Palm Opens Up to Developers

Palm, realizing that the difference between 85,000 apps in the App Store, 10,000 apps in the Android Marketplace, and 100 apps in the App Catalog may be a lot of Palm Pre sales, has decided to spur application development and approval in a much more open manner than, say, the iPhone App Store does.

As opposed to requiring submission to the App Catalog, along with a lengthy approval process, as with the App Store, Palm will allow developers to do self-certification, certifying that their app meets the Palm User Interface Guidelines and Palm Application Content Criteria. When submitted as such, developers will receive a unique URL they can use in any way they wish. Users who click on the URL will get the app, over-the-air.

Why not just allow developers to use their own URL? Well, of course, there's an obvious reason.  Consumers who download via that URL are monetized (for Palm). There's a 70/30 split, developer to Palm, for webOS apps.



If instead the developer wants to be in the App Catalog, Palm will charge them $50 for every application listed, and the company must approve the applications, naturally. Developers will also be able to bid for priority placement in the catalog using an auction system.

Palm also stated on Monday that they will waive the $99 developer account fee for developers creating open-source apps.