Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

$149 for a Touchpad if you sign up as a developer

developer.palm.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 105 posts

Re: $149 for a Touchpad if you sign up as a developer

#91

Post by rhizome »

jarek wrote: post #89
rhizome wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should recast the program to send out the tablets as loaners, then forgive the debt for the developers who make actually decent apps. A curated giveaway.

And how exactly would you define a "decent app" in a way that wouldn't be absurd or totally not useful and wouldn't give you ton of grief if a developer tried to challenge your decision? It's essentially the iOS App Store problem except you're mailing around physical hardware to boot.

I have no idea, I'm not a developer-relations or product manager. I'm sure something relatively fair could be thought up, though. I'm not pessimistic about that, and someone is going to complain no matter what, so I think as long as you tell everybody up front what the rubric is, that static can be minimized.

Re: $149 for a Touchpad if you sign up as a developer

#92

Post by Osiris »

jarek wrote: post #89
rhizome wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should recast the program to send out the tablets as loaners, then forgive the debt for the developers who make actually decent apps. A curated giveaway.

And how exactly would you define a "decent app" in a way that wouldn't be absurd or totally not useful and wouldn't give you ton of grief if a developer tried to challenge your decision? It's essentially the iOS App Store problem except you're mailing around physical hardware to boot.

I suppose you could do it based on downloads and reviews by requiring that a certain download limit be reached at a certain star level?

Re: $149 for a Touchpad if you sign up as a developer

#93

Post by Osiris »

toni wrote: post #55
zerovox wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free at the moment, they say they have waved their fees for the time being, which is unsurprising given the state of WebOS

Is there a way to register as an individual? It seems that you must have a company to be able to register in developer program, right?

You can register as a sole-proprietor, so yes, you can register as an individual.

Re: $149 for a Touchpad if you sign up as a developer

#95

Post by shaggyfrog »

aquark wrote: post #80
shaggyfrog wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a Canadian developer and it was no problem getting one of those from the IRS. In fact, I did it over the phone. It was surprisingly painless.

My concern is what I'd be signing up for by having one -- does it mean I need to file some US tax paperwork annually even if there is no income?

Good question. I haven't filled out any paperwork in 2 years since I haven't had any US income to declare. I got it done for the iOS App Store -- not sure if Apple does that paperwork for devs (since it acts like a sales agent).

Re: $149 for a Touchpad if you sign up as a developer

#97

Post by weekendlogic »

aquark wrote: post #66

May be available to Canadians, but you appear to need a 'tax identification number' from the IRS to open the account. "Form W-8BEN should be completed by all Non-US developers planning to make their applications available for sale to US customers/end-users. The form and instructions may be found at the following IRS website ...." Fortunately the form accepted '-' as a 'valid' number ... we'll see if they try and vali…

see: https://developer.palm.com/content/resources/develop/faq.htm...

Q: I’m a non-US developer and trying to register for a Developer Account. Do I need a U.S. taxpayer ID? A: If you have a US taxpayer ID, please use this number. If you only have a foreign tax ID number you can enter your foreign tax ID number in the Tax Identification Number field.

i.e. For a Canadian individual (like me), you can use your SIN, if you want. Or use gibberish and figure it out later if there are any problems.

Re: $149 for a Touchpad if you sign up as a developer

#98

Post by shadowmeld »

wanorris wrote: post #4

Blackberry gave away Playbooks to anyone who developed an app for it, which resulted in a lot of "developers" who produced low-quality, minimally useful apps. Is there some quality control that will limit who counts as a developer for the TouchPad? If not, I expect this will have a similar result. And really, even if they get real mobile developers, it may result in some half-hearted ports unless it becomes clear at…

From the looks of it, your TaxID number.

Re: $149 for a Touchpad if you sign up as a developer

#99

Post by mannicken »

It's funny how the title reads as:

"[THEY WILL GIVE YOU] $149 for a Touchpad if you sign up as a developer [THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY JUST TAKE IN CASH]."

When the reality is: "This Touchpad costs $149 if you go through a bunch of complicated forms, give away your info.. oh, and in reality, it costs like a lot less than $149 even so we'll still be making a shitload of money from it."

Post reply on HN