UPDATED: preDevCamp (not) deserted by Palm

Thursday, 21 May 2009 Ken Young

PreDevCamp logo

After months and months of build-up and anticipation, less than two weeks from the release of the Palm Pre, it seems preDevCamp is finally going to happen--with a fizzle instead of a bang. The founders of preDevCamp, Dan, Giovani and whurley have each posted their experiences dealing with Palm to their personal websites, and the stories aren't motivational. It seems that either due to lack of foresight, internal bumbling or both, Palm has conveyed enough disinterest in preDevCamp to motivate the three founders to invest their time pursuing other interests instead of continuing to rally hundreds of cities and developers to the webOS platform.

Read about their experiences here:

Giovanni: “Palm doesn’t get it”
Whurley: “Exit Whurley Stage Left”
Dan: “preDevCamp - Palm’s missed opportunity”

While they will be leaving the technical infrastructure supporting the camps intact, there will no longer be a central organizing force behind the event, meaning many of the camps may find themselves without leadership or direction. Any orphaned developers without a camp that are interested in continuing their webOS education are welcome to join the growing developer community here at www.webOShelp.net. There are many members in the forums who are actively developing applications for the platform, and we expect to see many more when the SDK is released.

Update: It seems that contrary to the founders' beliefs, Palm is still interested in supporting preDevCamp after all. Lisa Brewster, organizer of the San Diego preDevCamp has been busy talking with Pam Deziel, Palm's VP of Developer Marketing, who has also been in touch with founder Dan Rumney since the apparent parting of ways, with encouraging results. We'll keep tabs on how things progress and post updates here as they come in.

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KenCorbettJr makes this comment

Thursday, 21 May 2009

Too bad. I was excited for the possibilities of preDevCamp 2009, but its true without the SDK, what would we be meeting to discuss as developers?? I don't know why they are delaying the release of the SDK. A couple of news articles have surfaced which are saying that it is really up to us developers to determine the fate of the palm pre. If so many people are saying that Palm needs to cater to us developers to succeed, why the delay?

But I agree Ken, the site you maintain here at www.webOShelp.net is the best site I've found for developers who plan to develop for the webOS platform. Your tutorials and up to date news items are excellent. Keep up the good work!
Atif makes this comment

Thursday, 21 May 2009

This is all very unfortunate...but I'm glad we have this site!
shutton makes this comment

Thursday, 21 May 2009

Aside from viral marketing schemes, you really have to wonder, "why the secrecy?" Secrecy is Apple's game, and the world already has its Apple (disclaimer: I *like* Apple stuff -- but I was a Palm geek first). We really don't need any more copycats.

Either something really great is being held back, or something really wrong is is going on. Sadly, I'm starting to assume the former, especially with today's rumors that a paltry-few units will be available at launch.

All that said, I'll still probably find myself in line for one on the 6th regardless. Despite all the silly secrecy (which, for the record, I will buy into the moment I sign an NDA $:\$ ), it's still probably the best device I've seen demoed in the last decade. Not to mention that I've been hyping it up to my co-workers for months, and would lose face if I didn't show up with one on that Monday

-Scott
Lisa Brewster makes this comment

Thursday, 21 May 2009

I'm the preDevCamp organizer for San Diego. I had a call with Pam Deziel, Palm's VP of Developer Marketing tonight, and I can assure you that they have NOT deserted us. But they are unfortunately limited in what information they can provide for the time being. No community manager wants to work in that kind of situation, especially with a community as eager as ours, but that's the way it is for Palm until the phone is actually released. Pam was very eager to know what we need to have a successful event, and I expect to have their full co-operation going forward. It just needs to be a bit more on their terms than whurley, Giovanni, and Dan anticipated.

I know this is the same thing you've heard for months, but great things are coming, and preDevCamp is going to be awesome. Have faith!
Atif makes this comment

Friday, 22 May 2009

The San Diego preDevCamp will be great...or all of them? And isn't Pam yet another/different Palm official getting involved in this? Whatever the situation it still sounds like the various Palm employees are NOT on the same page with regards to the preDevCamp

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