14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile phone maker Palm has just announced that the Palm webOS developer program has been opened to the entire world, meaning that all those who are interested in building applications for the company's webOS-based handsets can do so by joining the Palm Developer Center. At the same time, Palm came to the International 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and demonstrated the developer program and tools, as well as a series of new solutions for the webOS platform, such as 3D gaming.
“We’re thrilled to open the doors of a program that offers mobile developers unparalleled freedom and choice in how they distribute and market applications,” said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. “The combination of our highly accessible web-based platform, groundbreaking integration opportunities and open, flexible distribution program makes Palm webOS the best place for developers to create the next generation of innovative mobile applications.”
In addition to opening the application ecosystem to all developers out there, Palm also launched a new competition for them, the $1 million Hot Apps bonus program, as it calls it. The program is set to kick off on February 1 and end on March 31, and the most successful applications distributed in the time frame will be awarded $1 million. Developers with the top free and paid applications are bound to receive a $100,000 bonus each, and the list continues with $10,000 for 40 developers and $1,000 for 400 developers (half for free and half for paid applications).
Developers that build Palm webOS applications have the opportunity to distribute their applications with support from Palm, via two options: distribution in the Palm App Catalog or distribution on the web. The former comes on each Palm handset, and developers have to pay a per-application fee of $50, while the latter implies that Palm will deliver the sales transaction and fulfillment service. Both solutions have a support program, so that developers can easily distribute and receive feed-back on their applications. Additional details on the Palm webOS developer program are available here.