Wow! We’ve hit the motherload!  Engadget seems to have gotten ahold of the above photo indicating many popular companies that plan to have WebOS applications "available at or near launch."

Pandora, Electronic Arts, SGN, Craig’s List, Sling Media, DirectTV, Facebook, MySpace, Match.com, Loopt, Twitter, City Search, Zagat, Fandango, Movietickets.com, Lonely Planet, FlightView, NYTimes, AP Mobile, ESPN, Handmark Stocks, Bank of America, Intuit, Epocrates, WebMD, Salesforce.com, Austin Lane, DataViz, Mark/Space

Pandora we’re well aware of having WebOS aspirations.  Their application was highlighted both at CES and CTIA.  We’ve known about Facebook’s deep integration as well as its full fledged Facebook app for a while now and Fandango’s touted application is very looked forward too.  Meanwhile, we’ve always had our rumours and side comments hinting at DataViz’s DocumentsToGo, and a WebOS version of Epocrates.  I guess this helps to further enforce those rumours.

Electronic Arts could bring some interesting games to the platform.  Craig’s List and Match.com seem a bit odd, but to each their own. MySpace integration could be an interesting development, challenging Facebook’s WebOS monopoly. And certainly, many will like that Twitter is making their own app and that Mark/Space is mentioned, given they’re the well-known creators of The Missing Sync.

One particularily odd mention, is that of Sling Media.  They’ve previously said they wouldn’t be developing for the WebOS until the OS proves itself (interestingly the particular post where they say that has since been removed).  Looks like their philosophy has changed and they’ll have an app ready at or near launch.

Personally, I’m quite excited!

Thanks to everyone who sent this in

There was a bit of a bump in the road this past week for preDevCamp.  The story goes something like this.  The preDevCamp guys (@whurley, @giovanni, and @dancrumb) have been asking Palm if they would like to directly support.  So earlier this week, when Palm invited them to a meeting, the trio were more than eager to hear what Palm had to say.

The trio were give the usual non-disclosure agreements (NDA), so that they wouldn’t talk about any super secret Palm secrets they might learn of.  This is where the trouble started.  See, NDAs are like fight club, you don’t talk about them.  Unfortunately, that’s not quite what happened, the team tweeted:

somethin’s a brewin’ - call scheduled 4 wed w/ @palm_inc & @préDevCamp (@whurley, @dancrumb & @giovanni) shhhh….NDA’s involved & all. :-)12:21 PM May 14th from web

Innocent mistake as it was, it seemed to be enough for Palm to claim breaking the NDA and subsequently canceling the meeting.  This is where the confusion started, as it seemed to some that Palm was backing out of any support of preDevCamp.  Whurley, Giovanni, and Dan each wrote their own blog posts on the issue, criticizing Palm’s developer relations.  To that extent, both Whurley and Giovanni backed out of working on preDevCamp and setup an "unregister" button on the preDevCamp website for those who wish to back out as well.  In other words, Palm slipped up a bit and may have seriously hurt their relations with some of their most passionate potential developers.

We at PreCentral.net, wanted to hear both sides of the story, so we contacted Palm who told us the following:

Folks, we’re 100% supportive of preDevCamp and anybody who is interested in developing for webOS.

We just aren’t ready to pull the trigger on everything publicly yet. So it’s tricky for us to navigate around confidentiality and find a way to engage that works for everybody.

But we’re committed to continuing the conversation. Taking the NDA out of the equation was intended to open the door, not close it.

Since then, Palm did come out publicly at their Palm Developer Network Blog, writing:

• Palm supports preDevCamp 100%
• We overreacted to the whole disclosure issue.  We’ve been in stealth and super secret mode for so long now, we needed a real world conversation to see how we needed to work things so everybody can operate in their own environment.
• As messy as it feels right now, the passion of the community is incredibly positive

Furthermore, Lisa Brewster, the developer heading the San Diego preDevCamp, "had a very productive phone call with Pam, @palm’s VP of Dev Mkting" and Giovanni has written a more positive follow-up blog post. Thankfully, it looks as if everything is getting back on track. 

If you think about it, it does make a bit of sense for a loose-knit group like preDevCamp to not operate under NDA — developer communities work best when everybody is allowed to share everything they know in an open and transparent way (as anybody who remembers the @#@%% NDA for the iPhone’s SDK can attest).  Getting inside information is great, obviously, but it’s not as great as a vibrant developer community with real support from the company who makes the OS they’re developing for. That’s the real goal here and by all appearances it’s happening.

We all at PreCentral.net have been conflicted about the whole preDevCamp/Palm brouhaha and it’s disappointing that these miscues happened, but we’re glad to see relations normalized.

Oh, and for those wondering, preDevCamp has been officially scheduled for June 13th.  If you haven’t already, you can still sign-up at predevcamp.org.  Let’s just hope the SDK is out by then or it might be a little anticlimactic, eh?

TheInvisibleMan of PalmPreForum.org has posted up a series of videos of the Palm Pre Emulator.  Obviously not everything here is going to work exactly as it will on the Pre, ex. the emulator doesn’t support multitouch while the Pre itself does.  Still and all, if you’re looking to get your weekend Palm Pre video fix on, this is a good place to start.

Thanks to Mark for the tip!

An anonymous tipster has let us know that he’s received an offer to pre-order the Palm Pre under a one of a few programs Sprint has set up for large, Fortune-100-type corportations.  These programs are often run by intermediary companies, so it’s still unclear whether they’ll get guaranteed stock and whether they’re offering actual pre-orders or the more standard sign-up-to-be-notified type offers.

The order page for IBM doesn’t indicate that it’s a true, you’re gonna get one, kind of Pre-order, but when you get an email that states "We are currently taking Pre Orders for the Palm Pre," it seems promising.  We’ve also heard from an anonymous AIG employee that the custom purchasing site for them also features the Pre quite prominently in a sort of pre-order context, bu again it’s still not entirely clear it’s an actual pre-order.

On the consumer front, we’ve received more than a handful of reports from people who say their local Sprint store managers have taken their names for a waiting list.  Sprint’s official line is that it’ll be a strictly first-come-first-served affair, however, so getting a guaranteed Pre on launch day could be pretty difficult.  It seems clear that there will be lots of different policies store-by-store as different managers try to deal with the massive interest in the Pre.  At least some of our Palm Pre Forum Members have head claims that they’ll be able to pre-order the Pre.

If inventory levels are going to be as thin as the current rumors indicate, we expect that folks will take any angle they can get to grab one.  What’s your launch day plan?

Engadget has snagged an AT&T slide that has the Palm Eos pegged for a second half of 2009 release.  Details are pretty much what we saw before, but it is interesting that the Eos now looks to be using the Qualcomm MSM7225 processor instead of the supercharged Texas Instruments OMAP found on the Pre.  In other words, it’s pretty clear that the Palm Pre is the flagship and the Eos is its small, Centro-inspired cousin. 

Thanks to Mahootzki for the tip!

Wondering what you may have missed this week in the smartphone world? The Best of SPE is here to ease your mind and get you caught up.

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Android Central

As we anxious await the official rollout of Android 1.5 for T-Mobile G1 users, we’re happy to say that if you’re sick of the wait we have instructions for a safe install of cupcake. Meanwhile, the Android Smartphone train keeps on running - though perhaps not quite on time. The Acer A1 should hit in "late 2009," Motorola’s Android smartphone got dubbed "Morrison" and should hit T-Mobile, and the Samsung Galaxy, nee i7500 hits France in July.

CrackBerry.com

The BlackBerry Leak-Machine worked overtime this week as we saw multiple bits of news hit the Internet. The good folks at Engadget got their hands on the BlackBerry Odin (Storm 2), while CrackBerry.com busted out photos of the BlackBerry Aries. Facebook 1.6 is in the works too - you can find a detailed overview here.

Nokia Experts

Nokia Experts continues to be your best source for learning how to use your E71x, from general Q & A to tips and tricks (including getting rid of some annonying AT&T Bloatware) to running Ovi Maps. We’re also looking forward to the US release of the Nokia N97, which may be as early as June for as little as $600 (or less).

PreCentral.net

We were relieved to finally get the release date and price for the Palm Pre. It’s $199 after rebates, available on June 6th. The device is out there in spots, though, as our own forum members grabbed Palm Pre Hands-on time and we first leaked internal Sprint documents detailing the Pre’s Exchange support. Our Palm Pre Forums are a virtual bazaar of opinions about the Pre and help strategizing launch day tactics, too, so head on over and give them a visit!

The iPhone Blog

Pre-WWDC crazy-time continues with leaks — real and imagined — of next-generation iPhone 32GB from T-Mobile Austria, AT&T, Vodafone Australia, and Rogers Canada. Just what specs will this next gen iPhone have? Consensus seems to have been reached, even if rumors about on-device TV and movie downloads aren’t among them… yet.

TiPb also weighs in on iPhone 3.0 vs. Palm Pre — which should you buy? And, yes, more controversy shook the App Store… on both sides. But hey, at least AT&T is considering lowering their data rates, right?

TreoCentral

For those who enjoy reading eBooks on your Treo/Centro, we learned that Fictionwise is having a anniversary sale for turning 9 years old. Celebrate with Fictionwise and save 30% to 50% on every eBook.  Plus, Andre reviewed the Motorola H780 Bluetooth Headset, giving it a 4 out of 5 overall rating.

WMExperts

The long march toward Windows Mobile 6.5 and some new hardware continues. Microsoft’s My Phone sync service moved to an open beta. We got glimpses of the Sprint and Verizon versions of the HTC Touch Pro 2. One of our favorite Twitter clients, Twikini, hit v1.0 (and 1.1). We reviewed the European version of the HTC Touch Diamond 2. The Samsung Epix got a ROM update. Microsoft clarified app sharing in the Marketplace. The Samsung Jack and Touch Diamond 2 made TV appearances. And we gave away an HTC Fuze and Touch Dual.

Derek told us about Sprint holding launch parties for Premier customers on June 5th, but they won’t be happening in every city.

Well, looks like some Sprint stores that aren’t having launch parties are still going to be staying open late on June 5th and will be selling the Pre. Forum member midmofan (and Fyremn76 too) let us know in this thread that he had spoken to someone at a local Sprint store and found out that the store wasn’t near any of the cities that are having Pre launch parties, but the store was going to stay open until midnight on June 5th to unload their Pre Phones. The person in that particular store said that she knew of no restriction to only sell on the 5th to Premiere customers.

Forum member kmod called his local Sprint corporate store and was told:

[...] The associate said that they weren’t having a party but would have extended hours the day before launch. She then said if you signed up on Sprint.com to be notified about the Pre, you will get an email from Sprint to come in and buy the Pre on June 5th, and you needed this email in hand to buy the phone on 6/5. I then asked if this was only a Premiere customer thing and she said no, it’s open to everyone that signed up online. Hope this is true!

pogeypetey also started a thread about Sprint stores selling the Pre on the 5th. There seems to be some confusion about whether or not one has to be a Premiere customer in order to snag a Pre on the 5th though. Some people have heard that you do and some are hearing that it’s first come, first served.

Have any of you gotten emails after signing up at Sprint to be notified about the Pre? Is your local Sprint store going to be open late on June 5th and selling Pre’s even though they aren’t having official launch parties? Let us know.

Also, there is a Poll in the threads where you can vote: Sprint Premier Customers- Received an invite for June 5th?   So far, 92.73% have NOT gotten their invites, and 7.27% have.

Update: A tipster lets us know that the aforementioned Premier Customer launch parties are meant for Premier Customers only and apparently there will only be 10 of them nationwide.

As Dieter mentioned Tuesday when he reported that the Pre will be released on June 6th, it’ll be at Best Buy stores along with Sprint Stores, Radio Shack, and Wal-Mart. And Derek let us know that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told shareholders at in investors conference on Tuesday that there will probably be a shortage of Pres for awhile.

Boy Genius Report got word from their ninjas that there will only be about 4,250 Palm Pres available for Best Buy stores on launch day on June 6th. And since there are around 1,000 Best Buy locations that’ll be selling the Pre, that leaves around 4 Pres per store.

The latest rumor is that Best Buy Mobile’s own Pre launch guide lays out a two-stage launch: Phase 1 will be from June to July where inventory will be extremely low and marketing will be minimal, and Phase 2 will be in late July or early August when the inventory of the Pre is expected to increase.

It also appears that RadioShack will have thin inventory as well, BGR guesses 721 stores with about 2 Pres per store.

Update: Looks like Best Buy is also giving away Palm Pre Phones.

Over at our sister site The iPhone Blog, our pal Rene has written up an excellent article entitled "iPhone 3.0 vs. Palm Pre: Which One Should You Buy?"

The article takes a very fair and unbiased look at both smartphones, giving you the pros and cons of each. Rene talks about the pros and cons of the keyboard, network, cloud support, ecosystem, and apps.

Those of you reading this have most likely already chosen the Palm Pre of course. But for those on the fence, Rene’s article will give you lots of insight into how the Pre and the iPhone 3.0 both have particular strengths and weaknesses.

We, of course, fall into the camp that believes both products can coexist peacefully - but that doesn’t mean what we’re above pointing out how much we enjoy true multitasking on a smartphone.

Curious to know what Sprint is telling their own about the Palm Pre?  Come on in and take a look from this leaked PDF sent in to us by a couple of very friendly tipsters.  There’s very little you don’t already know if you’re a Pre-fanatic (including what plans work, Exchange suport, etc).  We are pleased to say that there will be support for Cisco Unified Messaging and a heap of WiFi security protocols: EAP-TLS, PEAP v1/v2, EAP-TTLS, EAP-FAST, and and LEAP.

We’re also happy to see that Sprint is following AT&T’s lead and doing some head-to-heads of their very own, as you can see in the image above.  We can also confirm that until you set up your Palm Profile, the Pre won’t work at all.  You’ll also need to accept Google Mobile’s terms of service in order to get GPS services working properly.  Multiple Exchange accounts are a go with full push support and the ability to search through Global Addresses on the server - but inviting attendees isn’t up yet. 

We have the skinny on some accessories and just who Sprint is targeting the Pre towards.  Plus, you SERO-hopefuly probably won’t want to see the plan details slide, we’re just saying.

Read on for more shots from the document. (Update: How about a third source?  It’s up in full in our forums and plenty of discussion of the details there to boot!)

Thanks anonymous tipsters!

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