RIM has made another connection with a third party Android app store to assist developers in bringing their apps to BlackBerry 10 and App World. They teamed up with Soc.Io Mall and setup a website develop4bb10.com to help developers port their apps. I am still on the fence on how Android support will play out for BlackBerry 10. On one hand it may lead to more developer interest once they get their toes wet but on the other hand the app experience is subpar. Either way this is the email that Soc.Io sent out to their developer partners:
Extend your reach with BlackBerry 10
Dear Soc.io Developer,
We are pleased to inform you that we have established strategic cooperation with Research In Motion™, to support their new BlackBerry 10 platform and open a new market for our Soc.io developer community within Blackberry App World™.
Did you know that BlackBerry App World™ is available in over 160 markets, supporting 26 currencies, 7 languages and 75 million subscribers? This is an excellent opportunity for you to extend your reach to this audience completely for free. And the best part is, it doesn’t require a greater effort than making yourself a cup of coffee! Remember, larger audience translates into higher App exposure, popularity and profits.
We are very excited about BlackBerry 10 as an open development platform which supports easy porting of Android apps, in most cases with no additional effort! You can submit your Android application to App World and have it converted to Blackberry 10 with a couple of clicks only.
To promote this great new platform, we have developed an online wizard minisite through which you will be able to register and convert your apps in 3 quick steps: www.develop4bb10.com
Each registered developer which has successfully converted and submitted their Android app to BlackBerry App World™ through this minisite will participate in our prize draw, with hundreds of prizes available including BlackBerry™ PlayBooks, BlackBerry™ Dev Alpha devices and many more!
We are glad that we can present you this exclusive opportunity as our member and please continue updating and submitting new apps to our mall. We will soon surprise you with many more opportunities to extend your reach and monetize on your apps!
Yours Sincerely,
Soc.io Community Support Team