RIM will be facing an uphill battle when it does eventually
launch BlackBerry 10, but the company is making sure it’ll have a
healthy selection of apps from the get-go by incentivizing developers.
RIM recently hosted two Port-a-Thon events to encourage developers to
submit their games and general apps for BlackBerry 10, offering $100 for
any app approved to the store. Naturally, the promise of cash seems to
have worked: 15,000 apps were submitted over the course of 37.5 hours.
Money wasn’t the only incentive, though, as BlackBerry hardware was
also on offer. The first developers submitting between two and five
approved apps were promised a free PlayBook, while those writing more
than five approved apps were entered into a random draw to receive a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device.
It’s doubtful that every app will be approved for the store, but RIM
needs as many submissions as possible if the company hopes for a successful launch.
