HP Developer Relations and Framework Engineer Ben Combee has confirmed via his Twitter account that apps built on the older Mojo framework for the first generation of webOS devices will still be able to run under webOS 3 via emulator with dedicated back and forward buttons for each card in place of the dedicated hardware gesture area, but the emulation will not extend towards total emulation of webOS 1.4. This implies that each app will run under its own virtual space.
As the Palm TouchPad will be the first device released with webOS 3 later this year, many developers are concerned with the availability and compatibility of legacy webOS 1.4 applications on later versions of the software and new devices such as the Pre 2 running webOS 2.0, along with the Veer and Pre 3 which are both shipping with webOS 2.2 later this year.
This follows previous confirmation that the first generation of webOS hardware will not be updated to webOS 2.0 and higher due to a desire to focus on new products and devices based on more powerful hardware and loss of development time as a result of the purchase of Palm by HP last year, despite promising the update as recently as last November.
