Research in Motion hasn't had much luck getting hordes of app developers interested in their platform, despite claims that App World is the second most profitable mobile application store behind Apple's. But the company is hoping to change that with the upcoming release of BlackBerry 10, offering incentives such as $100 in cash per approved app and free BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha devices for those submitting multiple apps.
The Canadian firm is specifically targeting developers working with other platforms, especially Android, to bring their programs to its upcoming operating system. And their approach certainly got a fair bit of attention. According to RIM, more than 15,000 BlackBerry 10 apps were submitted to BlackBerry App World in less than two days as part of a virtual community Port-A-Thon event that was run over the weekend.
But while the company will be able to bump the number of BlackBerry 10 apps ahead of the platform's launch, quantity does not equal quality. It remains to be seen whether major apps and services will be making the jump too and how many of those 15,000 are just random low-quality apps going for a quick $100 reward.
So far the company has promised that Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and Facebook will all be on board at launch, along with native support for Google Talk. Instagram doesn't appear to have made the cut, though.
BlackBerry 10 will finally launch at the end of the month after several delays and management shake-ups. Built on the same QNX foundation that powered the ill-fated PlayBook tablet, the company hopes to reestablish its brand in the mobile space with new features like BlackBerry Flow and Hub for easier navigation and quick notification updates, an adaptive dual layered on-screen keyboard, and BlackBerry Balance to keep work and business content separately stored and encrypted on the phone.
The January 30 launch event is expected to include a pair of BlackBerry 10 devices: a full touch-screen smartphone and one resembling its current Bold flagship line with a physical QWERTY keyboard.
Source : techspot[dot]com
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