Palm Gets Its Own App Store

Yesterday, we learned a little bit about Palm’s upcoming Nova OS and the first family of devices that will use Nova. After partnering with PocketGear, Palm now has an app store of its own to help the platform compete with the likes of Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry line of devices. This store has over 5,000 apps, 1,000 of which are free. Of course, all of the apps run on Palm OS. (There is a separate shopping app for Palm devices that run Windows Mobile.)

The mobile software store supports over 25 Palm devices, so if you’re a current Centro, Treo, or Treo Pro owner, you might want to head on over to appstore.pocketgear.com/palm and check it out for yourself. Once you’ve selected the perfect app, coupon code SHOPMOBILE at checkout to receive 25% off your first download. The code is good through January 31st, so you’ll have a little time if the holidays have you booked.

As you’ll see from the Palm Software Store link above, developers can get in on this action, as well by selling their titles through Palm’s mobile software store. We’re encouraged by this, as it should prove to be a great way for Palm to expand its app store.

Right now, the mobile software store comes by means of a free application that you must install on your phone. After clicking the icon from the main page, you’ll be given the option to download a file to install using your PC, send the app directly to your phone, or have it emailed to you. We’re hoping future versions of the store (say for Nova) will be integrated from the factory, giving users a seamless shopping experience.

If Palm can pull things together and deliver a killer device running on an intuitive and attractive OS, complete with a full app store with plenty of options, the company may be a keeper after all.