Hewlett-Packard (HP) has moved to kick-start developer activity around the new version of its webOS platform, announcing that the webOS 3.0 SDK developer beta is now available for download. This latest release is the first specifically targeted at the HP TouchPad (pictured), the firm’s first tablet due for launch this summer, as well as future webOS-based smartphones. “We want to make sure you have time to make great apps ready for this exciting platform,” the firm said on its developer blog. “Developing for webOS now puts you in a position to deliver innovative apps to potentially millions of devices every year.” 

The 3.0 SDK is available to developers in HP’s ‘Early Access’ programme. HP inherited the webOS operating system as part of its acquisition of Palm last year.

The firm cited a number of new features on version 3.0: a new framework called Enyo that “supports new and future webOS form factors”; the ability to leverage core webOS features such as Just Type, Synergy and Exhibition; reference for new UI components, layouts and application examples; and “helpful guidance on app structuring, design and navigation for TouchPad.”

HP plans to build webOS into a “leading connectivity platform.” In a statement recently it noted: “HP already has a globally distributed installed base in both the consumer and enterprise, and ships two printers and PCs a second, which will be webOS enabled – this huge, growing installed base of devices provides enormous opportunity upon which to build HP-, customer- and ecosystem-driven innovation.” Specifically, HP said it has the potential to deliver 100 million webOS-enabled devices a year, adding that it will “build a robust developer community that is eager to access every segment of the market and every corner of the globe.”