The amount of submissions that RIM has been receiving for the Built For BlackBerry App Developer Challenge has been so overwhelming that they have decided to extend the deadline. Developers looking to submit a Built For BlackBerry app can now do so until February 18th at 8PM EST. Registration for your apps into the $10K Developer Commitment program continues until February 18th.  Keep in mind that only apps build specifically for BlackBerry 10 can be used to enter. Android or BlackBerry App Generator apps are not eligible for the offer. Hit the link below for all the details and to sign up.

RIM has been hosting BlackBerry 10 Port-A-Thons where thousands of app developers have easily ported their applications over to BlackBerry from other platforms. The last chance Port-A-Thon starts January 18th at Noon EST and continues for 36 hours. Here are some requirements and what you’re eligible for if you port:

• Port one or more approved apps and you’ll receive $100 per eligible app, to a maximum of 20 paid applications per Vendor
• Additionally, submit five (5) or more apps and be entered into a random draw for one (1) of two hundred and fifty (250) Limited Edition BlackBerry 10 devices. You’ll receive one (1) entry for the first five (5) approved apps and an additional entry for each approved app after that.

Be sure to check out all the details for this last chance even on RIM’s BlackBerry Developer Blog, which is linked below. Porting is easy and pays off very quickly.

With the BlackBerry 10 launch quickly approaching, the BlackBerry 10 SDK has gone “Gold” and top app developers and partners continue to commit to the platform. According to a recent Pivot Point Research report, commissioned by RIM, 58% of developers surveyed would recommend BlackBerry 10 as a development platform, a 123% increase from May to October 2012. The survey also found a steady increase in satisfaction among developers with the BlackBerry 10 platform, growing by 56% over the same time period.

RIM has issued a Press Release about the Gold status of the BlackBerry 10 SDK with lots of additonal information on developer interest in the platform. The release starts below and continues past the break.

Press Release

BlackBerry 10 SDK Toolkit Goes “Gold”

Interest from Global, Diversified Developer Community Continues to Grow as BlackBerry 10 Launch Approaches

RIM has been hard at work creating and seeding developer devices. They started with the original Dev Alpha device and then refined it with the Dev Alpha B, which is the current device featuring near-final hardware. Now, they have announced a third developer device that will be coming out in the next few weeks. The Dev Alpha C will be a prototype of the physical keyboard BlackBerry 10 device and will go to the first 1,500 qualified developers. To qualify, you must submit two or more apps and meet the following criteria:

• 50 points for ported Android applications
• 250 points for all other applications (Native, BlackBerry® WebWorks™, Adobe AIR)
• 1,500 points for Built For BlackBerry certified application
• 200 points to start for BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha A/B recipients
• 200 points to start if you are a BlackBerry Elite Member

IF you’re a developer looking to grab a new Dev Alpha C, then make sure you meet the above requirements and click the link below to register for a new Dev Alpha C.

• Register here for a Dev Alpha C Developer Device

RIM announced earlier this week that BlackBerry 10 would Launch January 30, 2013 and that BlackBerry 10 devices would be hitting store shelves in February. Now, they are releasing some more information on BlackBerry 10, this time targeted towards developers. Here’s what RIM released today:

BlackBerry 10 Developer Tools – Gold SDKs

On December 11, 2012 we will release the gold version of the BlackBerry 10 Developer Software SDKs. This signifies that developers can complete final testing and tweaking and submit their apps knowing it will run on the commercial release of BlackBerry 10 smartphone OS.

Some other milestones and events:

• November 16^th, 2012 – The start date for the BlackBerry Got Game Port-a-Thon; a 36-hour event dedicated to helping developers get their gaming apps launched for BlackBerry 10. This is a virtual event that allows developers to log in from the comfort of their own space.
  • Developers bring their existing gaming apps or build new gaming apps for BlackBerry 10, and we’ll have experts on hand around the clock to help you get your gaming apps up and running on BlackBerry 10. There are amazing prizes and incentives for developers to take part in this port-a-thon.
• January 21^st, 2013 – The deadline for apps to be submitted to BlackBerry App World in order to qualify for the $10K Developer Commitment program. This offer is not only a sign of our confidence in our platform as a revenue generator for developers, but also shows our commitment to developer success.
  • A couple of notes on this program:
    • The app needs to independently earn $1,000 USD in net revenue in BlackBerry App World – this can include digital goods sold through the Payment Service SDK (in-app payments).
    • If the app earns at least $1,000 USD on its own, but less than $10,000 USD, RIM will pay the difference between the revenue earned and $10,000 USD

RIM has just announced that their BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour for Enterprise developers will be coming to 11 new cities in the coming weeks. Here is the list of dates and cities:

• Toronto, Canada – October 23
• London, UK – October 23
• Ottawa, Canada – October 25
• Amsterdam, Netherlands – November 1
• Frankfurt, Germany – November 6
• São Paulo, Brazil – November 6
• Washington, DC – November 8
• New York, NY – November 13
• Madrid, Spain – November 15
• Mexico City, Mexico – November 16
• Chicago, IL – November 28

Press Release

BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour for Enterprise Developers Coming to 11 Cities Around the World

Waterloo, ON – October 19, 2012 – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the BlackBerry® 10 Jam World Tour for enterprise developers, which will initially roll out to 11 cities around the world beginning October 23 in Toronto, Canada and London, UK. The tour is designed to help developers in organizations create applications on the BlackBerry 10 platform that can securely access and leverage behind-the-firewall data within their organizations.

According to a recent survey conducted by Appcelerator and IDC, enterprise developers planning to develop a mobile business application soared from 29 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 43 percent in the second quarter of 2012.*

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RIM has acknowledged that many developers with Dev Alpha units were previously having issues when trying to update the device’s Operating System. In response to those issues, RIM has released an Autoloader tool to help with the update. The Autoloader requires you to use a Windows-based PC to do the update, but besides that, it’s a very simple process. Just click the link below to download the Autoloader and follow the instructions there to update your Dev Alpha.

• Update your Dev Alpha with RIM’s Autoloader

RIM has had Theme Studio for BlackBerry 7 in Beta for a while and we haven’t heard much else about it, until today. RIM has just announced on the Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog, via a post entitled “One Door Closes, Another Door Opens,” that they will not be releasing Theme Studio for BlackBerry 7 and that BlackBerry 10 WILL NOT have a theme option.

First, let us take a look at Theme Studio for BlackBerry 7. The Beta is out there but it’s not being very widely used and developer feedback on the software has been bad. There will not be an official release of Theme Studio for BlackBerry 7. The blog post cites the following specifically for Theme Studio 7:

“Once we looked at the final product, it was clear to us that it didn’t address theme developer needs or asks. In addition, feedback from our Theme Studio beta testers showed us that the quality of the tooling would not be acceptable.”

Now, on to BlackBerry 10. RIM has no plans to release a Theme Studio for BlackBerry 10, and even if they wanted to, themeing may not even be possible with the custom interface that BlackBerry 10 runs on. Here is more from the blog on why there won’t be themes for BlackBerry 10:

“there will be no Theme Studio product for BlackBerry 10 and there will be no theme support in the BlackBerry 10 OS. We’ve worked diligently over the last year and a half with our design team to create a new user interface – focused around the idea of “flow”. While there are some great themes built for the current BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10 is designed to provide users a unique experience that can be personalized in other ways, but will have a consistent look and feel in iconography and settings.”

So, there you have it. Direct from RIM, confirmation that themes on BlackBerry are a thing of the past. Theme developers need not be discouraged; however. Building applications for BlackBerry 10 requires little to no additional knowledge above what you currently possess for themes. Take a little time to check out developing for BlackBerry 10 and you may find a new outlet to keep the revenue flowing in and your love for BlackBerry flowing out.

Source : Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog

App World has been around for a while and, until now, there hasn’t been a clear guide for what apps get approved and what apps get rejected. RIM has just released what they are calling the “BlackBerry App World Vetting Criteria” which helps developers know what not to include in their applications if they want App World approval. You can check out the brief criteria explanation past the break or just click the link below to check out the PDF containing the full criteria for apps in App World.

• Check out the App World Approval Guidelines Here

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Research In Motion has promised time and again that they are committed to developers and have shown it just as often. RIM is showing their commitment again by becoming a gold sponsor for the 2013 VisionMobile Developer Economics survey. The survey “focuses on the best practices for the tools, services and APIs that developers use to build, market and monetize their apps” and is available now at the link below. Developers who take the survey are eligible to win a Dev Alpha or a PlayBook 4G LTE, among other prizes.

• Vote in the 2013 VisionMobile Developer Economics Survey

Source : Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog

RIM has just opened up a new “Tech Center” in the UK to help developers port their apps to BlackBerry 10. In this new Tech Center they have a special space called the “porting lab,” where registered developers can bring their current apps and have them ported to BlackBerry 10. There are multiple rooms across the Tech Center, complete with food, drinks, and computers to help developers out. The center is staffed with at least one BlackBerry evangelist who can help developers port their apps over.

All registered BlackBerry Developers are welcome to visit the Tech Center and Porting Lab to get a little help with their apps. Whether you have a BlackBerry 7 app that needs some additional coding for BlackBerry 10, or an Android app that needs a direct port, the team at this center can help. The Tech Center is located at RIM’s headquarters in the UK and opened five days per week

This is just a small part of what RIM is doing to help developers. There are the numerous BlackBerry Jam events, Dev Alphas, new developer relations staff, and much more that RIM is doing. In addition to this first Tech Center in the UK, RIM has plans for four more in San Francisco, Vancouver, India, and Indonesia.

Source : CrackBerry

Wikitude has just announced availability of the first Augmented Reality SDK for BlackBerry 10. The release of this SDK is set to coincide with the opening day of BlackBerry Jam Americas so that developers can begin to use the SDK in their applications. Wikitude will be live-demoing their BlackBerry 10 app and SDK on stage at the Jam Americas Keynote this morning. Read on past the break for the full Press Release with all the information on the release of the Wikitude SDK for BlackBerry 10.

• Download the Wikitude Augmented Reality SDK

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Tungle.me is a development company that RIM purchased a short while ago in a effort to further expand their developmental capabilities. Shortly after being brought on by RIM, the BlackBerry PlayBook Calendar application was developed by the Tungle team. Tungle.me was also a service by itself prior to RIM’s acquisition of the company.

The Tungle.me scheduling service is still running as a standalone service; however, it will be shutting down completely on December 3rd. RIM has made the decision to shutter Tungle.me so that they can bring the Tungle team in for full-time BlackBerry 10 development. This development team is currently working on the calendar, contacts, messaging, notes, and memos applications for BlackBerry 10.

You can read the email that Tungle.me is sending out to users past the break and you can view Tungle’s own shutdown announcement at the link below.

• Read Tungle.me’s Blog Post on the Coming Shut Down

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As we all know, application development is the backbone of smartphones and can make or break a company. We also know that mobile gaming has made huge strides and is now rivaling console gaming for the first time in history. This shift is due in part to the rise of development studios in Latin America. The stats on mobile development in Latin America are just astounding. One of our partners, Latin American game developer Rock ‘n’ Roll Game Studio, has put together an awesome infographic detailing this development boom. Check it out past the break.

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RIM has just opened up the nominations for the 2012 BlackBerry Developer Community Awards. This is a community-driven contest that nominates developers who are the best at what they do in the following six categories:

• Must-Follow BlackBerry Developer on Twitter
• Must-Read BlackBerry Developer Blog
• Must-See BlackBerry Developer Evangelist
• Most Helpful BlackBerry Team Member on Twitter
• Most Helpful Contributor to the BlackBerry Developer Forums
• Best Open Source Contribution

Nominations will take place between now and September 16th, then voting will open up September 18th through the 26th. The award winners will be announced live at BlackBerry Jam America on September 26th. You can get all the voting and category details at the link below.

• Vote in the 2012 BlackBerry Developer Community Awards