Blackberry free tablet offer to devs

The_B_Man

Surprised there was no mention of this.

Blackberry are giving away a free tablet to any developer who submits a new app to App World, but it has to be specifically for the tablet.

Since the new OS on the tablet will support Android apps, they've even gone and released a tool that plugs into Eclipse. With roughly 3 clicks, you can have an app ready to submit to App World.

If your app gets approved, they'll send you out a free tablet, worth about €200. This is to get their devices in the hands of developers and try and get a lot more 3rd party support, similar to Androids community.

I've my app submitted and approved already. I only registered last weekend. First I installed the environment and tools in eclipse, then ported my app, I then registered on the dev centre, which took about 2 days (REGISTER RIGHT NOW, TRUST ME!!). After that, I submitted by app straight away. There was some fiddling with logos and icons and screenshots, but it didnt take long.

The deadline is Monday, so you may want to get a move on. All you have to do is submit it by Monday, you don't have to have it approved, just submitted. But obviously you'll need your account activated to submit the app.

Link to tools here:
https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/android/tool/


Info here:
http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/02/latest-blackberry-playbook-tablet-offer-for-android-developers/



NOTE: You can submit any app for this promotion. It started off Android only, but there was so many devs wanting to take part, that they just opened it up to any app, as long as its not already submitted to App World. In other words, it HAS to be a new app.

They're not accepting apps that do one function, like a Fart Machine, or web shortcuts, but any app with a bit of complexity will be accepted. Defo worth it for the free Playbook!!

UnklePhil

Awesome! Thanks.

MacGyver

how long did the approval of your app take?

Liam Byrne

How can you develop an app without having a testing platform ?

cookie1977

apps have to be submitted by feb 13th to qualify. os 2 with the android player is rumoured tobe out on feb 17th. it's a great deal. i've a 16gb model and it's great. tried the developer os 2 with the android player and it worked pretty smooth so the final release should be even better

cookie1977

some more tips for speeding up approval here:

http://us.blackberry.com/developers/tablet/playbook_offer2012.jsp?CPID=TWDPromotion&Date=020812-2

Atomic Pineapple

Where do I sign up for the dev center!?

The_B_Man

MacGyver wrote: »

how long did the approval of your app take?

Registered Saturday, account activated Monday, submitted app Monday night, approved Wednesday. Got an email last night (Saturday) saying I got approved for the PlayBook.

Liam Byrne wrote: »

How can you develop an app without having a testing platform ?

If you look on the site, they provide tools. The testing platform is actually a VMWare image of a PlayBook. You also need the eclipse plugin which connects to the IP of the running VM and launches your app that way.

draffodx wrote: »

Where do I sign up for the dev center!?

here:
https://appworld.blackberry.com/isvportal/login_input.do

Atomic Pineapple

The_B_Man wrote: »

here:
https://appworld.blackberry.com/isvportal/login_input.do

Thanks, I signed up Friday but my account still isn't approved

The_B_Man

Check your spam folder for the email.

Also, go you can go into the help section and send them an email through their web form. They'll approve you no bother if you do that.
https://www.blackberry.com/profile/?eventId=8109

Atomic Pineapple

Was approved at 3am! I'm currently able to edit a product but I can't see where to upload the bar file, any ideas?

Fluffy88

Dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnn iiiiiiiittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!!!

I only saw this today
It would have been so good to get one of these for a few hours work
If anyone doesn't want their free tablet just send it on to me :P

The_B_Man

Fluffy88 wrote: »

Dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnn iiiiiiiittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!!!

I only saw this today
It would have been so good to get one of these for a few hours work
If anyone doesn't want their free tablet just send it on to me :P

Apparently the deadline has been extended.

Atomic Pineapple

The_B_Man wrote: »

Apparently the deadline has been extended.

Sweet!!

krazyklown

Hiya, i was thinking of having a go at this, i was just wondering what was the app you submitted? How complex/ the amount of functionality is in it?
Cheers!

The_B_Man wrote: »

Registered Saturday, account activated Monday, submitted app Monday night, approved Wednesday. Got an email last night (Saturday) saying I got approved for the PlayBook.



If you look on the site, they provide tools. The testing platform is actually a VMWare image of a PlayBook. You also need the eclipse plugin which connects to the IP of the running VM and launches your app that way.



here:
https://appworld.blackberry.com/isvportal/login_input.do

Fluffy88

The_B_Man wrote: »

Apparently the deadline has been extended.

Where do you see that?
I had great hopes when I saw this link at the bottom of the page you linked to in the OP

• Extending the offer for a free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet!

But it turns out, that's the page from last year

I'm still waiting on my account to get verified, but if the offer is extended I'll get to work on something tonight.

Again thanks for the info.

EDIT: Sorry for questioning you The_B_Man, found the info http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/02/playbook-offer-extension/
Now what to make ....
This is gonna be fun

Atomic Pineapple

I just used the APK converter as I was in a rush! Its sent in now anyway so be interesting to see if its approved! If I had a known it was extended I'd have done it properly!

The_B_Man

krazyklown wrote: »

Hiya, i was thinking of having a go at this, i was just wondering what was the app you submitted? How complex/ the amount of functionality is in it?
Cheers!

See the lotto app in my sig.
That got approved after 2 days or so, and its available on the market now, with a few downloads as well!


And as fluffy says. heres the proof of the extension@
PlayBook offer extended

That basically says you have until Wednesday to register as a dev for free, then you have until March 2nd to actually submit your app, so plenty of time to perfect it!

I reckon the reason for that is 2 fold.
Firstly, to give them more time to get through the backlog, and
secondly, so dev's wouldnt be panicking to submit apps, causing an overcrowding of rushed, half arsed apps filling App World!

cookie1977

Not bad considering the majority of owners are not running OS 2 yet so cant access the Android apps. Hopefully you'll see more come official launch.

krazyklown

Cool nice job - well done!

The_B_Man wrote: »

See the lotto app in my sig.
That got approved after 2 days or so, and its available on the market now, with a few downloads as well!

Atomic Pineapple

They must be under pressure, it took over 3 days for me just to get an email saying they received my submission!

Groinshot

What are the chances, I just finished an android app in college... Now to modify the code, and submit!

Atomic Pineapple

Groinshot wrote: »

What are the chances, I just finished an android app in college... Now to modify the code, and submit!

Its easy, check out the online apk checker to see what you have to change before you even download the tools, I had to remove Google maps from mine.

The_B_Man

Did u sign up as a developer before Wednesday 15th Feb? Coz that was the deadline for registering. App submissions have until March 2nd though, but you had to have registered before the 15th.

Groinshot

draffodx wrote: »

Its easy, check out the online apk checker to see what you have to change before you even download the tools, I had to remove Google maps from mine.

Clear! woo! I had nothing too particular in it, most of it was ported from iOS, and went to android without a problem

Crocked

OS2 is now available for download, so hopefully any of you devs who have got their apps up on App World will see a bump in downloads over the coming days/weeks

Atomic Pineapple

Crocked wrote: »

OS2 is now available for download, so hopefully any of you devs who have got their apps up on App World will see a bump in downloads over the coming days/weeks

I've been waiting 5 days now to hear from them after I got the confirmation that my app submission was successful.

Groinshot

draffodx wrote: »

I've been waiting 5 days now to hear from them after I got the confirmation that my app submission was successful.

mine took 5 working days, not including weekend.account was approved on monday last week, i repackaged and submitted on monday night, and got confirmation yesterday! As a side note, has anyone gotten their playbook yet? I'd be curious as to how my app runs on it

Atomic Pineapple

Groinshot wrote: »

mine took 5 working days, not including weekend.account was approved on monday last week, i repackaged and submitted on monday night, and got confirmation yesterday! As a side note, has anyone gotten their playbook yet? I'd be curious as to how my app runs on it

Do you mean your app has been approved or you've got the submission successful email?

I would have submitted my app the Sunday before you.

Groinshot

draffodx wrote: »

Do you mean your app has been approved or you've got the submission successful email?

I would have submitted my app the Sunday before you.

Ah, should read the emails, it's just the submission successful email,

Atomic Pineapple

Groinshot wrote: »

Ah, should read the emails, it's just the submission successful email,

I thought the same too! Its a bit of a misleading title/first line! 5 days ago that was now

The_B_Man

I got my free PlayBook today! Delighted with meself!! Love it so far!

It comes with an American charger but I've a tonne of chargers here anyway from other smart phones.

Tablet is very sleek and fast. A bit heavier than i expected actually. Also, comes with Need For Speed HD, which u can output to HDMI on ur telly to play it full screen!! Unreal! Especially for free!!

Atomic Pineapple

I still haven't heard anything from there, is there a blog anyway or anything like that with updates as to how they are getting on?

The_B_Man

Well they have their own blog here: http://blogs.blackberry.com/

and the developer blog here: http://devblog.blackberry.com/

If you are on twitter, you can follow all the usual suspects:
https://twitter.com/#!/BlackBerryDev
https://twitter.com/#!/asaunders


But tbh, they're under severe pressure. I have mates who submitted their app for approval ages ago and got nothing. Actually one submitted on the 9th and just got approved for App World today, but still no word on the PlayBook.

I think I was lucky in the way that I got in early before it was that widely known about. So I think mine sneaked in early and musta been in the first batch!!

Atomic Pineapple

Yeh I have to go find some patience I think, its just I know that there is one thing in it that it might fail on so I'd like to have some feedback on it so I can resubmit it quickly.

Well done on getting the app accepted and the playbook by the way.

The_B_Man

Cheers! I'm absolutely lovin it so far!

I'm hoping theres some way it can interact with an android phone though. I know there's Blackberry Bridge, but thats only for comms between blackberrys.

I'll also have to resist the urge to try actually put android on it. OS 2.0 itself seems decent enough, especially for media. I just played the sample HD Video that comes with it, and the speakers are actually class, as is the video quality!