BlackBerry Worldwide Launch Continues with European Push to Developers Today; Details Revealed

At its second annual BlackBerry Jam Europe developer event, BlackBerry today provided updates to the BlackBerry developer community, including updates to the BlackBerry 10 developer toolkit, new benefits of the reward programs, and the opening of app submissions in the BlackBerry World storefront vendor portal for the BlackBerry Q10 smartphone.

BlackBerry Jam Europe, fully booked for the second year, follows closely on the heels of the extremely successful global launch of the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones on January 30, which highlighted the support and commitment by developers for the BlackBerry 10 platform with 70,000 apps at launch - more apps than any first-generation mobile platform. In addition, a recent study by Vision Mobile found that 38% of developers identified BlackBerry as their lead platform*.

"I have never seen as much excitement and enthusiasm for a platform that compares to what we are seeing with BlackBerry 10. BlackBerry Jam Europe is a great time for us to thank the developer community for their continued loyalty, support and amazing enthusiasm," said Alec Saunders, Vice President of Ecosystem and Developer Relations. "We want to keep that momentum going and are today announcing updates to the toolkit, our reward and incentive programs, and more. We are listening to our community and are evolving our programs to help them achieve success on BlackBerry 10 and be recognized for their efforts and accomplishments."

BlackBerry 10.1 SDK

The updated tools for building or tweaking applications for the BlackBerry 10 smartphone, which features a physical QWERTY keyboard, are now available. The tools will allow developers to optimize their apps to run on the smartphone's 720 x 720 display. The toolkit also contains a new BlackBerry Q10 simulator. Apps built natively for BlackBerry 10 using the Cascades framework have built-in functionality that automatically adjusts to various screen specifications. More information on this update is available here: http://devblog.blackberry.com/2013/02/blackberry-q10-sdk-update/

Built for BlackBerry App Program

BlackBerry continues to support its developer community and reward the effort and work for building quality applications through the Built for BlackBerry app program. At BlackBerry Jam Europe, BlackBerry announced updates to the Built for BlackBerry program including a top Built for BlackBerry list on BlackBerry World to increase discoverability and marketability of Built for BlackBerry apps. Eventually, the only apps that will be featured on the BlackBerry World carousel will be Built for BlackBerry apps. For more information see here: https://developer.blackberry.com/builtforblackberry/documentation/overview.html

Limited Edition BlackBerry 10 Smartphones

BlackBerry also announced that 12,000 Limited Edition smartphones are being built exclusively for developers who created apps in time for launch. Developers who had previously qualified to receive a BlackBerry Dev Alpha A or B testing device, and who have an application submitted on BlackBerry World, may apply to swap the testing device unit for the red, limited edition model of the BlackBerry Z10. Details around the terms and conditions can be found here: https://developer.blackberry.com/limitededition/