Palm drops its app developer fee

Palm just gave its application developers a little present: It killed its app submission fee and is going to refund those fees paid previously.

Previously, app developers had to pay $50 to have the honor of seeing if Palm wanted to accept their apps. Neither the iPhone nor Android platforms have such fees. As Palm's share in the smartphone market has declined steadily, iPhone and Android have climbed.

LAS VEGAS - MARCH 24: A Palm Pre Plus phone (L) and a Palm
Pixi Plus phone are displayed at the International CTIA Wireless 2010
convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center March 24, 2010 in Las
Vegas, Nevada. CTIA is the international association for the wireless
telecommunications industry. AT&T and Palm announced at the show
that the two Palm webOS phones will be available on the AT&T network
with a two-year service agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty
Images)

Both of the latter have extremely healthy app stores (particularly iPhone) and if a developer is going to have to pay a fee to be considered for inclusion in a declining platform or submit for free to the two biggest smartphone platforms out there.

Though Hewlett-Packard has indicated it's not interested in making the Palm a major player in the smartphone market again, this would seem to be a move in that direction. Or, at least, treading water.
Tags:  Android, Mobile, iPhone, HP, App, Palm