When I first saw this post of the Palm Developer Program the first song that came me in mind was AC/DC’s “If you want blood, you got it”.

No, Palm is not willing to slay you if you don’t buy its webOS devices.

Instead is introducing a contest with money prizes to programmers developing for its webOS platform.

From the Palm Developer Center:

Don’t forget — the Hot Apps Program opens today.

The Palm Hot Apps Program rewards developers of the hottest webOS applications with a total of $1 million. The developer of the free webOS application that’s downloaded the most between February 1, 2010, and May 31, 2010 will receive $100,000. The developer of the paid-for webOS app that generates the most revenue during the same period will also receive $100,000.

Developers of other top free and paid apps will also receive cash awards, as follows:

• The next 20 apps in each category: $10,000 each
• The next 200 apps in each category: $1,000 each

Only downloads made between 12:00 midnight, February 1, 2010, and 11:59 p.m., May 31, 2010, will be considered for the awards. If you don’t have an app in the catalog today, you have plenty of time to get going and get one published and in contention for the prizes.

If you haven’t programmed in webOS yet, getting started is easy. Download the SDK, check out the tutorial and get yourself going!

In essence, the apps that will be downloaded the most between February 1, 2010, and May 31, 2010 will be rewarded with several prizes, ranging from  $1.000 to $100.000.

This is good news as it encourages new developers to embrace the Palm ecosystem.

While the program is a good point, I am not sure how much this could call new developers, as the rewards Program has been revealed on February 1, i.e. the date from which the download counts start.

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