For years Marmalade (previously Ideaworks Labs) has provided a framework for cross-platform mobile games and app development.

The market is changing fast, however, and now the London-based company is getting into the content distribution business.

Its App Program, which is similar to Unity's Union initiative, sees Marmalade acting as a publisher to its OEM partners such as Samsung, RIM and LG.

"It's happened because of the demand from developers using Marmalade," explains CEO Alex Caccia.

"Some are happy to publish their games themselves, but some just want to focus on development. We work very closely with OEMs, who also want content, so it's a case of matching supply with demand."

Open to all

Caccia stresses that the program is "very open", with developers keeping their IP rights. Conversely, Marmalade curates the content it will publish; it won't just accept any games.

Significantly, the App Program is open to developers who aren't currently using its technology, although games will be have to ported to the Marmalade SDK prior to publishing. Obviously, the flexibility gained by hooking into its cross-platform features is the main reason.

"We like to stick to open standards," Caccia says.

"We make it possible for developers to move their code in and out of Marmalade so everyone from large publishers to small indies can be comfortable with the flexibility we provide."

In the place to be

The program is also encouraging Marmalade to offer more value-added services into its SDK. For example, it now integrates with Tapjoy's monetisation platform amongst others.

"To a degree, it has changed the company. We get closely involved with developers and OEMs on a day-to-day basis," Caccia says.

"But it's a natural progression in terms of how technology and content interact."

As for the revenue split, the developer gets 80 percent of revenues, net of any app store cut.

"We've paid out a reasonable amount of money already," he says.

And with Marmalade now supporting an increasing range of devices, including smart TVs and set top boxes, alongside all smartphone and tablet platforms - not to mention Windows 8 coming down the track - it's certainly sitting in a sweetpoint.

"Exploiting new platforms is what smart developers do," Caccia ends. "And that's where we can help."

You can find out more about the App Program from the Marmalade website.