The long-awaited Palm Mojo Software Development Kit, for building applications for the Palm Pre device and the webOS platform, is now generally available, a Palm blogger said on Thursday.

The kit is available at this Web page to any interested developer, with documentation and Mojo developer forums available also.

"The initial response to Palm webOS apps -- from both developers and customers -- has been enthusiastic," said Jon Zilber, Palm director of online communications, in a blog entry on Thursday. "Even in its initial beta stage, over 1.8 million apps have been downloaded from the beta App Catalog since Palm Pre was released less than six weeks ago. Thousands of developers have participated in the Mojo SDK early access program since it began in early April. New applications are in the pipeline for the Palm App Catalog, and the App Catalog submission process will be opened to all developers beginning this fall."

Although the Palm Pre device itself was released by Sprint on June 6, access to the SDK had been limited. A company representative said late last month that the kit would be out this summer and that widespread access had been held back because software and developer services to support it were not yet ready.

Meanwhile, lack of access to the kit had limited developers interested in building applications for the device. The Pre has been viewed as a competitor to devices such as the Apple iPhone and RIM Blackberry Storm.