The lingering threat from Apple and its touchscreen patents doesn't seem to be slowing down Palm as it gears up for the Pre's release, concentrating its efforts now on gathering support from software developers. If Palm is to compete on the same level as Apple and Google, it must deliver an online store to rival the App Store and Android Market, because as impressive as the phone looks, it's going to need a solid software library to draw long-term interest. Palm is working with developers now to get them started writing software, hosting a conference call yesterday to explain some technical details of the phone's webOS system, prepping them to begin coding.

Palm is trying to entice developers by playing up the ease at which it claims they'll be able to pick up the webOS platform and start crafting apps. Specifically, the company is expecting that its use of JavaScript as the main language, with CSS to handle layout, should allow it to reach more potential coders than Apple or Google have been able to. JavaScript and CSS are heavily used to create websites, meaning there are an awful lot of people out there with experience working with them. While JavaScript might not be the most powerful language — and Palm admits it may need to come up with a faster, low-level way for developers to run code if it ever expects gaming to take off — it should suffice for most of the simple applications you'd expect to find on a smartphone.

One other big thing Palm has going for it is the planned Flash support. If there's one way to add a ton of content to a smartphone all at once, it's enabling full compatibility with Adobe Flash. Adobe has committed to releasing Flash 10 for Palm phones sometime next year. While it'll miss the Pre's release date, that future Flash support should help give Palm a fighting chance against Apple. Of course, that's assuming Apple doesn't sue it into oblivion first.

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