Palm launches e-commerce beta for the App Catalog
posted August 18th 2009 9:40AM
Palm to Open E-commerce Beta Program
for Palm App Catalog
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 18, 2009 -- Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) announced that starting today developers who wish to charge for their Palm webOS™ applications can begin submitting them for consideration in the Palm® App Catalog e-commerce beta program, which will begin in mid-September. Developers selected to participate in the beta program will have the opportunity to have their applications, both free and paid, featured in the Palm App Catalog ahead of the next wave, and to be among the first to be paid for purchases of their Palm webOS applications.
As part of the App Catalog e-commerce beta program for the Palm Pre™ phone and future Palm webOS devices, developers will receive a 70/30 split (developer/Palm) of gross revenues generated through application sales (less applicable sales taxes). Customers will be able to easily purchase applications using Visa and MasterCard credit cards. Further details about the program and distribution model will be provided in the coming weeks. Palm expects to launch the full developer program in the United States this fall.
"We're rolling out the submission process and e-commerce capabilities of the Palm App Catalog with careful consideration for both the developer and customer," said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. "We want every part of the Palm webOS experience to be the best, and a strong e-commerce model is key to a thriving developer community, great apps and an excellent customer experience."
More information about how developers can submit an application for the beta
e-commerce program, as well as criteria for application acceptance, is available on the Palm Developer Network blog at http://pdnblog.palm.com/.
Go Palm!
With those poor web apps ? This is classical example of "good luck with that". Even Apple realized web applications are not gonna cut it. Their rocked engines blasted in the moment when real software has been introduced.
No they don't. Sadly you're disillusioned. Not all pretty and functional things belong to a fruit.
Help me out guys, is this a troll?
Love my Pre and love the homebrew community but ill gladly pay for some official quality apps when there avail in the App store.
Just leave the million calculators,fart apps and guns apps out of this store. And im curious where palm/Sprint will draw the line on app approval. Im sure Engagdet will be all over the first questionable app denial.
Did you see Preware went online the other day?
http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/Application:Preware 150+ apps already.
Keep in mind the Preware app is just using a feed of PreCentral's apps
And unfortunately at this time you can only fit 30-40 apps on your phone.
@JayCanuck, it actually pulls from 3 (4?) feeds at the moment. Preware, if everything goes okay will work as the submission portal also for OSS development.
The Preware app is also better than the alternatives at the moment and has quite a few active developers.
Dear patrons please don't feed the troll.
Indeed this is.
4HZ Maximum Motion Sensor polling frequency.
I expect some *uhuh* AMAZING apps
Relax, pal. Palm can always update the SDK, APIs, and webOS itself to allow for more powerful apps.
Although I don't suppose it makes any difference what I say to "Former PSP Coder, Top App Store Dev," as your mind is pretty much made up on that point.
Has already been fixed through a service for the homebrew community. Probably won't be long till Palm fixes it themselves.
Of course, every application ever needs to know, within 1/40 of a second accuracy the tilt of my phone. I mean, applications where never useful on computers, because they never new if my PC was upright or laying down.
4Hz is a little on the low side for applications that use the tilt sensor, but for 99.9% of applications this is not an issue at all. And the Pre is not a gaming device until it allows native java applications, so the many game possibilities aren't an issue.
Increasing the speed probably increases the power use or causes interference with other more important processing. It is unlikely Palm set the frequency to 4Hz for no reason.
Well, seeing as I myself have coded an app that you tilt to move a ball around, the 4Hz isn't noticeable.
Finally! Maybe now the Pre will get a decent fart app.
What Josh seemed to miss here is something that is being pointed out by he and his minions every week on the Engadget podcast... that the Palm App Submission Process is NOT like Apple's "spin the wheel" process. Specifically:
- - - - - - - - - - -
Palm will accept apps into the beta test program based on the following criteria:
Apps should be useful and engaging to users.
They need to have an appealing design and user interface aligned with Palm UI guidelines.
They are written specifically for webOS and not delivered through the browser.
They leverage webOS platform and device capabilities, for example, notifications, multitasking/background processing, location services, accelerometer.
They have acceptable performance and response time on the device; apps with slow UI response or sluggish performance will be rejected. Applications that consume excessive power on the device will also be rejected.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Now, in my eyes, this is the way life SHOULD be. You write a decent app and we'll include it. Not we'll include it if it doesn't contain dictionary entries we don't like (which, by the way, reminds me of the Monty Python bookshop skit) or include functionality that the parent company wishes it had included from the beginning - like Apple.
@Larry, um...you really think these guidelines are *better* than Apple's? The very first point "Apps should be useful and engaging to users" leaves the door wide open for Palm to reject apps for any reason they want. How does one determine how useful and engaging an app is to "users" before said app has been made available to the user community? Simple, Palm decides whether *they* think it will be "useful and engaging" and, I'm sure, whether they think it's also "appropriate". They may very well decide that apps that have (or can show) "naughty words" is not appropriate..um..."useful and engaging."
No, what *I* want from an app store is freedom. Freedom as a developer to put what I want out there without some anonymous Palm/Apple employee or committee deciding whether or not it's appropriate/useful/engaging-enough to make it past their approval process. I liked the old Palm approach of letting people install what they want, how they want. Having a centralized app store, with an easy way to find/install apps directly on the device, is a no-brainer idea that Palm should have, and could have, done long, long ago with the Treo line. They're late to the party, but there's no reason why they should follow Apple's example of having to sign, or even host, the apps. IMO, they should offer two plans:
1) Simply offer app ad space and credit card ordering. A user finds the app in their store, buys it through the store, but when they go to download it, it gets served from the developer's site. With this, maybe they offer an 80/20 cut.
2) Like #1 but with Palm hosting the app as well. For this they maybe they offer a 70/30 cut.
In neither case should they test/approve the apps. This is added overhead for them, so I personally think it's a win/win for both Palm and the developers, but people who think that Apple/Palm really do test things thoroughly and only let well-behaving apps through will argue that we *need* them to test the apps for us. Poppycock I say!
Oh, and bring back the concept of try-before-you-buy (free download works in limited mode and/or for a certain period of time, unless/until the user decides to pay for it).
Oops. For options #1 and #2, the 80/20 and 70/30 cuts should be flipped. Option #1 should be 70/30 and option #2 should be 80/20.
@ Scott
I agree there is the possibility for abuse based on the "useful and engaging" language, but this is Palm, not Apple, so I think the assumption that they will be completely arbitrary is a bit premature without evidence that they have been so in the past (*cough* like Apple, *cough cough*). Assuming they use "useful" in an absolute sense (not what Palm thinks is useful), nearly everything is "useful" (including fart apps, because they are useful for making a fart noise). Engaging is a little (or a lot) more ambiguous, but again if you think of it in the absolute sense, nearly everything will be engaging to someone (again, including the fart apps, which are engaging to sophomoric boys or men).
pre-Fart? Sounds uncomfortable.
icanhaz100dollarTomTomapp?
Sure if you want, but Navteq comes free from Sprint.
I guess you can't detect my sarcasm...
Cant wait!!.. GO PALM!
Over/Under on the number of fart apps?
I'm still finding "webOS" somewhat funny.. haha ... webOS... (Disclaimer: Entirely talking about the sound of the word, not its features/characteristics/goodies/etc)
It takes a whole different meaning as a dirty word in Spanish
Woot.
Does anyone know where to get that wallpaper?
I think this was sarcasm, not trolling... although I could be wrong, I don't have my handy dandy "Engadget Commenter/Apple Troll" cross-reference table with me, so I don't remember Quantumphysics status.
SICK. Can't wait, this is the one thing that the Pres been lacking.
Can't wait to be able to quickly switch between many more open and running apps... just like iPhone can do, right fanboys? ... boiz?
Ooh, ooh!
Whats my status, Mikey?
was that guy flooding or just declaring his undying love for the palm pre? either way, I decided to scroll down and, nevermind.
so.... new app ** gets in cheerleading outfit ** OMFG! nooo they didnt! 20 apps!? stop the Palm Pre, somebody please, they are unstoppable.. (mind you, I would slit a grapefruit in half to acquire one, baby jesus, answer my prayer), oh wait, nevermind.
Sexy or not, who on earth will invest time and money developing app
for the company that will fold in a year? Seriously, Palm is bleeding
every quarter. Based on their cash burn rate, Palm will fold before
developer could make any money. Not to mention Palm has been
silenced with Pre sales!
awesome! i just finished an app last week before I found out that the palm store didn't even exist!