Matt Mullenweg, of Automattic, announced at WordCamp Argentina that Automattic will soon launch a service for premium WordPress themes. The idea? To provide a repository of ‘premium’ WordPress themes for sale. Designers make 50% of the revenue from themes that sell - - Automattic pockets the other 50%.

It will be interesting to see if this kills the free WordPress theme offerings. From a designers standpoint - why continue offering up free themes when you can submit them to this WordPress Themes Marketplace and make a buck, or two.

And what will the going price be for these premium themes? Is it a standard price - for instance will it be a blanket price for all themes? If not, will Automattic valuate each theme? Based on what criteria? Or will the designer be allowed to set the price? Maybe it will be an auction-type setup where users can bid on the themes that are only sold once?

The simple answer to the often asked question of whether or not you can advertise or monetize your WordPress.com blog is: NO.

Unless you are a VIP hosted member of WordPress.com. You can read about the WordPress VIP Hosting Services here. Unless you are a VIP member, there is no way for you to advertise on your WordPress.com blog. Thing twice before you consider VIP hosting, however. It carries a hefty $600 set up fee and $300 per month to carry the VIP status. That may sound like a lot - but, objectively speaking, it’s worth it if you have a blog that does the kind of traffic they’re talking about. I did a post on the VIP hosted services previously - have a look.