RiIM has been busy preparing itself for the upcoming launch of Blackberry 10, their latest and greatest OS. Lately they've been trying to capture developers' interest for their platform and make sure they have a strong app ecosystem by the end of this month when BB 10 will launch.
Last week RIM reported that following their "port-a-thon", in which Android developers were payed to port their apps to BB10, they had received over 15,000 app submissions. That number rose to 19,000 by the end of last week. RIM is using incentives to convince developers to port their apps including giving a one time $100 check for each app that passes certification and enters Blackberry World, as well as a chance for developers to receive up to $9000 through the "10K Developer Commitment" program.
These incentives have proved to be very successful and the Canadian company has now confirmed that due to this success they would be extending the programs with the new deadline for submitting apps being pushed back until the 18th of next month.
Apps are a critical part of the success of devices. Look at Apple's iOS devices for example: without the hundreds of thousand of 3rd party apps Apple's devices would only be mildly interesting aluminum and glass slabs. Same goes for Microsoft's Windows Phone: it's doesn't matter how beautiful or well integrated the system is, or how great the hardware is, without widespread 3rd party app support Windows Phone is still struggling to get traction in the marketplace.
If this move is successful it will give RIM and Blackberry a better starting position when they launch BB10 on January 30th. And everyone knows RIM needs all the help it can get right now.
Source: Blackberry Dev Blog
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