are developer sales on the pre 2. I would love to see more users rocking pre 2s. There is no longer a need to wait. Veer comes out on monday.
What are you pinchers waiting for? come on grab the pre 2 or the veer monday. This aint no spec bump phone i can tell you that.
The pre has a small enough screen as it is. Why would i want to go to an even smaller screen with the veer?
I'm waiting for the pre 3 because of my screen size preference.
We shouldn't have to hack our way onto WebOS 2.x to support 2.x developers.
HP should see this lack of developer sales you speak of and do something about it, like at least announce a more specific date and carrier for the pre 3 or a slate phone.
I hate this waiting game and if the Pre 3 does not come out on Sprint I'm jumping ship to Android to stick with Sprint. HP need to recognize that a lot of original pre minus owners are on the same boat.
So it's not a matter of being cheap or not, because I can go out and pay $200 for the latest Android phone on sprint now. It's a matter of patience and not knowing "When is it coming out?", "Which carrier will it come out for?", "What incentives will HP give me for waiting this whole time and not jumping ship?"
Why wouldn't you take your money and buy a far better phone that you don't have to "frankenpre"? You piece together phones for what? webOS? Seriously? This makes no sense to me.
I'm going to bet you're being far to optimistic on what you're going to be able to recover from that Pre 2 after the Pre 3 releases.
Well how about that, they actually delivered on a promise, and ahead of schedule too.
and i didn't mean to offend in that last post, i just see a lot of users on here that act like there is a brickwall between them and an upgrade that is out on att and verizon. I know you guys dont wanna bite and wait for the pre 3.. but why wait?
I don't think it's a matter of waiting. The upgrade "out on ATT and Verizon" is not "out" in a particularly convenient way. If you buy the unlocked device, you not only give up the subsidy and have to pay almost as much as an iPad to get it, but you lose the ability to easily take it to a carrier store and swap it out should you need a replacement.
And given the build issues of past devices, that's a big thing to lose.
As for Verizon, you have to buy it sight unseen, may get borked GPS functionality, and may or may not get future upgrades approved by Verizon and distributed to you.
That's not to mention the fact that the biggest WebOS consistency in America is still Sprint, and they shouldn't have to switch carriers to follow the upgrade path.
Suffice it to say, there are obstacles all over to place to someone purchasing a 2.x device right now in the US.
I agree with you on all areas here but one thing you honestly won't have to worry about is build quality. the pre 2 is night and day. its built like a tank compared to that plastic hooker boot of a pre minus.
you do pay a hefty price to get that unlocked phone, but as long as you are good to the phone you can always resell when pre 3 comes out and re-copp most of the money spent.
I mean i paid 450 and the first thing i did was take a screwdriver to it. lol
i do feel bad for all the 1.4.5 users out there though. they are really getting it bad. an awesome upgrade available but no new fresh devices. Lately though from the influx of all these new actually useful apps i feel better about webOS. I think we were just beta testers for the past 2 years and now things about about to get real. gets me excited just like the rest of the lunatics on here!
It's fine to SAY that the Pre 2 will give people no worries for two years, but would you believe that if you'd gone through 6 refurbs and realized that all of the people claiming this have only had the device for a month or two (just like it took a few months for the original crop of Pre phones to deteriorate)?
I've already seen a thread or two in the forums from "FrankenPre2" people with an issue that are hoping to find DIY help here because they can't walk into a carrier store and swap it. Think about the average consumer that doesn't WANT to engage in DIY service on their phones...
cheap? Why should users have to manually and unofficially upgrade their devices to 2.1...i'd say more than 90% of webos users are using webos 1.45 or a verizon Pre with a yet to be updated webos 2.01...the promo codes only working for webos 2.1 is a slap in the face to loyal webos users who don't want to or don't know how to meta-doctor their phones
Is that screenshot a hint? ;)
So, is this how HP plans to "make things right" for the "legacy" devices?
Yes. Strategy is to alienate all existing users (except the 238,7 Pre2 / pre
http://developer.palm.com/appredirect/?promocode=0b5741a8-6390-4a23-8b56...
Is it what I think?
I just read yesterday in the Pixi-Forum that the Pixi (and Pre) are getting the webOS 2.1 update from Sprint. To be exactly they want to push the update on May 2nd.
And if you think about it: the promo-codes are now making sense! Sprint is pushing the update, so all webOS-users can use the promo-codes.
Don't spread rumors.
we're a depressed, enraged, anxious group as it is.
gNews with Exhibition promo code thread:
http://forums.precentral.net/webos-apps-software/281349-promo-code-gnews...
I'm guessing right here and please someone correct me if I'm wrong but with the promo codes is that actually a work around for geo-restrictions that is going around right now? Cause it makes sense after seeing that HP are doing something about it and webos users always seem to be only given work arounds. Maybe this is one of the ways in which HP is trying to reduce the geo-restrictions?