Research In Motion is now just a couple of weeks away from unveiling its next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform, a platform it hopes will grab the attention of consumers and business users alike and propel the mobile company back to success.
As it gears up for the January 30 event, it’s pulling out all the stops to get everything ready, including bolstering the number of apps offered by its BlackBerry World store. Over the weekend the company held a virtual Port-A-Thon event encouraging BlackBerry and Android developers to port their apps to the BB10 platform.
It seems like the event was a big success for RIM, with an impressive 15,000 apps submitted in just 37.5 hours. Of course, we don’t know if any of them are actually any good, or how many will be accepted into the BlackBerry World store, but surely there has to be at least some quality work in amongst so many submissions.
To focus the developers’ minds during the event, RIM offered a few incentives. For starters, it promised to pay out $100 to every approved app (20 apps max per developer), meaning it could potentially be $1.5 million down by the time it’s finished assessing them all.
On top of that, the first 200 to have between 5 and 10 apps approved will receive a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device as well as “other rewards”, the Ontario-based company said on a webpage about the Port-A-Thon event.
More than 10 app approvals gets a developer a Dev Alpha device and, for the first 10, an all-expenses-paid trip to BlackBerry Jam Europe to celebrate the launch of BlackBerry 10.
RIM’s chief marketing officer Frank Boulben told Fierce Wireless at CES last week that the new BB10 platform will launch with around 70,000 apps.
He also said at least six BB10 handsets would hit the market during this year. Though the first two phones are set to be unveiled on January 30, their exact launch date is still unknown, though RIM’s chief operating officer Kristian Tear said a couple months ago it’d be some time in February. A report over the weekend suggested the expected touchscreen model – possibly called the Z10 – may go on sale on February 28 for $800.
