MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA and WATERLOO – Research In Motion is offering Appcelerator Titanium mobile developers a number of incentives, including financial rewards, free services, and testing hardware, for creating BlackBerry 10 applications.
The incentives are open to Appcelerator's ecosystem of over 390,000 developers, who have 50,000 applications deployed worldwide on over 90 million devices. Through the Titanium's cross platform capabilities, developers and enterprises will be able to build and port their applications to BlackBerry 10. Appcelerator says that developers should have the ability to reuse between 65-90% of their code as they port from other leading platforms to BlackBerry 10. Titanium for BlackBerry 10 will be available on December 7, 2012 in a prerelease version.
Incentive programs for developers will include the following:
– The first 1,000 developers will receive a BlackBerry Dev Alpha test device, once their application has been submitted for review on the BlackBerry World storefront
– Up to 10,000 developers will receive one year of free Appcelerator Cloud Services (ACS) and Analytics, once their app is approved and available for sale on BlackBerry World
– Applications that have been submitted can qualify for the BlackBerry 10k Developer Commitment
"Appcelerator's community will not only have the ability to leverage Appcelerator's native applications for faster porting, but will also be part of the growing momentum for BlackBerry 10 and be able to take advantage of the phenomenal programs we have for developers, such as the 10k commitment," said Alec Saunders, Vice President, Developer Relations and Ecosystems, RIM.
According to Appcelerator, customers who standardize on the Titanium platform can get to market up to 70% and can quickly optimize business results with analytics-driven insights into user behavior and app performance. Appcelerator Analytics gives developers insight on how apps are performing, what features are being used the most, and where there are opportunities for improvement. Appcelerator Cloud Services (ACS) offers a fast and easy way to build connected apps with services including status updates, photo storage and social integration.
"As Appcelerator announced at the BlackBerry World 2012 conference in May, we are committed to delivering outstanding support for BlackBerry10 within Titanium," said Sandeep Johri, Chief Operating Officer, Appcelerator. "In our quest to deliver native apps across all the major platforms, we are excited to roll out compelling incentives for Appcelerator's mobile developer community, including the tools for building and bringing apps to BlackBerry 10."
Appcelerator will demonstrate Titanium support for BlackBerry 10 at BlackBerry Jam Asia in Bangkok, Thailand, November 29-30, and will host an on-site developer workshop. RIM will offer training and support through a webcast beginning the week of December 10, 2012.
BlackBerry 10 Developer Program Updated
BlackBerry Jam Asia – Research In Motion (RIM) also announced updates to its developer ecosystem programs, including BlackBerry Dev Alpha test devices, the 10k developer commitment, updated tools and more.
"Developers from around the world are joining us on the last leg of the journey to the launch of BlackBerry 10 and we are thrilled at the enthusiasm we see from them. We have worked hard, and continue to work hard to meet the needs of developers," said Alec Saunders, Vice President, Developer Relations and Ecosystems.
The BlackBerry Dev Alpha program is expanding to include a BlackBerry Dev Alpha C test device for developers who want to test applications on a BlackBerry 10 device with a physical keyboard. For now, developers can sign up for more information on how they can qualify for this upcoming test device.
Developers currently testing their applications on BlackBerry Dev Alpha test devices can now apply to be eligible for a limited edition BlackBerry 10 device. RIM will swap a BlackBerry Dev Alpha test device for a limited edition BlackBerry 10 smartphone after the launch. The deadline for applying is January 21, 2013 and developers must have an app submitted and approved on BlackBerry World.
The Built for BlackBerry certification lab is now open. Developers can submit their apps for testing to earn the Built for BlackBerry designation, which will signify a high-level of quality for customers. Developers can submit an app for Built for BlackBerry certification once the app has been submitted on BlackBerry World and approved for sale. Applications need to pass the certification before they can be considered for the 10k commitment. RIM has previously announced that it would top up the amount an eligible developer earns on a BlackBerry 10 app to $10,000, if the app has been approved through the Built for BlackBerry program, and has earned a minimum of $1,000 over 12 months.
The BlackBerry 10 SDKs also received their latest update today. The developer community has been providing feedback on the tools and this update will add support for installing the BlackBerry 10 IDE on Mac OS X, an update to the Visual Studio Plug-In beta, forward compatibility for BlackBerry WebWorks HTML5 apps, sensor and orientation APIs for BlackBerry WebWorks, and more. The BlackBerry 10 SDKs will come out of beta into full launch on December 11, 2012.
The BlackBerry App Generator, powered by Mippin, can turn online content (Rss, Facebook brand/fan pages, blogs, online galleries, etc.) into native BlackBerry app within minutes. Apps built with the BlackBerry App Generator for BlackBerry OS 5, OS 6, OS 7 and the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet include social sharing organically, including BlackBerry Messenger integration. The BlackBerry App Generator can automatically take current BlackBerry App generator apps and create a BlackBerry 10 application, and publish it on BlackBerry World in time for the launch of BlackBerry 10.
