The Blog of Frank W. Zammetti

Over at PreCentral.net, there was a recent post talking about the app install limit most Pre owners, including me, have encountered.  I thought the post summed up my own thoughts pretty well.  In the feedback on the post, there were suggestions to let Palm know what we’re thinking on this matter, and I felt compelled to do so.  As someone who likes their Pre overall quite a bit, and as an author writing about webOS, and as a developer with an eye towards making some money on the platform soon, it’s a big concern for me.

I thought folks might be interested to see what I submitted to Palm via their feedback page.  I absolutely encourage anyone else with an interest in this to do the same, but of course, be respectful!  It never advances the cause if you “get loud” on companies.

That being said, here’s what I wrote (in typical author form, it’s wordier than it probably needed to be!)…

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Hello.  Let me start by saying I think you guys have done a fantastic job with webOS and the Pre thus far.  I’ve seen almost nothing but good things coming from Palm of late!  In fact, I am in the final stages of writing my book on webOS development for the Pre (scheduled for release this December) and I have become more and more excited with the platform as that process has progressed.  I use my Pre on a daily basis and definitely love it!

When the book is complete, I have quite a few applications planned that I anticipate can bring some revenue my way, not to mention make webOS more attractive to end users.  However, there is a massive gorilla in the room at the moment, a hurdle that I’m looking at and thinking “oh boy, this could be a deal-breaker”.  I’m referring to the application install limit.

As I understand it, the /var partition where applications are installed is sized to 253Mb.  I know that in my case, this amounts to ~30 applications installed.  Unfortunately, there are at least a dozen more I really want installed, but I simply can’t.  This represents a huge problem for me.

I understand that a lot of the issue comes down to how developers design their applications.  Those that have large data sets that don’t “live in the cloud”, or those that don’t make efficient use of compression techniques (CSS sprites and image optimization for example) make the situation worse.  That being said, 253Mb seems to me to be far too small a space for the amount of applications I believe a typical user would want to have installed.

Especially having coming from a WinMo background where I could install apps to my spacious 8Gb memory card, it’s an unacceptable limitation.

I understand there are security considerations, and especially as a developer with an eye on making money on the webOS platform, I’m in agreement with that generally.  I’ve sold WinMo applications in the past, and I also know that those applications were pirated along the way.  It’s always debatable whether that sort of activity really costs someone in my position sales, and I’m very strongly against copy protection that inconveniences customers in any way, shape or form.  But, simply installing applications to a hidden partition that isn’t (easily) accessible, especially when the user doesn’t really know or care about that, seems perfectly fine to me.

Except that the user DOES effectively know about it as soon as that “not enough space” alert popups up trying to install a new app.

Palm has followed the Apple model by, conceptually at least, mimicking the “there’s an app for that” motto.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with that model, but it does necessitate a very high limit on the number and size of applications that can be installed.  I view this limitation as it currently stands as the single biggest detriment to the long-term success of the webOS platform and I believe it *NEEDS* to be your #1 priority above all others.

It is a bit bizarre to me to see Palm spending time and resources constantly re-enabling iTunes sync, a feature I firmly believe most end users don’t care much about, instead of  fundamental limitation like this.  Especially given the advent of paid apps in the App Catalog, I think Palm is setting itself up for a huge failure by not addressing this issue ASAP.  I know I personally could care less about iTunes sync, and while I completely understand if your market research indicates otherwise and you therefore think it deserves attention, that’s fine with me, but I think it’s a real mistake if that is ever prioritized over addressing this limitation.

Obviously, if a fix is in the works already then by all mans, ignore this entirely   However, if that is the case, please take my recommendation and make that work public knowledge as quickly as possible!  One of the things I’ve liked about what Palm has done over the past few months is there has been a good feeling of transparency overall.  You guys seem to very much “get it” in terms of communicating with your customers and especially the developer community.  I know that during the course of writing my book I’ve been very fortunate to get some help from some Palm employees that, without a doubt, made it possible for me to even start the book.  For the most part, we know what you’re thinking and doing all the time, which is great, and in stark contrast to some other companies I could name.  You’ve built up some good will to be sure, and I for one want to see that continue.  Obviously we don’t expect or need to know every nuance of your plans as customers *OR* developers, but on something like this, where there’s no competitive advantage to be concerned with giving away, it can only help the good-will that you currently enjoys from us Pre owners and developers to continue.

In conclusion: thank you for a great product in the Pre, I love the direction you’re going with webOS, but please don’t overlook this, in my opinion, very significant problem!  Palm has shown a lot of forethought and intelligence, and I think it’s fair to call it a resurgence in the relevance of your company, but I firmly believe this is an issue that has the potential to derail your efforts ultimately, to at least some degree.  If a fix is on the way, please let us know that!  Declare it from the rooftops as loudly as you can!  If one is NOT on the way, please, adjust your priority list and move this straight to the top ASAP!

Thank you very much,
Frank

Frank W. Zammetti
Author of “Practical Palm Pre webOS Projects” (coming 12/2009)
and “Practical Ext JS Projects with Gears”
and “Practical Dojo Projects”
and “Practical DWR 2 Projects”
and “Practical JavaScript, DOM Scripting and Ajax Projects”
and “Practical Ajax Projects with Java Technology”
(For info: apress.com/book/search?searchterm=zammetti&act=search)
All you could possibly want is here: zammetti.com