Palm not only unveiled new "Plus" versions of the Palm Pre and Pixie for Verizon Wireless' network yesterday, but it also opened the Palm webOS developer program and announced 3D gaming on its platform.
Palm says any developer can now go to the Palm Developer Center and start developing and distributing applications for webOS devices. Palm showcased its developer program and tools at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and announced a $1 million developer Hot Apps bonus program.
Like some of the other many developer programs, Palm developers receive a 70/30 split of gross revenues generated through sales. The membership-based program has a $99 annual fee, which is waived for developers who opt to distribute open source Palm webOS apps on the Web.
Applications distributed in the Palm App Catalog will be subject to review by Palm, and developers need to pay a per-application fee of $50.
Palm also introduced several graphics-intense game titles from the likes of EA Mobile, Gameloft, Glu Mobile and Laminar Research. The games are available now in the Palm App Catalog for Palm Pre customers.
In addition, Palm demonstrated Flash content in the browser on a Palm Pre and expects a free Adobe Flash Player 10.1 plug-in to be posted to the Palm App Catalog in the coming months. Palm says it expects webOS to be one of the first mobile platforms to support the full Flash Player in the Web browser.