Palm has rocked the mobile application developers world with the introduction of a new, browser-based development environment for mobile applications. They’re calling it the Project Ares and today is the first day of its beta test for mobile Web applications developers. In the words of long-time commentator Mike Cane, “What Palm has done here is as significant as what Blogger originally did for website creation.” In my view, it is the realization of an easily accessible, visual interface for creating mobile Web apps.

Quoting the description on the Ares Web site:

Ares is the first complete set of integrated mobile development tools hosted entirely in the browser. It features a drag-and-drop interface builder, a robust code editor, a visual debugger, and built-in source control integration. Ares dramatically lowers the barriers for web developers to jump into mobile development and makes building webOS apps even easier and faster than before.

I’m still very unclear about the implication across multiple platforms and devices (meaning non-WebOS), but note that the “App versus WAP” debate is being mooted by the indisputable trend toward Web-based delivery content, media and executable routines that are every bit as dynamic and interactive as a downloadable application.

Categories: Articles