Sunnyvale-based mobile phone maker Palm has announced today that it plans on opening the doors for its Palm webOS developer program as soon as December 2009. According to the company, its program is meant to offer developers choices to deliver their apps to the market, while also providing them with the possibility to control the marketing of their businesses. In addition, the program is also meant to make use of the web as a promotional channel for the applications.

“Our program will be unlike anything currently available, and has been established to promote a thriving community by giving developers direct involvement in their own success,” said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. “Whether you’re looking for immediate distribution or just feedback on early stages of development, this program is built to scale to your needs and finally put you in control of investing in and promoting your business.”

Palm has recently released into the wild its latest mobile platform, the webOS, and the launch of the new program is meant to expand its reach to a larger number of developers. The company already launched its Palm App Catalog e-commerce beta program, and developers can already submit paid applications to it, according to the press-release announcing the upcoming launch of Palm’s webOS developer program.

The mobile phone maker is aiming at offering developers a way to create, distribute and promote applications for its webOS platform. The company requires developers to pay a $99 annual fee for joining the program, and offers them two options for delivering their applications to the market: distribution on the web and distribution in the Palm App Catalog. The first option does not imply that Palm will review the application, while the second one does, and also requires for a nominal per-application fee of $50 paid by developers.

“We’re listening to developers, and the message that they want choice and an option to self-certify their applications has come through loud and clear,” Mitic added. “The flexibility that comes with our program’s easy way to test mobile applications, as well as the ability for developers to use the web to market and promote their own applications and boost sales, is invaluable.”