All Aboard BlackBerry Port-A-Thon Rewards Devs For Porting Apps!

Update: RIM changed the date from their blog announcement to December 14th

RIM has been impressively successful getting game developers to port games to BlackBerry 10 with their BlackBerry Got Game Port-A-Thons. Now they are expanding it to BlackBerry 10 smartphone and BlackBerry PlayBook tablet apps. The name was changed to include all apps but the format is the same as the previous. Starting December 7th, 2012 December 14th, 2012 developers will have 36 hours to participate in this virtual event. You simply port apps from any platform other than BlackBerry 10 to BlackBerry 10 using the WebWorks SDK, Native SDK, or Cascades SDK and you win some awesome prizes (Android and AIR not included).

Here are the prizes:

• Get one or more apps approved – $100 per eligible app – a maximum of 20 paid applications
• Get between five and ten apps approved – THE FIRST TWO HUNDRED (200) QUALIFIED PARTICIPANTS ONLY receive one (1) Dev Alpha Device in addition to other rewards
• Get more than 10 BlackBerry apps approved – $100 per app + one (1) BlackBerry Dev Alpha + FOR THE FIRST TEN (10) QUALIFIED PARTICIPANTS ONLY one (1) paid trip to BlackBerry Jam Europe to celebrate the launch of BlackBerry 10 with us!

Find all the instructions below and at RIM’s announcement. If you are an app developer or know one this is an easy way to get in on BlackBerry 10 at launch and make some extra holiday cash on the side!

Don’t forget: Getting prepared ahead of time is in your best interest

Since more apps ported and built means more rewards*, it makes sense to get a few things ready before you join the event. Here’s what you need:

1. Register for BlackBerry World if you haven’t already.
2. Request signature keys. Make sure that you select for BlackBerry PlayBook OS and BlackBerry 10 and higher. Downloading in advance is strongly recommended as the time involved to do so could prevent you from earning some rewards.
3. Load up your laptop with BlackBerry tools and plug-ins. Make sure you have your full source code file readily available too.
4. Make sure you have your images and icons ready to go.

We also have porting tips and guides you can use to get a head start at developer.blackberry.com.