Palm's App Catalog submission process is very broken ...

Maybe Palm knows that the Pre doesn't really stand a chance against the iPhone, but that doesn't really excuse what seems to be a very broken App Catalog submission process.

Jamie Zawinski wrote two free software programs for the phone, a Tip Calculator and a port of Dali Clock. There were, according to Zawinski, the second and third apps for Palm WebOS that were ever available. In an attempt to get his app into the Palm App Catalog he had to sign up to the developer program twice, fax contracts, was incorrectly told that he wasn't allowed to release free software for the Palm Pre. Then he was told that his PayPal account had to be a "verified" account (by providing his checking account number) and possibly pay $99 per year, just to distribute free apps.

Putting aside the fact that the apps in question here are a tip calculator and a clock (does the world need any more of these?) and the Kafka reference (which I'm really struggling to understand, which itself feels a little Kafkaesque) I can't understand why App Catalog/Store submissions process needs to feature the worst elements of form filling, bureaucracy and officialdom. Best guess is that big companies such as Palm and Apple aren't used to dealing with the little guys and gals of the world.

Amy Palm devs out there? What are your thoughts on the whole submissions process?