PALM ANNOUCES THE WEBOS DEVELOPER PROGRAM

Palm will join the ranks of Apple's App Store and Android's Market with the opening of it's webOS developer program in December and it's Palm App Catalog. WebOS runs on the Palm pre and Pixi devices.  Palm will split revenues with developers 70/30 of app sales with developers receiving the 70% of the payout.  Annual developers fee has a cost of $99 that allows developers two options for getting their app to the consumer:

1. Web distribution, where developers receive a unique URL, and developers are able to promote their applications online.  With this method apps go through a speedy self certification process to allow for quick distribution and feedback.

2. Palm App Catalog distribution.  Similar to Windows Marketplace for Mobile, the App Store and the Android Market, applications will be reviewed by Palm after a $50 per app fee, and once approved available for download in the catalog.  Developers will also have the opportunity to use an auction process to gain better app exposure in the App Catalog.

Palm has also stated they will waive the $99 developer program fee for those who wish to distribute open source apps to the web.  WebOS apps should gain speed fairly quickly seeing as though the OS is built on HTML, Javascript and CSS; reducing the need for developers to learn a new programming language.  Nevertheless Palm still has a long way to go to catch up with Apple's some 35,000 apps in their App Store.