HP wants developers to show them their TouchPad apps in progress, might give them a TouchPad 26
Fri, 20 May 2011 9:05 pm EDT 
Headed out to webOS Connect in Europe or one of the TouchPad developer workshops? Bring your TouchPad app-in-progress with you, because HP wants to see it, and might see fit to reward you with an HP TouchPad of your very own. Eventually. Maybe. In a post on the HP webOS Developer Blog, the proposal is put out there: bring your work-in-progress (or completed) TouchPad app as an installable .ipk, and a “designated HP webOS representative” will load it on a TouchPad to try it out. From there, a jury of other designated HP webOS represenatives will evaluate your app “based on an objective criteria,” and if those objective criteria yield good results, they might just send you a TouchPad. Oh, and you’ll have to wait until "this summer" when the TouchPad launches.
This is almost the same thing that Research In Motion did for PlayBook developers - except RIM didn't have hurdles like “objective criteria” and “jury panel of designated HP webOS representatives” and “selected developers after the event when available” Hopefully those hurdles will turn out to be mere speedbumps for developers hoping to get actual hardware to work with - but even a speedbump can slow things down.
Source: HP webOS Developer Blog
26 Comments
That stinks... I can't go to any of those... and I have a kickbutt app I'm working on too. :P
What is with all of the qualifications? If a developer is brave enough to work on last place WebOS these days AND attend one of these events, they deserve a TouchPad.
PERIOD.
Google is giving away Galaxy Tab 10.1's like there's no tomorrow. Why is HP making ANYBODY jump through any kind of hoop? The device should be there and handed out on the spot. Are you kidding me?
Yay!
RESPONSE TO bnceo: I have read the reports of bugginess on those tablets. That's Honeycomb. WebOS 3.0 will have bugs too. So what? That's large scale beta testing before you go to retail...how is that bad?
You mean the Tabs that have a nasty bug on them? Yeah, mmkay. Do you own a hardware business?
Exactly.
Dude, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 releases in two weeks. What bug are you talking about?
Exactly.
bnceo, you are a tool.
I hope you're not saying you've been prohibited from posting on here, mikah.
It was a misunderstanding. Totally on my part, it seems.
Anyone have the APP that lets you buy a WEBos phone on Sprint... like a Pre2 or Pre3?
You sir are a giant waste of characters. Did it make you feel good to post that?
Yea it's called "In The Coming Months"
I am developing an app that gets Richard Kerris off his a** to actually work on developing apps and not tweeter all the time. It will be in the HP App catalog "in the coming weeks".
Now Give me a free TouchPad.
Is this a group of people complaining about not getting free TouchPads?
Sorry. I'm getting a little tired of the whiny tone of most of the posts on this page. Everything seems to be about HP not doing things the way you want them to. Have you ever considered for a moment that it may be because they have a different plan? Just asking. There's no monopoly on wisdom, you know.
Take your positivity somewhere else, no one wants it here.
We need a lot MORE positivity around here!
...this group of people is complaining about HP's way of doing things in that specific market, because HP's ways of doing things in that market just stink to the high heaven, comparing to the other competitors, already established leaders and contenders alike.
It is not they are not doing things the way I like. It is they are not doing anything that their competition is doing right, regardless them having million times better position than HP's with WebOS.
And they should do more, try harder, go further than others, to stand a chance of survival with WebOS. But they don't. So we complain, because we can tell "full-throttle, above & beyond" from reheated, lukewarm, not committed, unconvinced & unconvincing.
Perhaps someone should build an app reminding HP that "criteria" is plural and "criterion" is singular.
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This is almost the same thing that Research In Motion did for PlayBook developers - except RIM didn't have hurdles like “objective criteria” and “jury panel of designated HP webOS representatives” and “selected developers after the event when available” Hopefully those hurdles will turn out to be mere speedbumps for developers hoping to get actual hardware to work with - but even a speedbump can slow things down.
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Derek, you are painting a rosy picture for RIM and it's untrue. The Playbook giveaway was not without controversy, including needing to fax in a notarized statement to confirm your identity.
This open letter summed up all the program's shortcomings well - http://blog.jamiemurai.com/2011/02/you-win-rim/
I notice that at the end of his follow-up to his rant, he mentions that Microsoft called him to offer him a full Windows Phone 7 development set-up. He, um, doesn't mention that he got a call from HP. In fact, although he addresses Apple, Rim, Android/Google and Microsoft in his rant, he never even mentions HP.
THAT's the biggest problem they're facing.
Maybe i shouldn't chide the editor of such an article so my comment won't be blocked and declared "Spam"!! Ridiculous!!
Just because you develop for WebOS, doesn't mean that you deserve a free Touchpad. That's ridiculous!! If there are no qualifications to be met, how else will HP encourage innovative and high quality Apps from it's developers?
With thousands of WebOS developers in the world, are you supposing they give away thousands of devices to anyone who slaps an App together? Nonsense!!
Also, aren't they already getting devices and "first looks" at new software from being apart of the official developer program?!
...go and tell your point to a Google I/O event attendees, with Galaxy Tab giveaway.
It would be so very nice gesture to present tabs for the people still offering to invest their time and energy into WebOS, attending the uneventful HP developer "events".
Lets be honest, Super Jump won money in an Palm App contest. It's not like HP has high expectation for giving them away.
I wasn't trying to confront people just to put them down, I think HP is working really hard to put out something worthy of a marathon, not just to win Christmas. There's so much noise in the market right now you would think more than 3% of users have tablets. Apple is enjoying enormous success with the iPad, but nobody should pretend they are shipping them like iPhones. I'd rather HP wait and get it right. The next generation TouchPad is already on the drawing board but there's a lot of things to get right to build a successful platform and the hard lessons Palm learned are weighing on everyone's mind.
shouldn't be a "might" they should just give them away to developers. That said, its not the hobbyist developers it needs it's the mainstream companies that need to make apps.
It's not like paying developers or eating the cost to develop apps inhouse for bigger companies is a risk-free proposition. Same goes for eating the cost for developer coupons or outright giveaways for Palm Pre 2 devices.
It's all a gamble, and HP MAY get burned on some giveaways, yes, but the GUARANTEED return on a mediocre investment is virtually 'nil.
Android has seeded developers with free devices (e.g. Droid, Nexus S, Xoom, Galaxy Tab 10.1) for year after year now, and it's paying off. Microsoft is doing the same. Any company serious about competing in this ultra-brutal marketplace should be.
Note that you don't have to attend webOS Connect to qualify - you just have to email the address listed there.
Geez... does this mean that Brighthouse Labs could end up with a free TouchPad??? dear G@d I hope not. That is one developer that I would like to see fade from the App Catalog.