VERIZON TO PARTNER WITH QUALCOMM, RIM, MICROSOFT ON FORTHCOMING APP STORE

Yesterday, during a conference it hosted in San Jose for mobile application developers, Verizon Wireless announced both its developer portal and its forthcoming V Cast Apps Mobile application storefront. According to Verizon, the storefront will debut by the year's end.

According to the guys over at Phonescoop, Verizon plans on partnering with Qualcomm, Blackberry's RIM and Microsoft, and it will work to compliment those companies' existing application storefronts with cross-promotion between all the aforementioned companies. Verizon will also continue its relationship with Qualcomm and its BREW application platform for mobile devices.

According to Verizon, they plan on making the application submission process "simple, fast, and straightforward" with a simple agreement process, 14-day testing and certification protocol, and developer price setting. Developers will not be charged for submissions and will split revenue with the carrier, with 70 percent going to developers and 30 percent to Verizon.

The company said it would launch a new application contest called "Apply Your Ideas," next month, which will give the winners promotional priority on V CAST APPS.