Comments on: Palm to Developers: We Love You, We Want You

By: james katt

james katt — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:16:31 +0000

What the F????! ! ! ! !

Palm charges $50 PER APPLICATION to include it in their catalog????! ! ! !

Even Apple doesn’t charge this extra cost. Once you pay $99 to become a developer, you can add as many Apps as you want to the App Store.

Palm’s charge per app is a huge disincentive to write software for them.

Remember that the early and many apps are experimental apps that allow developers to develop their skills on the iPhone. Palm’s charge per app heavily discourages this.

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:42:47 +0000

I agree. Unless they get to about 2 million devices, developers will have a tough time trying to justify developing for the Palm’s OS. As you point out, there is room for improvement for the company to engage the developers. Nevertheless, a good solid first step.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:49:14 +0000

On Android, Symbian and WiMo you can get to market at any time in any way.
There is also room for app stores that approve software before publishing.

The only way i can make sense of the requirement to pass any application to Palm and wait for an Url is that Palm wants to keep the ability to reject apps they don’t like.

Neither does the user nor the developer gain anything from Palms move.

By: Derek Kerton

Derek Kerton — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:21:46 +0000

Simple. For distribution in their app store, they need to test and approve. If a developer wants to distribute the “beta” themselves, they are free to do so.

Best of both worlds, not worst. Developers can get to market early if they are willing to market themselves, and take the risk of supporting buggy apps. Developers can beta test with wider numbers of people without having to hack the phones. Developers of mature apps can sell direct to consumer themselves and keep revenues, or sell through app store and rev share with Palm.

Consumers can go to the app store, and be assured of tested quality apps, categorization, organization, and confidence in offering/storing their payment info. Consumers will be able to go straight to developers if they want an early-release version of an app, a specialty version, or if they have a stronger relationship with the developer than then App Store.

By: Jennifer Martinez

Jennifer Martinez — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:54:42 +0000

Hi Ryan,
Last night, Palm handed out free Pres phones to developers at the event. I’d contact Palm and ask if you can get a phone.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:29:29 +0000

As a developer with limited resources, I won’t develop apps for this device unless I can get a phone for free. Its unfortunate for Palm, but I think many share this view.

By: Atul Chitnis

Atul Chitnis — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:56:27 +0000

I am with you on that – I loved my TX and sorely miss it. But the iPod Touch is a worthy successor to that market – proof that people were wrong when they said that the PDA is dead.

In fact, the iPhone is really just a PDA that can also make phone calls :)

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:12:36 +0000

Can Palm go back to its strengths and offer a device that is not also a phone? If Apple can have iPhone and iPod using the same apps and both with WiFi/Bluetooth can’t Palm do the same?

I loved the Palm Pilot, and want to upgrade mine but do not want it in a Smart Phone.

By: Marketingwords Aside

Marketingwords Aside — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:57:27 +0000

The CEO thinks Palm is one of the top three? Now THAT’S a surprise! Okay, maybe not.

However, unlike Android (and iPhone?), 99.99% of the applications for WebOS (and, though the Pre isn’t a smash, there IS another phone coming using that OS) are forced to be written in HTML and javascript, making them “open source” right up front. So if you’re going to give your app away the tiny step to “open sourceness” is literally just to say it’s open source.

Those who want to charge for their apps are charged all the fees even though the source to their apps is wide open – it simply isn’t DECLARED as such.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:32:12 +0000

“Once Palm receives an app from a developer, it will send them a URL which then can be distributed to users. When users click on the URL, the app will be loaded onto their devices.”

Maybe i’m missing something here but whats the point?
Either they review the app and make sure it’s ok or they let users install anything from anywhere like WiMo and Android.
To me that sounds like they are taking the worse out of both worlds.
You can only download applications directly from the manufacturer and it may still be harmful crap you download.

Imho the best solution for users would be a store like itunes + the abiity to install software from any other source. But this does not sound like the best solution for users but like the best solution for palm.

By: rose

rose — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:00:17 +0000

Android already doesn’t review apps and publishes to the market immediately. They also only charge $25.

Android also allows developers to make calls to the hardware, which allows a robust environment to be created. Not sure why Android wasn’t mentioned as a major player in the smartphone realm.

As a Pre, iPhone and Android owner, Android seems to have the most promise, given they upgrade their models of phones. Is there a conspiracy going on to etch Android out because they are that much of a threat or am I seriously missing something?