The Palm webOS developer program is now open. Developers now can go to the Palm Developer Center at http://developer.palm.com, sign up, and start developing and distributing applications for webOS devices. And to help attract attention, the company has announced a $1 million developer Hot Apps bonus program.

Scheduled to run from Feb. 1 through May 31, 2010, the program is open to developers worldwide and will award $1 million to the most successful applications distributed during this period. The developers of the top free and paid applications each will earn a $100,000 bonus. Also, 20 free and 20 paid developers will receive $10,000, with 200 free and 200 paid developers receiving $1000. Winners will be notified in June.

According to Palm, the developer program is designed to promote a thriving environment for all developers to create, distribute, promote, and monetize the delivery of valuable applications to Palm customers. Each of its elements is designed to help developers promote their work and ultimately drive application sales and downloads.

Developers receive 70% of gross revenues generated through sales after applicable taxes. The membership-based program has a $99 annual fee, which will be waived for developers who opt to distribute open-source Palm webOS applications on the Web. Also, the program provides a sales transaction and fulfillment service for developers with two options for getting their applications to market.

First, there’s distribution in the Palm App Catalog. A link to the catalog is built into every Palm webOS device. Applications distributed in the catalog will be subject to review by Palm, and developers will pay a per-application fee of $50. Applications approved in this program will have immediate distribution to the most targeted application promotional channel of webOS devices.

Second, there’s distribution on the Web. Palm will provide the sales transaction and fulfillment service for developers who want to promote their apps exclusively online. Each app will receive a unique URL so developers can freely promote their apps online and customers can download and install apps directly from the cloud or to their phone using Palm’s over-the-air process. This option also offers a self-certification process and lets developers control the distribution and promotion of their applications using their own online marketing vehicles.

Both distribution options include a support program with tools that help developers quickly build, test, distribute, and receive feedback on their Palm webOS applications, Palm says. A special beta channel enables developers to easily expand their testing program and iteratively improve their products.

Furthermore, Palm is opening up the database of webOS applications data, with feeds of app descriptions, ratings, stats, screenshots, and more to app developers and the broader Web community to leverage the Web as a discovery channel. This system will enable the creation of app directories, ranking mechanisms, communities, and more around the base of webOS applications. These feeds will include a unique application URL for each application that can be promoted through Web channels for users to request over-the-air distribution of that application to their device.

The Palm webOS Plug-in Development Kit extends the Palm webOS Software Development Kit with a set of tools, documentation, and application programming interfaces (APIs) that let developers write plug-ins for their webOS applications. With it, developers can integrate C and C++ code into their webOS apps for new functionality such as 3D games. In fact, Palm has announced the availability of 3D games built by leading developers with early access to the PDK. A public beta version of the webOS PDK will be available to all developers in March.

Released as beta in December, Project Ares is the first complete set of integrated mobile development tools hosted entirely in the browser, Palm says. Featuring a drag-and-drop interface builder, a robust code editor, a visual debugger, and built-in source control integration, Palm says, Ares dramatically lowers the barriers for Web developers to jump into mobile development and makes building webOS apps easier and faster than before. It aims to enable the next-generation mobile developer workflow, letting developers move quickly and seamlessly from editing in a browser to debugging on a device and selling applications in the Palm App Catalog or on the Web.

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