It's Official (to the naysayers): Paid apps for Canada coming soon

[Arthur Thornton]

Paid apps ARE coming for Canada and Mexico.

Most likely they will coincide with the launch of the paid apps in Europe.

Here is a copy of the email I just received from Palm Developer Connections:

Dear webOS Developer,

We are very excited about the upcoming launch of international e-commerce for the Palm App Catalog. To follow up on our announcement in January we want to provide you with some additional information to ensure that your paid applications are ready for international distribution as soon as possible. We'd also like to inform you that in addition to the planned European launch, we will be launching e-commerce support in Canada and Mexico.

In preparation for the launch we encourage you to localize your application and metadata immediately for each country and language you plan to select for distribution, prior to Palm's international e-commerce launch. This includes language specific categories and tags for improved discoverability in non-English speaking countries. If you prefer to ship an English only application, or an application that is in English but presents localized/local content, that is acceptable.

Application submissions will be accepted for international distribution when the Palm Developer Center portal is updated to accommodate the expanded list of countries for paid applications. Please look for follow up communications with additional details regarding submissions.

Additional items to note:

o Tax identification: You are required to provide tax information for the country in which your business resides. If you haven't provided this information, it will be required before you can submit a paid app. If you have multiple tax residencies, you will need a separate account for each taxable entity. You can add this to your account by editing your account details. If you are located in the European Union, the VAT registration number that you provide should be linked to the country of residence that you are submitting (i.e. French address then French VAT registration number). If you have multiple Palm developer accounts, you should submit your app(s) using the account(s) that will receive the revenue share payment. If you choose, you can submit different versions of the same app to each account to segregate your revenue share payments by geography.

o New agreement: We have revised the Palm webOS Application Distribution Program Agreement to accommodate the expanded distribution of paid applications. The new version of the agreement, which is attached to this e-mail, will apply to Palm's distribution of all of your applications.

o Localize your app binaries in advance to reduce review time: If you have an existing application, we strongly recommend that you localize your application prior to the launch so that you only need to submit a metadata update (pricing, localized descriptions) on the day we launch.

Please look for additional communications from us with more details. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email address removed].
Best regards,

Palm Developer Relations

Notice the "We'd also like to inform you that in addition to the planned European launch, we will be launching e-commerce support in Canada and Mexico" in there?

That's right, paid apps will most likely be here for the whole world on March 31, 2010.

[TIWizard]

You were quick to post that

[Arthur Thornton]

Read it while I was downstairs (got to love the push email!!!) and raced upstairs to make a post..

[neno23231]

congrats ah

[johncc]

Hopefully the ability to purchase from un-official countries will be included. Although I don't see anything in that to suggest that they will.

[Arthur Thornton]

Originally Posted by johncc

Hopefully the ability to purchase from un-official countries will be included. Although I don't see anything in that to suggest that they will.

No, there was no mention of this in their entire email (including the attached PDF that was the revised developer agreement).

Basically, the new agreement reiterates that in order to sell apps, you must have tax info because they must collect taxes for you to pay to the government in the area you reside in.

It also mentions (the new portion) that there will be sales tax for:
USA
UK (VAT)
EU (VAT)

There will not be sales tax/VAT for anyone in Canada or Mexico though.

I do not believe apps will be coming to the "unofficial" countries any time soon. This is unfortunate, because people buy the Palm Pre in "unofficial" countries because:
a) geeks/nerds
b) gotta have the best technology out there
c) want an UNLOCKED device that is amazing
d) heard of the apps and want to buy them
e) none of the above

All of those above options could relate to app sales for Palm if they released them in "unofficial" countries, even if they just made the arrangements they had to make to sell apps there without selling the phones there (i.e. Australia, where a prominent homebrewer lives, yet no phones are sold or supported).

[titanyium]

I'm curious how international users can benefit from the EA games promo of free game dl's, which ends march 31st, 2010. If in fact they do not have the ability to dl these apps until march 31st, at least.

[Grabber5.0]

I guess the email didn't say 'don't tell anyone' in it? That is interesting about no tax in Canada/Mexico, because I thought someone from Canada was comparing it to the VAT.

[johnnyor24]

I am a hardcore Palm fan and Pre owner. The news of paid apps has me really pumped. I work for a mobile retailer and I think my rep. is getting tired of me asking when this was going to happen. I thank Palm and all developers for their hardwork in the past, present and future.

johnnyor24

[johncc]

Originally Posted by titanyium

I'm curious how international users can benefit from the EA games promo of free game dl's, which ends march 31st, 2010. If in fact they do not have the ability to dl these apps until march 31st, at least.

We can download them now.

[Harnoy]

Originally Posted by Grabber5.0

I guess the email didn't say 'don't tell anyone' in it? That is interesting about no tax in Canada/Mexico, because I thought someone from Canada was comparing it to the VAT.

Hmmm, might have been me. I was referring to a bit of code that was showing VAT being enabled. There was no specific reference to GST in those code lines so I commented about that. Not really comparing GST to VAT, just pointing out that there didn't appear to be any provisions in the existing code base for enabling GST collections. (I think somebody shortly afterwards posted something about GST and VAT being similar).

At any rate, this is possibly good news. Seeing Canada mentioned in official correspondence definitely raises the probability that we'll get the paid app catalogue sometime in the not too distant future.

[aharmsworth]

I just had an ahah moment - App sales in Canada July 1st!

For the purposes of Palm's App Store, GST and VAT will be almost identical, 12% (in BC) sales tax on the sale, minus whatever GST they paid on the input.

A major complication in Canada is two sales taxes, GST (federal) and PST (provincial), although this is not that different from the US where there are complexities of City and State sales taxes.

Ontario and BC replace PST with HST July 1st (ie combined Federal GST with Provincial tax to replace PST). Alberta has no Provincial sales tax and Bell does not provide cell phone service in Manitoba or Saskatchewan, Yukon or Nunavut. If I am correct, that leaves a provincial sales tax only in Quebec, as Alberta has no sales tax.

So Paid Apps for Canada will be July 1st - except maybe Quebec.

[Andreas]

With EU sales tax there is actually a tiny hope thet they will open up the catalogue for all EU-countries. Might be a tiny straw but im sure grabbing hold of that for now.

[sacherjj]

Originally Posted by Grabber5.0

I guess the email didn't say 'don't tell anyone' in it? That is interesting about no tax in Canada/Mexico, because I thought someone from Canada was comparing it to the VAT.

I kind of assumed the email fell under the NDA we signed for development, but that might have only been early access developers.

[Grabber5.0]

Originally Posted by sacherjj

I kind of assumed the email fell under the NDA we signed for development, but that might have only been early access developers.

Makes you afraid to say anything, doesn't it?

[Arthur Thornton]

Originally Posted by sacherjj

I kind of assumed the email fell under the NDA we signed for development, but that might have only been early access developers.

I was a beta SDK developer (did not 'enroll' in the Developer Program until early January though), but not an early access alpha SDK developer, so I never signed an NDA .

[spdsktr]

I am fairly certain it is covered under the NDA. Did those without early access get this email?

[Arthur Thornton]

Originally Posted by spdsktr

I am fairly certain it is covered under the NDA. Did those without early access get this email?

As I said above, I had no early access and I got the email.

[TIWizard]

Originally Posted by spdsktr

I am fairly certain it is covered under the NDA. Did those without early access get this email?

I think they sent it to all developers.

[spdsktr]

Originally Posted by arthurthornton

As I said above, I had no early access and I got the email.

Let the good times roll then!