Developers submitted tens of thousands of applications for the BlackBerry 10 OS.  Many developers were working very hard to meet our January 21 deadline for BlackBerry World approval, Built for BlackBerry approval and ultimately to qualify for the BlackBerry Developer 10K Developer Commitment (“10K Program”).  This created a bit of a queue. You know that. I know that. In fact, I’ve read about it before, right here on the Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog http://devblog.blackberry.com/2013/02/built-for-blackberry-update-2/.

That backlog of applications in review had many people concerned that they would not meet the requirements and deadlines for the 10K Program, since apps must be approved in BlackBerry World and approved as Built for BlackBerry before they are eligible to apply for the 10K program.  So, here’s the scoop – if you submitted your app before the January 21 deadline, and your app was approved by BlackBerry World, you are still eligible for the 10K program; even if your approval notice came after the February 18 deadline to apply for the 10K program.  We will reach out to all vendors this applies to within the next week with further information and instructions.

Please note that you must, however, obtain your Built for BlackBerry approval sometime before March 3, 2014 to be eligible for the $10k Developer Commitment program in any fashion.

And if your app isn’t already up for sale on BlackBerry World, now is the time to publish it. Why? Because that is the date your app must be up for sale in BlackBerry World to qualify for the 10K program – even if you have not yet obtained Built for BlackBerry approval by March 4. Any earnings (as defined in the 10K program Terms and Conditions) acquired from March 4 on will be counted toward your total earnings for the $10k Developer Commitment program. The sales period will end as of March 3, 2014, so you would want to have every sale count!

So here’s the calendar of important dates you need to keep in mind:

• January 21 – Submission Deadline – (yes, it’s in the past, but still important to note) Your BlackBerry 10 app needed to be submitted to BlackBerry World by this date. As long as it was submitted, you met the first qualifier for the $10k Developer Commitment program.
• March 4 – Sale Period Start Date – Your BlackBerry World-approved app must be up for sale in BlackBerry World on or before this date. All earnings from this date, whether your app has been Built for BlackBerry approved yet or not, will be considered in calculating your total earnings for any payout under the $10k Developer Commitment program.
• March 3, 2014 – Sale Period End Date – Your app must have received Built for BlackBerry approval before this date to be eligible for the $10k Developer Commitment program.

Aside from the changes noted above, all other provisions of the $10k Developer Commitment program Terms and Conditions still apply.

Sound off below on my clarifying post! My team and I will work to help answer any questions.

The Built for BlackBerry program is very near and dear to my heart. If you have heard me talk about apps at our recent global BlackBerry Jam conferences, you have heard me say that the best chance an app has for success is to be an app of good quality that provides good value to users. Built for BlackBerry is a program to help developers be recognized for delivering a level of quality in their applications, while also giving customers a sense of assurance that the apps they are investing in will be of good quality.

There’s been a great deal of contention lately around the qualification process.

We have seen feedback that many well-built, well designed apps are not qualifying for our Built for BlackBerry program – specifically we are looking at the apps that have been rejected for being “single function” apps. I’ve personally gone through the forum posts on this topic.  I’ve looked at many of the apps, and I’ve seen that some of the apps that have been rejected have greater utility than the reviewer initially thought. So, based on the feedback from you, our developers,  we’re making some changes on how we address these apps in Built for BlackBerry review.

First, we’re going to re-review all the applications that were failed solely on the basis of being a single function app. This re-review has already begun and will continue until we’ve reviewed and communicated back to the developers of these apps. I should note that if an app failed as a single function and failed another portion of the criteria such as lack of BlackBerry 10 UI or Service Integration, then these apps will not be re-reviewed.  Developers of apps that failed on multiple criteria, including simple application, will need to correct the other reasons for failure first, and then resubmit the app for evaluation.  It’s also important to understand that very simple applications will still not be qualified to earn the Built for BlackBerry designation.

This new level of review may take us beyond March 4th – which is the start date for the $10k Developer Commitment revenue period. Because of this, any apps submitted before prior deadlines, but approved for Built for BlackBerry after March 4th will have their revenue retroactively tracked back to March 4, 2013.

Second, we’re going to institute an appeals process.  If you feel that your app has been misunderstood or unfairly rejected, there will be a mechanism by which you can submit your reasoning to us, and a group of senior reviewers at BlackBerry will take your feedback under consideration.

Third, we’re re-working rejection mails in order to provide better clarity and guidance. This is a delicate balancing act, however.  One trap we don’t want to fall into is designing apps for our developers – only you know the functionality you want to deliver, and in most cases you will be better qualified to understand your customer than our reviewers will.

And finally, Built for BlackBerry is designed to showcase the best than can be built for the BlackBerry 10 platform.  To help you understand the acceptance criteria,  we’ll be publishing case studies on these apps to help guide your app development.

We remain committed to the goals of Built for BlackBerry – recognizing high quality applications that deliver on the promise of BlackBerry 10 by creating experiences that showcase the power of the platform.  We’re adjusting the program today, in the spirit of the partnership that we’ve forged over the last year with you, our developer community.

And on behalf of everyone at BlackBerry I want to thank you for your continued feedback, good will, and support for the BlackBerry platform.
If you have any questions – I’m available – alec.saunders@blackberry.com

Keep jamming!

Alec

This is for you, BlackBerry developers!

Thank you for all of the outstanding applications you have developed for BlackBerry 10.

Thank you for all of the long hours, late nights and early mornings you’ve spent coding.

Thank you for traveling hundreds or thousands of miles to BlackBerry Jam events around the world.

Thank you for taking a leap of faith. And thank you for believing in BlackBerry 10.

Since we can’t say thank you enough, we’re releasing 12,000 new Limited Edition BlackBerry Z10 devices, in red.

Because you have earned them.

Follow the process below to get one step closer to your limited edition. For additional information, click here.

Remember we’ve extended the deadline for the Limited Edition Z10 to February 28^th. So don’t delay!

Don’t get me wrong, I love roller coasters and whacky amusement park rides. But this took things to a whole new level.

“3… 2… 1…” came the countdown behind me… and 11 seconds later I was on the ground.

This is for you BlackBerry Developers!

Now that the dust is settling from this weekend’s Last Chance Port-A-Thon, we’re excited to announce that over 19,000 applications were submitted to BlackBerry World over the weekend. This continues to show an overwhelming level of commitment from developers to the BlackBerry 10 platform.

We’ve heard your questions and concerns about the Built for BlackBerry deadline. The fact is, the volume of apps being submitted for review and entry into the program has been remarkable. Due to that large volume of apps, we are extending the deadline:

• Apps that have been submitted on or before 8pm EST on January 21^st,2013 may qualify for the $10k Developer Commitment if the developer agrees to the official terms and conditions and passes Built for BlackBerry testing.
• Developers may apply for Built for BlackBerry review and the $10k Developer Commitment offer in the BlackBerry World Vendor Portal by 8pm ET Feb 18^th
• The qualifying sale dates for the 10k Commitment is 12:01am ET, March 4 2013 to 11:59pm ET, March 3 2014

Don’t forget to review the Built for BlackBerry criteria before you apply and just a friendly reminder that BlackBerry App Generator and Android apps do not qualify for Built for BlackBerry or the $10k Commitment.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it now – you ask, we listen. We’ve heard your concerns over the status of the Built for BlackBerry program and I want to address your questions and tell you what we’re going to do to make sure building for BlackBerry is an amazing experience.

The first thing we did when we set out to rebuild the BlackBerry Developer ecosystem for BlackBerry 10 was to ask our dedicated BlackBerry developers what they needed. First, they asked for actual hardware – and we delivered that with the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha program. Next, they asked for support for promotion, marketing and revenue. That was the spark that led us to create the Built for BlackBerry and $10k Developer Commitment programs.

An app or game certified as Built for BlackBerry means it not just adheres to our BlackBerry 10 UI Guidelines, but it delivers a customer experience that is highly engaging, high caliber and demonstrates the beautiful, social, integrated essence of BlackBerry 10.

I’ve been told that the Built for BlackBerry criteria are pretty strict – and that’s true. They should be. When RIM approves a title as Built for BlackBerry it means we’re putting the full weight of our brand behind that app or game. These are the titles we will be looking at promoting and holding up as examples and we have an expectation about those apps. Apps and games for BlackBerry must:

• Focus on delivering intended content, keeping the screen as uncluttered of controls as possible.
• Implement gesture and flow techniques, such as peek gestures, for fluid user interaction.
• Provide effective processor, memory, and power management.

To be as transparent as possible, there have been many apps submitted that do meet these criteria. We’ve had over 900 Android apps submitted to the Built for BlackBerry program – and Android apps do not qualify for the program in any way. Neither do web launchers, simple apps that mobilize content with RSS feeds, flashlight apps, et cetera. The expectation is that apps certified as Built for BlackBerry have been designed, developed, and polished to provide an amazing experience for our BlackBerry 10 customers. I say “our” because BlackBerry 10 customers are your customers too.

We’ve also heard requests to add more detail to the Built for BlackBerry emails so that you can make changes necessary to achieve the Built for BlackBerry certification. Our team is working now to update what details we provide and you’ll start seeing those changes this week.

You might be wondering in a more literal way what we are looking for in Built for BlackBerry apps. We have now started to notify the first group of approved Built for BlackBerry apps and I can show you what we mean.

Yay! FancyTran just passed the Built for BlackBerry certification! Best apps are coming to you with #BB10—
FancyApps Limited (@FancyApps4BB) January 17, 2013

FancyTran from FancyApps Limited is a good example. FancyTran brings their highly rated app to a new level with FancyTran on BlackBerry 10. The entire app can be navigated with just your thumb – allowing you to quickly dictate and translate from 14 languages to over 60 languages. FancyTran also leverages our BlackBerry Payment Service to easily allow customers to purchase the full version of the app once it’s downloaded from BlackBerry World.

It is simple, easy to use, high-performing, built in a native BlackBerry environment (no Android folks) and integrated. It leverages BlackBerry platform services and syncs to native voice features seamlessly.

The mark of quality is important to us, as it is to you. We know that quality applications will make the difference in a crowded marketplace and we want you to continue to tweak and build your apps to be part of this program with us. Stay tuned for further evolutions of the Built for BlackBerry program and new incentives.

And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

So ends King Harry’s speech before the battle of Agincourt in Henry the 5^th. It is one of my favorite speeches in all of Shakespeare.  I have been thinking of it a lot recently, because that lofty inspirational speech also is a wonderful metaphor for the challenge ahead of RIM and my team, and beautifully articulates the kind of passion I have for what we do every day.

Since I started with RIM last summer, my mantra has been “not business as usual”.  We have set out to be the best company in mobile for developers. We have built an amazing team of people who work with developers because developers are smart, passionate, opinionated, outspoken, funny and genuinely interesting people.  We know that developers are the ones who understand that it’s OK if you don’t get a UDP joke.  For us, it’s not just a job.  It’s a calling.  Developers are our people.

This week was one of stark contrasts.  Stark.

We kicked off our annual developer conference, BlackBerry® Jam Americas yesterday at the San Jose Convention Center.  The energy in the San Jose conference center was a palpable reflection of the enthusiasm we have for what we do – I shook hands, met people, participated in a meet up with a bunch of Argentinean developers via video link, took photographs, was photographed – I even autographed phones.  It was a huge blast.

We had some gifts for our developer community too.

• The news that BlackBerry 10 is API feature complete – devs can get to work in earnest on BlackBerry 10 apps.
• A preview of BlackBerry App World™ for BlackBerry 10, and how it will drive more sales and downloads for them.
• The news that some amazing big names, like foursquare and Cisco, are building for BlackBerry 10.
• Hard dates that they could build their own schedules for software delivery around.
• The launch of the 10k Reasons to Believe campaign.
• The launch of our BlackBerry Elite developers program.
• The launch of our new BlackBerryDev YouTube channel
• The upcoming BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour for enterprise

And more.

As I said, yesterday was a day of stark contrasts.

One of the gifts we made for our developer community was a music video.  Marty, Chris, and I made a rework of REO Speedwagon’s Keep on Loving You with some tongue in cheek lyrics (how many singers do you know that can croon the phrase “mobile endeavours” with a straight face?).  We did it because we hate those corporate “energy” videos that are such a staple of conference introductions everywhere, and because we knew that our community would love the humour.  It was risky, but we had previously covered another song for BlackBerry 10 Jam Orlando, and the BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour and our developer community loved that one.

This time we put it up on YouTube, on our new developer channel.   And for the last 24 hours, our developer community has told us over and over again how much they loved that gift, and how much they appreciated the humor in it.

However, the mainstream media didn’t get it.   Some called it weird.  One outlet said that it would be the reason for RIM’s eventual demise – I had hoped for impact, but perhaps not at that scale.  One commenter criticized my waistline.  I know… I’m 48, and it is time to hit the gym more often.

I don’t expect the mainstream media to get it.   They’re not developers.  They don’t have the context.   And frankly, what most want to write about is the drama around RIM.

My team and I, we wear our hearts on our sleeves for this community. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers and sisters, we’re making a difference.  We have more than doubled the applications available on BlackBerry in 12 months.  We announced 105,000 applications approved for sale on BlackBerry App World, yesterday, of which over 25,000 are PlayBook.  We have more than doubled the size of RIM’s developer community in the last 12 months.   And I know that if you ask any developer who builds for BlackBerry today, that our openness, and interaction with this community is dramatically different from what it was a year ago and that they love what we have done for them.   This conference, BlackBerry Jam Americas, is a learning event, but it’s also a celebration of our community and we were there to celebrate their successes and ours.

This morning, reflecting on the situation, I realized that when we launch BlackBerry 10 early next year, the support and success of our developer community is all that will matter to me.

And those critics shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here.

Over the last year, our mantra has been “you ask, we act”. We announced two new initiatives last week: Built for BlackBerry® and the $10K Developer Commitment. We’ve put a lot of thought and work into both programs – with two ultimate goals in mind; a chance for you to build a successful business on BlackBerry® 10 and a great app experience for our users. BlackBerry® WebWorks™ and our BlackBerry 10 Native SDK are designed to help achieve both these goals.

You asked (and rightly so): “What about apps built in AIR?” Well, apps built in Adobe® AIR® are awesome – we see them every day on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. Josh even wrote a post about amazingly fast games built in Adobe Flash.

Well – you asked, and we’re doing. Starting today – apps built using AIR tooling (BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR, NME, Flash Builder) are eligible for both the Built for BlackBerry and the $10K Developer Commitment programs.

We’ve said it before – quality matters. Can’t wait to see what you build.

BlackBerry Jam Americas – Sept 25-27, San Jose CA

BlackBerry® Jam Americas 2012 is a showcase for the bold, new direction BlackBerry is heading with the upcoming BlackBerry® 10 platform. The event attracts developers and industry leaders who understand the power of BlackBerry and want to build their success with the platform. Whether you’re a Native, Web, or Android™ developer, don’t miss this opportunity to explore the powerful, game-changing BlackBerry 10 platform.

Join us, September 25-27 in San Jose, California. Register Now and use promo code DJAA45 to register for only $299.00

BlackBerry® 10 Jam World Tour – Montreal – July 11, 2012

A recent report by Baird Equity Research is getting some pick up today on the interwebs. The report shows that developer intent for BlackBerry 10 is on the decline. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked by the findings. I was shocked because the numbers in the report do not gel with what we’re seeing in the real world. The report contradicts much of what we are seeing and hearing in our developer community.

In the past year our BlackBerry App World ™ vendor base has grown 157 percent. We have developers submitting amazing apps for BlackBerry® PlayBook™ users. In fact, the BlackBerry PlayBook app catalog has grown by more than 15,000 apps since January 1 of this year. We just announced that more than three billion applications have been downloaded from BlackBerry App World since launch.

But much more importantly, the BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour we are currently hosting in 23 cities across the globe has seen over capacity registration in almost every city, including New York, Santa Clara, Toronto, Jakarta, Singapore, Delhi, and Montreal. We have already spoken to almost 5,000 developers and the feedback has been phenomenal (don’t take my word for it, search Twitter for the hashtag #bb10jam).

I have been receiving a lot of feedback from developers personally and I can tell you that I am hearing again and again that developers are amazed by how easy it is to work with the BlackBerry 10 tools. They appreciate the open nature of our platform, which allows developers to bring their work and their skills and find a toolset that will work for them. The other thing I hear consistently is that RIM simply treats developers better than anyone else in the mobile industry. That is music to my ears! I want to once again thank our developer community. You see what we are doing to increase our support for you. You see what RIM is building with BlackBerry 10 and the amazing opportunity to be part of our new platform and you have shared your enthusiasm and excitement with us.

To all new developers coming on board, we are building something amazing and we know you will be impressed by the open nature of our platform and our commitment to you. Welcome!

The numbers we have provided speak for themselves. Developers around the world are seeing that BlackBerry is here to help them build a successful business.

You’ve seen us commit to you in a way that many have remarked upon, starting last year with initiatives including BlackBerry® DevCon Americas, the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and BlackBerry® 10 Dev Alpha seeding programs, hackathons, BlackBerry® 10 Jam in Orlando, and the BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour that we’ve been running across 23 cities. Some of you have even said that this “new” Research In Motion® (RIM®) is the best platform company for developers to work with today.

Earlier this year when Thorsten Heins took the reins as our new CEO, he was very open about the approach the company would be taking to this new platform launch. Yesterday, he delivered some tough news: a shift in timeline for the launch of the BlackBerry 10 platform until the first quarter of 2013.

When we in the Developer Relations group were informed of the news, our first thoughts were with you – our development community – who are continuing to work with us to build great new applications for BlackBerry 10. You’ve got businesses to run, rent to pay, and investors to answer to. You are the folks who have skin in the game now, and aren’t just waiting for a new phone personally. We know this delay affects you, and we’re sorry.

Despite yesterday’s announcement, I want you to know that we remain strongly committed to you. While RIM continues to work towards the launch of BlackBerry 10, our engagement levels and plans for our joint success have not changed.

The BlackBerry 10 platform is designed to offer developers the tools they need to drive a successful business, including simplified rich development; the ability to create, deliver and share powerful visually stunning content, quickly; and multiple paths toward monetization. We are committed to this launch, and to continuing to work with you to make this launch a success. We will work to ensure that the launch is executed brilliantly, with a complete platform that delivers the best experience for our customers.

Over the last few months, the level of excitement, dedication and pride from our developer partners and from our employees has been both gratifying and humbling for me.

My pledge to you is that we will continue to work with you, to invest with you, to create opportunities with you, to be successful with you, and to be worthy of the trust and support you have given us.

Alec Saunders, VP Developer Relations
Research In Motion