First Paid Apps Hit the App Catalog, Pulled Down Again

Posted By: Ryan Kairer Monday, October 5, 2009 3:37:30 PM

palm app catalog Updated: Palm Inc. has activated the commercial end of its third party software marketplace. Starting late this afternoon, some of the first official commercial webOS applications are now available for purchase from Palm's on-device App Catalog.

Some of the first paid apps to debut include:

Air Hockey from Acceleroto - $1.99
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire from Capcom Interactive - $4.99.
BlockDrop by Daniel Farina - $4.99
GolfPinFinder by AppJamers, LLC - $9.99
Weatherbug Elite from Weatherbug - $1.99
Checkers Pro from Keen Studios - $0.99

Update: ~~And as soon as they were up, they're down again. A critical security bug has cropped up with the new system (discovered by WebOS Internals). More details will be posted as they come in.~~ Paid apps are back, so Palm seem to have found a solution to the problem. Details on the security hole are posted after the break.

So what happened? In short, "sampson" of WebOS Internals discovered a bug relating to the version numbers & appid's of apps, where the App Catalog would offer free updates to users who had apps with lower version numbers than the new, paid versions in the App Catalog. Thus, anyone who had previously installed a homebrew version of an app was offered a free upgrade to the paid version.

It was worse than that, though: clever coders could easily create an IPK with the same appid, load it onto their Pre and get updates for any app they liked (of which they knew the appid). The hole has now been plugged and paid apps are back, but it was a scary moment for some developers there.

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pricing

Gekko @ 10/5/2009 6:02:16 PM #

you can thank Apple/iPhone/AppStore for these prices. without them these creeps would still be trying to charge 2x and 3x as much. competition is good!

I'm a creep....

Nycran @ 10/5/2009 6:33:39 PM #

Creeps? Interesting choice of words to use for software developers. What do you call politicians?

IMHO, some of these prices are too cheap for Pre apps. The iPhone has a huge user base that makes $2 apps profitable, but we might see higher prices across the board for the Pre once the initial honeymoon period is over. And really, $9 for a good game is still pretty decent value.
For when you'd rather be doing anything other than paperwork.
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RE: I'm a creep....

Gekko @ 10/5/2009 6:47:57 PM #

they're not all creeps - only the ones that tried to gouge. and PalmOS had a pretty big user base - but yes, never fully and properly marketed apps to.

http://palmgear.com/

RE: I'm a creep....

Gekko @ 10/5/2009 6:55:31 PM #

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk

Palm Announces 'No Review' App Distribution, Free For Open Source

Tim Carroll @ 10/5/2009 7:38:27 PM #

Subject says it all. About as friendly as you can get, really... besides allowing other stores.

RE: Palm Announces 'No Review' App Distribution, Free For Open Source

Tim Carroll @ 10/5/2009 8:06:44 PM #

Welcome news for developers tonight: Palm yesterday called a gathering of developers and journalists to officially introduce their new Developer Relations heads to the community, and made two big announcements to boot. Firstly, they've announced a new app distribution model that does away with any Big Brother review process. Developers can now upload their applications directly to Palm, who will then return a URL which can be used to access applications directly from the Pre - as simple as that.

The second piece of news is possibly even bigger: if developers choose to make their apps available as free open source, then distribution in the App Catalog will be completely free, with no strings attached. (Developers wishing to sell their apps will still be charged $99 annual fee for their account, and $50 per paid application in the catalog.) To cap it all off, every developer in the audience was given a free Pre and Touchstone with a month's free service from Sprint. "Just hack on it," were reportedly Ben Galbraith's words.

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Really, great news. Should even make that Tip Calculator guy happy...

RE: Palm Announces 'No Review' App Distribution, Free For Open Source

Gekko @ 10/5/2009 8:56:37 PM #

they have developers left? i thought they pissed them all off?

RE: Palm Announces 'No Review' App Distribution, Free For Open Source

Tim Carroll @ 10/5/2009 9:52:59 PM #

^^ heh. if they did, I imagine they're about to get a whole lotta them back...

RE: Palm Announces 'No Review' App Distribution, Free For Open So

jca666us @ 10/6/2009 4:12:29 AM #

This is a much smarter way to compete with Apple, rather than the itunes sync game Palm have been playing.

Don't know how many are going to come rushing back to the platform though...

RE: Palm Announces 'No Review' App Distribution, Free For Open Source

SeldomVisitor @ 10/6/2009 5:08:45 AM #

I'd think Palm would be setting itself up by doing this. It'll take very little effort on the part of the Bad Guys to make Bad Exploiting Software even though almost all applications are wide-open source.

Unless Palm is saying their mini-review of each application really IS a maxi-review that'll become bogged down instantly.