PreCentral.net

It's late here at PreCentral HQ and it's been a harrowing night: Palm released paid apps in the App Catalog, then they had to temporarily pull them due to a critical bug that, while it wasn't a threat to users, caused significant heartburn for developers. While we waited for Palm's team to resolve that situation with code fixes, we were elated to learn that the entire situation had just been solved with a policy fix.

It's late here at PreCentral HQ, so forgive me if I ramble a bit, but Palm's announcement this evening has me very excited not just for webOS as a platform, but for the entire mobile space.

Palm has made it official: in December, they will facilitate any developer to distribute any app to any Pre owner: directly and easily. The lingering questions about whether 'sideloading' (allowing users to install apps directly instead of through the app catalog) and whether their policies regarding app distribution and open source software have all been resolved in one fell swoop. The resolution, as Derek wrote, is that any developer can submit their app to Palm, who will then provide an URL which will directly install the app -- Palm won't hinder, review, or otherwise throw up roadblocks. There are more details from the developer relations team here and though in this giddy, late hour I don't see devils in those details, it's possible they could be there.

Palm is going to be facilitating their developer community in a way nobody else is doing: offering a centralized way to find apps without asking for their piece of the pie while still helping users find apps they love. In December, "Homebrew apps" will simply be "apps that Palm doesn't have in their Official Catalog." I am very happy.

It's honestly curious to me that I should be happy. Palm is simply allowing what every other smartphone platform - save one - has always allowed: direct installation of and payment for apps between developer and user. As I said, though, they're making it easier than it has been before, so that's reason to be happy. Yet the real happiness comes from knowing that there is still sanity out there in smartphoneland, that the Apple way won't be the only way. Google gets that, Microsoft does too (mostly), and we can finally add Palm to the list with an exclamation point.

Yes, we're talking mobile apps, and so we must talk about the iPhone. It's already cliché to say that the iPhone has revolutionized the mobile app space - mainly because it's true. Yet with every revolution comes bloodshed and some of the losses have been too dear: letting a single company dictate the types of apps that get distributed, allowing the prices of apps to plummet to the point where developers have to try to develop hits like pop stars instead of powerful, useful apps with dedicated user bases; forcing developers to wait in a bureaucratic limbo that leaves even the most ardent Apple apologist simply speechless; apps getting lost in the shuffle of hordes of me-too competitors.

It looked, for a time, like Palm and their large cadre of former Apple employees might go down that path. From their last developer agreement:

4.3 Applications Can Only Be Distributed Through the Palm Application Catalog. Developer acknowledges and agrees, that absent a separate written agreement with Palm, Developer may not distribute any Application except as allowed by Palm's formal approved distribution process and channel (the "Application Catalog").

We've long been hoping to find out just what that meant, since Palm let the Homebrew App scene thrive even though it was in conflict with the above. Now we know: Palm's embracing openness and rejecting the byzantine and bizarre app submission 'process' we see at Apple.

Goodbye to all that: apps can be distributed either in the App Catalog or not - both options facilitated by Palm. If Palm rejects your app from the catalog, they'll tell you why.

Goodbye to all that: If Palm feels the need to keep an app out of their catalog for whatever reason, developers can still get support from Palm to distribute their apps directly to users via over-the-air installation.

Goodbye to all that: Palm is helping developers gain greater exposure by creating an open 'bidding system' for priority placement in their App Catalog.

Goodbye to all that: Palm is offering App Catalog submission for free to open source apps and dropping the price to $50 for all other apps.

webOS needs a more powerful SDK with deeper access to the powerful hardware its devices run on, but I am hopeful that will come. Palm needs to make webOS more mainstream by getting their devices on more carriers, but that's going to happen.

The game is on: Apple is huge. Android is also in the picture and open in ways that are very similar to Palm. Windows Mobile is faltering lately, but there are big changes to come and Microsoft has been more open than most give them credit for. The BlackBerry platform looks aged but also has more life in it than most people, including me, tend to think. Nokia is still the global leader. There doesn't need to be a single winner in this space, in fact I don't think there will be. We have six viable platforms here, there's surely going to be some casualties.

Palm and webOS are clearly the underdog: smaller marketshare, less-capable SDKs for developers, less cash. Yet: if you were to ask me what I my ideal smartphone platform and company would be, what I would describe to you would look remarkably like what Palm is doing.

Palm is doing things now that feel right both technologically and even, well, morally. They seem to be trying to do right by developers, by users, and by the entire smartphone ecosystem. Whether that's enough for them to do right by their stockholders remains to be seen, but for now it would take a pretty coldhearted person to not root for Palm.