Intel has announced a new opportunity for developers to earn money by writing netbook applications via the Intel® Atom Developer Program community, and selling their applications through future application stores. Developers were told to look for a software development kit (SDK) to help them develop applications and components for netbooks.

Developers can get a jump start to their application development using an alpha version of the Intel Atom Developer Program Software Development Kit for both Microsoft* Windows (C and C++) and Moblin (C). Additional runtimes and development languages will be supported in future releases of the SDK.

The features of the alpha SDK include authorization, crash reporting, and a consumer store client emulator for testing. A developer can test and debug today and then when the beta SDK is available later this year they can submit their applications or components and take full advantage of the program's revenue-generating opportunities, when the app stores start opening in early 2010.

A video walkthrough of the SDK is available here.

Developers who submit their apps and have them successfully validated will be able to enjoy a range of exciting rewards. For example, the first 100 validated apps will receive a tricked out netbook. See more details here.

Developers can join the Intel Atom Developer Program at http://appdeveloper.intel.com and download the alpha version of the SDK. The site also contains additional documentation. The $99 USD annual program membership fee is waived for a limited time.