Are Whurley, Dan Rumney & Giovanni Organizing "iPhone Killaz"? You Decide
February 23, 2009
What would it take to ensure the iPhone is not the smart phone of choice among the world's geeks? How about a phone with a big screen, and easy to use interface, and a QWERTY keyboard to boot? How about a platform that just about any developer can build functionality for? The Palm Pre will have all of this, so three guys from Texas decided they would organize a big gang of developers around the world to build applications for it. What is big? 60 cities and counting globally, and the Pre isn't even out yet. With those sorts of odds, don't be surprised if your Pre allows you to teleport around the world soon ;-).
I spoke with Whurley , Giovanni and Dan Rumney about PreDevCamp. Thus far, I'm pretty sure their global gang of developers do not have gang colors or a sign yet, but don't be surprised if you see them emerge.
If you like cell phones at all and want more options on the market, read on:
MICHELLE:
Palm really hasn't been a major
player in the phone space in some time. Why did you decide to
start building for the Pre? Why should geeks put their faith in
it?
DAN:
As the saying
goes: past performance is no indicator of future success, and it cuts
both ways. With the Pre and webOS, Palm could have a real winner here.
By moving away from the complex environments of Objective C and Java,
Palm has opened up the world of mobile app development to a huge audience.
Coupled with the sensible combination of touch screen and a *real* keyboard,
I think the Pre is something that geeks the world over can get excited
about.
GIOVANNI:
I've always
been a Palm fan. As a user, I've used several Windows mobile devices,
a couple Palm Treos, a couple Blackberrys, and now the iPhone.
From what I've seen so far, Palm has created a device that marries the
best of all of these products. I'm a big fan of the iPhone, but I still
haven't gotten used to the screen-based keyboard. The Blackberry doesn't
have the interface I want, and Palm, Blackberry and Windows mobile have
always been, at best inconvenient to use on the Mac, and at worst a
total failure. Here's to hoping that the Palm experience is pleasant
on the Mac!
WHURLEY:
In the end
Palm needs geeks to put their faith in the Pre. In the smart phone wars,
whoever has the largest, most active, developer network is going to
win, because consumers want apps. When I started brainstorming with
@Giovanni and @DanCrumb we had so much fun playing “What if . . .
?” that we decided to up the ante. Take on the challenge of resurrecting
Palm’s Developer Network from the dead, just because we can.
MICHELLE:
Sprint phones are generally one
step above two tin cans tied together with a string technologically,
yet they are launching the Palm Pre. Does this mean smart phones
will finally be mainstream?
WHURLEY:
Sprint’s
not doing too well. In fact, they’re probably in worse shape than
Palm’s Developer Network. I do think that Sprint’s involvement and
Palm’s alleged strategy to be on every carrier by 2010 are signs that
smart phones are a big wave. Better, faster, and cheaper make things
pervasive and we’re starting to see the market heading in the right
direction.
DAN:
In order for smart
phones to go mainstream, they need to appeal to everyone, not just tech
fanboys. When I was talking to my mum about the Pre and preDevCamp the
other day, she asked me what apps were. As I explained them to her,
she started throwing out ideas for new apps (really *good* ideas a that!).
Once people like my mum start to understand what applications can do
for them, smart phones will go mainstream.
GIOVANNI:
I don't agree
with idea that smart phones aren't mainstream. Maybe you should be asking
whether Sprint it is now going to be mainstream. While I used
to do some light development for mobile platforms, I don't pretend to
be an expert in the space. My involvement here is more centered around
being a technology and community evangelist. That being said, from where
I stand Palm seems to be taking a big gamble using Sprint as its first
service provider. The pundits seem to be openly questioning that decision.
I'll withhold judgment and report back after I test out the network.
MICHELLE:
iPhone app developers can make
serious bank. Why should developers come out on a weekend and
build apps for the Pre for free?
WHURLEY:
True, but
there are a ton of people who can’t program in Objective C. Palm’s
lowered the barriers to creating apps. If you know HTML and some basic
scripting, you’re good to go. That’ll entice people who’ve never
had the opportunity to develop for a smart phone to design creative
original apps.
GIOVANNI:
The key word
in your question is "can." Not all iPhone developers, in fact
most iPhone developers, aren't running around cashing checks left and
right because they have some fancy new application in the iTunes store.
For the pre developers, the equation's the same as for iPhone developers.
You make money when you build an app on a device that is useful to thousands
or millions of people. There's no reason why iPhone or Windows Mobile
developers shouldn't be developing for the pre also; especially in this
economy.
DAN:
For the karmic
high. Development done well is development done collaboratively. Palm
has always been proud of their community of developers, but they've
been neglectful of late. preDevCamp will be the opportunity to revive
and revitalize this community and it's the opportunity to be able to
say "I was there, at the beginning". If you're in it for the
bucks, that's great, there'll be plenty more apps to develop once preDevCamp
is over.
MICHELLE:
How many cities are currently signed
up to build apps for the Pre and how are you keeping up with contributors?
WHURLEY:
We’ve got
hundreds of developers in over 50 cities on board with no access to
the product, no developer guidelines, and no support for Palm or Sprint.
Once the SDK and the release date of the phone are available, those
numbers should swell. This could be one of the biggest events
of its kind ever. As far as keeping up with contributions the real challenge
will be all of the code the various camps will develop. GitHub is one
of our sponsors, and we’re using them to manage all of the collaborative
development.
DAN:
Any figure we’d
give you today will be out of date tomorrow. We've been growing every
single day since we started this whole thing. We've been keeping up
with everyone through http://predevcamp.org, email and Twitter (@predevcamp).
Each city has a specific site such as http://austin.predevcamp.org as
well as a central discussion forum for people to exchange ideas.
MICHELLE:
Unconferences can be a bit unorganized.
What advice do you give to organizers in each city in order to increase
the effectiveness of their PreDevCamps, both leading to and during the
event?
WHURLEY:
Giovanni has
been handling our out reach so that we have a central contact for sponsors,
etc. Meanwhile, Dan and I have built a backend that gives each organizer
a set of tools, including an individual city site (which they control),
a blog, a registration management system, tentative agendas and session
schedules, and most importantly, a forum where anyone can discuss ideas
about the event. Openness and our willingness to surrender control are
driving preDevCamp’s success.
GIOVANNI:
First, I
recommend making sure that you have one individual who clearly defined
person is the ringleader. For preDevCamp, this person is whurley. At
each local event, one person should be designated to be in this role
as well. During the event if attendees get out of hand, the organizer
and volunteers should be equipped with tasers to use as they see fit
on unruly nerds or for entertainment purposes.
MICHELLE:
Could non-coders such as myself
or companies request or even pay for applications to be built?
I would actually love a map application that actually showed the fastest
route, which the iPhone map app does poorly *hint*.
WHURLEY:
Everyone can
play a role in preDevCamp. However, paying for an app? That’s between
you and the developers. With the economy in the crapper, I’m sure
a ton of devvies will be trolling for opportunities. Some people see
the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an iPhone-like market.
Remember, preDevCamp isn’t as much about the code as it is about the
community. It’s purposefully inclusive, and everyone has an opportunity
to participate regardless of their development chops.
DAN:
Absolutely! We'd
also love to see non-coders at preDevCamp to test the apps that people
make and provide feedback on functions and interfaces. Much like good
development is collaborative, it's also reciprocating; with developers
and users communicating throughout the whole process to ensure that
what comes out, is what people want to use.
GIOVANNI:
There's no
reason why not. For non-coders to be involved in an event like this,
I recommend that you bring something of value to the table. This could
be any number of things. It could be volunteering, sponsorship or an
offer to share a skill you have that a coder does not. If organizers
want to have truly unique, useful applications come out of their event
I recommend that they have a contest or some way for non-coders to contribute
to the product, project recommendation process.
MICHELLE:
The Palm Pre obviously is not out
yet, so PreDevCamp has no date set. What is the best way for people
to keep up with both the Pre and with PreDevCamp's progress?
WHURLEY
They can follow
preDevCamp or the founders (@whurley, @giovanni, @dancrumb) on Twitter,
or subscribe to the RSS feed on http://predevcamp.org.
GIOVANNI:
The easiest
way is to go to the website http://predevcamp.org. To keep up
with faster moving news and ideas I recommend following our twitter
stream at http://twitter.com/predevcamp.
MICHELLE:
The iPhone is currently dominating
the market. Are you guys going to end up being the “iPhone Killaz”?
WHURLEY:
Rumors abound.
In the minds of many we’re resurrecting the dead, here. While the
thought of a zombie developer network at our disposal is stimulating,
I think some folks are tired of the iPhone and AT&T. Competition’s
a great thing, and I think the Pre’s going to be the first real competition
the iPhone has seen. We’ll see what happens once the Pre hits the
street, but customers can only benefit if we break the iPhone’s chokehold
on the market.
MICHELLE:
It sounds like people can be part of something very revolutionary here. How
do people get involved in helping resurrect Palm’s developer network
and bring true competition to the market (and loosen the Apple and AT&T
stranglehold on innovation in Smartphones)?
GIOVANNI:
Here’s
the 411 on preDevCamp:
preDevCamp is an upcoming
not-for-profit gathering to develop applications for Palm Pre using
both the Mojo SDK and traditional web standards. The event is currently
being planned in over 60 cities around the world.
Dates: 1 week after the US release of the Palm Pre
Venue: See individual city sites for venues and related updates.
Registration: A system has been put in place so that registrations are broken down by city. Please see your city to register.
The event inspired by BarCamp, SuperHappyDevHouse, and MacHack, and the original iPhoneDevCamp to develop applications (local and web based) for the Palm Pre using the Mojo development SDK.
Attendees will include
mobile developers, web developers, UI designers, and testers, all working
together over the weekend. Development projects will include both solo
and team efforts. While some attendees will wish to work solo during
the event, we encourage attendees to team up, based on expertise, to
work in ad-hoc project development teams. All attendees should be prepared
to work on a development project during the event.
Attendees will be able to:
* Create new applications for the Palm Pre.
* Migrate existing mobile and Linux based applications to the Palm Pre.
* Test and optimize applications for the Palm Pre.
The organizers of preDevCamp are @whurley, @giovanni, and @dancrumb.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
interesting. the more phones available the better it is for us (consumers). but more headaches for developers. i am in anticipation of what the palm will do in the next couple of months.
i find it funny in the video that he didn't edit out the numbers that were calling him. i wonder if anyone watching the video called the number that popped up on the screen.
Posted by: Will Tran | February 24, 2009 at 11:17 AM