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Palm has already pushed out an update of webOS, the software running on the Palm Pre, as well as offered developers some news regarding the availability of the software developer kit for webOS.
Palm is looking to keep customers happy and interest alive while it hurries to replenish stocks, after the Pre’s successful debut on June 6.
Regarding the operating system update, Palm Pre users received a message on their devices that stated: “Palm webOS 1.0.3 is now available. It’s about 13MB. We’ll download it over the next couple of days when your device is idle and a high speed network is available. You’ll be notified when the update is ready to install.”
The updates to the operating system reportedly include changes to the calendar, such as making Google events on the phone sync with Google online; to the clock, including creating a weekday-only alarm; to contacts, including syncing changes to Google contacts with Google online; and changes to email, including enhancing power performance in areas where wireless coverage is weak or unavailable.
During a “Meet the Palm Pre” event Sprint hosted on Facebook on June 18 – which had 6,375 confirmed attendees and more than 4,000 Facebook users possibly attending – it was clear from the hundreds of questions posted that, while generally enjoying their smartphones, many users were already looking forward to updates, changes and new applications.
On June 19, Chuq Von Rospach posted on the Palm Developer Network blog that Palm knows developers are anxious to get access to the SDK and start developing for webOS, but that “the software and the developer services to support it just aren’t ready yet.”
Von Rospach went on to say that Palm’s goal is to make the SDK available by the end of the summer, and that beginning immediately Palm will accelerate the growth of the early access program and work to grow it to thousands of developers in the next few weeks.
Simultaneously, he said, “we’ll begin publishing more content outside the early access program, and we’ll launch new confidentiality rules that will allow early Mojo developers to communicate more freely with the rest of the world.”
Trusted Reviews has reported that, despite only 30 applications currently being available in the Pre’s App Catalog, Palm says that more than 700,000 downloads have been made.
In its first weekend of sales, Palm sold nearly 50,000 Pre smartphones – a success that nearly depleted supplies in the U.S., but one dwarfed by the 1 million iPhone 3G S devices competitor Apple sold in the first three days of the new iPhone’s availability.