$99 Palm development account fee waived for a limited time 25
A gentle reminder for those of you checking out the fresh-out-of-beta Project Ares: Palm is waiving the standard $99 fee developers need to pay in order to be able to publish their apps to the official App Catalog for a limited time, as MobileCrunch points out. So far as we know, submitting each app will run you that one-time fee of $50. Of course, Palm started waiving both fees for developers who release only open source apps back in October; Web and Beta distribution is still free too.
One last developer note - Palm's Developer day is this coming Friday and Saturday and we've just booked a ticket and will be there for the festivities. We can't say if there will be much in the way of news, but we can say that if you're a developer, keep an eye out for us - we want to see what you're doing and (more importantly) so do our readers.
via MobileCrunch
25 Comments
The desperation is getting awkward.
This is not desperation. It is a smart move on Palm's part. Is there a good reason for Palm to not do this?
One may argue that this may bring in more "crap app" developers .. this may happen to some extent, but it should remove another barrier for other skilled developers that may have not been programming for webOS in the past.
How is it awkward? They're removing barriers to app development. And they do need a boost, so why not?
This fee has been waived since the program was fully launched. CES I think?
Hey they are moving forward, They have a plan. Hopefully a better outcome than the Cylons!
This IS desperate.
Just when we thought that the quality may actually start to improve after a whole year.....
Prepare for the march of quote apps, tip calculators, level tools that aren't accurate and evermore apps with a description that includes the word: "simple" or "basic".
So sick of this.
i think your wrong, even the best non-PDK apps sell poorly. It must be quite hard to convince good developers to pay $50 per app on top of $99 yearly to produce apps that won't even make you your money back.
This is a good, temporary move by palm to atleast get developers on board. More apps (good or bad) will mean another check-box in the fight against other platforms, which will mean more faith in the webOS platform from customers and shareholders.
desperate is a harsh word. you should say neccisary
See below: this is *not* new. They've never to my knowledge charged the $99 fee. It's been waved since the App Catalog came out of beta and the gates were opened to non-beta developers.
The march of crappy apps (Bright House Labs, I'm looking at you) is the reason Palm *added* a $50 per app submission fee. The $99 developer registration (or lack thereof) has never been a factor with app quality. This entire misleading story could have been averted with a single DM on twitter to anyone at Palm connected with the developer program.
They put a lot of work and many resources to develop MOJO. The developers didn't come. Then, they put out the PDK which I call the iPhone app porting kit. The upshot was that developers didn't have to do much to port the apps they already made for the iPhone. Developers came, but with iPhone flavored apps. Palms best claim to fame was that many apps that are great on the iPhone have been ported to the Pre. This is so much less compelling than you might think. Still, the PDK allowed for native apps to be made using APIs that MOJO didn't have. Even so, original WebOS developers didn't come.
Now, they make the equivalent of a paint by numbers way of developing apps for people who do not even own the hardware. They make the price free to encourage literally anybody to make an app. They can't dumb it down any more than they already have. Will the developers come now? Even if they do, I am not sure it is a good sign.
Then, they put out the PDK...
Actually, they haven't. You can test with the PDK, and if you are an established house you can get a special semi-PDK to port a program over... but you can't use the PDK to write and sell an app yet.
Oh, and I don't see anything about them waiving the $50 per app application fee. That's the only real barrier we need -- one to set a floor on how much revenue someone expects from an app, rather than an artificial gate on who can put an app together.
Palm has never charged the $99 developer registration fee to my knowledge. It was waved *months* ago when the SDK was opened to non-beta developers. Honestly Pre Central, I know this is "just a blog" but do some damn fact checking before you feed the trolls.
Palm isn't allowing PDK apps into the app catalog unless the art part of the the Partner program. (only EA, Gameloft etc). Most developers wont be able to sell the PDK apps until later this year. whether or not we'll see more original apps remains to be seen, but plenty of developers have expressed interest in the amount of power provided by the PDK. the the amount of quality (iphone ports or not) apps we'll see when the flood gates are open has potential to be huge.
I'm learning the required languages as I type this. I want to develop for palm and port the apps to iphone etc, afterwards. There r some of us out here! Its just taking abit of time to learn this stuff!
sry for dbl post, but apple is taking steps to NOT allow apps to be ported from iPhone to another device... on a treo atm, but search for a thread I started "sinime". here is the url... http://forums.precentral.net/cross-platform-chat/241592-nice-read-about-...
Apple is requiring Apps to be written in Objective-C, C or C++. Just write PDK apps in C++ or C. Although, if I was planning cross-platform, I would make sure to get access to Apple APIs first, so I would know what parts to abstract out to OS dependent modules.
only thing I will say, not sure if it's because of the free dev upgrade or not, but I did the free account upgrade and the option to make my apps "free" or "paid" does not show up. I am talking w/ tech sup. atm to figure out what is wrong. It may not be related to the free upgrad, but I started up an "open source account and it gives the option for "free" vs. "paid".
Um... they waved the $99 fee *months* ago, way before the PDK or Pre Plus with Verizon. This was not an act of desperation at the time, but an enticement for indy developers who were on the fence. Just like giving $1M in prizes to top webOS apps, which Palm introduced in January, also well before the doom & gloom. Get the facts straight, folks. How about fact checking with Palm next time?
Thank you, finally someone else knows this :)
Seems to me it was desperate whenever they did it. The fact is they couldn't get developers to write apps for the platform, so they made it free. From my perspective, making a developer environment that does not require the hardware means that you are trying to attract developers who are not committed enough to buy a unit for testing. They can just slap something together in a browser. The whole project smacks of desperation.
Imagine what WebOS could be if developers learned the native language and seriously invested in the platform. Now, come back to the real world, as that vision will never be reality. Palm is so desperate to get any kind of development, that it seems they have given up on the only kind of development that truly matters to a platform.
why is it considered desperation to provide an easy means of development? Its not desperation so much as it is giving developers what they want. If you want to go the Mojo route, you're free to do that. you want power native apps or Mojo hybrids, then you've got the PDK. If you need to make a web app, then Ares it is. Not all apps need to be intensive...
I've been reading a lot of Iphone and Android developers who wish they had options like this.
The only thing Palm hasn't provided that would get developers on-board is a large install base that likes to spend money.
wouldnt it be awkward if you are the only guys at this Palm's Developer Day thing?
It sounds like there's going to be a lot of leftover food at this event...I can hear the crickets now.
Actually, it sold out fast and Palm opened up more spots. Which sold out fast. It's not a huge event, but certainly not small either. I'm looking forward to it.
Im thinking of getting my teeth into some coding in the summer when I have time and ares will give me a feel for everything that I can do before trying out the PDK and SDK routes. And the waived fee is a great incentive to me. So thumbs up for this one.
Will this program make it easier to repackage public domain content to clog the app catalog?
Anyone calling Palm moves "desperation", is only on here to bash Palm. We don't need you here as we are all dedicated to the success of Palm, our developer community and our user community. Show your support by buying a Pre or Pixi & lots of Apps.. And Palm Stock!
Think of how many apps you can get for the price of a weeks worth of Starbucks coffee, What a bargin... Buy..Buy...Buy...