The store is offering 5,000 apps to start, 1,000 of which are free. Among the high-profile brands jumping in are Facebook, Encyclopedia Britannica, Pac-Man, Tetris and Fish Tycoon.
The opening of Palm's app store comes a few weeks ahead of its launch of a new mobile operating system dubbed Nova. Palm is counting on the new operating system and app store to help ignite a resurgence in the face of heightened competition from the likes of Apple and BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion.
When it comes to apps, Palm has a long way to go to catch up with Apple. The company recently disclosed 300 million iPhone apps have been downloaded to date.--Mark Walsh