When Apple revealed its upcoming App Store at the March 6 event in Cupertino, Steve Jobs, the company's CEO, announced that developers accepted for its iPhone Developer Program would be able to choose to release free apps. Don't worry, that hasn't changed. Apple is, however, encouraging devs to slap a price on those apps.

AppleInsider reveals that when devs enlist for the iPhone Developer Program, Apple assigns them a liaison. It provides recommendations, but also gathers plan overviews on application development. Currently, these liaisons are asking developers to consider a paid version of their applications. In simpler words: a full, purchasable game, and a free demo (AppleInsider says: a "lite" version or a "trial period").

The move isn't surprising nor wrong, but it is aggressive, voices on the Internet claim. Steve himself told folks attending his iPhone Software Roadmap presentation at Town Hall that they would take a mere 30 percent of app sales for hosting and servicing, leaving the rest of the earnings (70 percent) to the developers.

Imagine what would happen if all iPhone developers were to wake up today and say "That's it! I don't care if I starve to death, I'm not going to force anyone into paying for my stupid game." Apple would be stuck with a service constantly needing to be maintained, and it would have to do so by paying from its own pocket.

Luckily, even the most generous developers like the concept of money. I'd say at least 10 percent of them were told by their mothers "It'd be nice if you could do this for a living," as they sat in front of their computers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So, there's always the urge to make your mom proud, if Apple's liaison fails to impress.

Apple, nevertheless, holds its position that developers can roll out free apps if they choose. iPod touch users, however, will have to pay a fee just to update to firmware v2.0 to get the App Store feature.