“Port-A-Thon” is now a popular term among Asia Pacific developers. Developers have heard good stuff about BlackBerry GotGame virtual Port-a-thon in November, participated in the All-Aboard Port-a-thon on December, and then went nuts about the BlackBerry Got Game Port-A-Thon LIVE series that was held in eight cities in Asia Pacific.

When this weekend’s Port-A-Thons were announced, we got a really enthusiastic responses from APAC BlackBerry developer communities. They want to make sure quality apps will be ported, and a lot of them volunteered to host offline events across Asia to support developers to successfully port their apps. RIM Developer Evangelists, experienced BlackBerry developers and our BlackBerry Dev Group leaders will all be onsite all over Asia to support developers.

For the lucky developers who live in the below cities, be sure to pop by and get porting with us in the flesh!

Note: all date and times stated are based on local cities’ timezone.

China

Beijing – Pre Port-a-Thon tech seminar

(Organized by Iberry dev group)

Date/Time: January 11, 6:00PM to 9:00PM

Location: Monica’s café (北京市朝阳区大望路万达广场4号楼806)

Registration and more details:
http://bit.ly/13j6bRw

Beijing – Android to BlackBerry Port-a-Thon Tech Seminar

(In collaboration with Iberry dev group)

Date/Time: 12^th 10:00AM to 1:00PM

Location: Monica’s café (北京市朝阳区大望路万达广场4号楼806)

Registration and more details:
http://bit.ly/13j6bRw

Shanghai – Android to BlackBerry Port-a-Thon tech seminar

(organized by CNBBDevGroup, China)

Date/Time: January 12, 10:00AM to 1:00PM

Location: 上海市杨浦区淞沪路270号创智天地广场(KIC)3号楼B1层InnoSpace

Registration and more details:
http://bit.ly/13j5kjB

India

Kochi, Kerala – Android Port-A-Thon for BlackBerry 10 Tech Support

(organized by Rubus Labs at Start-up Village)

Date/Time: January 12, 09:30AM onwards

Location: Rubus Labs, Startup Village, Kinfra High Tech Park, Kalamassery, Kochi-683503, Kerala

Enathur Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu – Android Port-A-Thon for BlackBerry 10 Tech Support

(organized by SCSVMV BlackBerry Developer Group)

Date/Time: January 12, 09:30AM onwards

Location: SCSVMV University, Dept. of CSE, SCSVMV University, Enathur Kanchipuram-631561,

Indonesia

Jakarta – BlackBerry 10 Android Port-a-Thon live Support

(In collaboration with ID Android and BBDevID)

Date/time: January 12, 10.00AM to 8.00PM

Location: Mercantile Athletic Club, Penthouse Floor (18th floor), World Trade Center 1, Jl. Jenderal Sudirman Kav. 31 Jakarta 12920

Registration and more details:
http://bit.ly/13iJblF

Philippines

Manila – PinoyBBDev Port-a-thon Meetup

(organized by PinoyBBDev, in conjunction with Globe, Android and Web Communities)

Date/Time: January 12, 8:00AM to 6:00PM

Location: Globe Valero, Makati City

Registration and more details: 
http://bit.ly/13iLIvX

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh – BlackBerry 10 Portathon Live Support Session

(organized by BlackBerry Developer Group – Vietnam)

Date/Time: January 11 & 12, 9:00AM to 8:00PM

Location: Cafe Dâu: 1E Nguyễn Văn Thủ, F. Dakao, Quận 1, T/P HCM.

More details: 
http://bit.ly/13iMMA9

Singapore

BlackBerry 10 Porting Clinic in Singapore

(In collaboration with PlugFest organizers)

Date/Time: January 12, 10:00AM to 6:00PM

Location: “Green Room” in Plug-in@BLK71

More details: 
http://bit.ly/VTUbzw

Be a part of the first simultaneous Asia-Pacific-wide BlackBerry® hackathon! Hack your way through 40 hours of non-stop coding. From ideation to creation, together with our experts, make it all app-en to win cash, devices, trips and more. Indulge on an endless supply of food, drinks, activities and giveaways. Go head-to-head in ten major cities and advance to BlackBerry Jam Asia 2012 to represent your team and country. Whether you are an experienced or aspiring developer, designer or an entrepreneur, you can bring your skills and ideas to turn your ideas into reality. It’s going to be a blast!

Organised by ten Developer Groups & Communities in Asia Pacific, each 40-hour JamHack event will provide an opportunity for four-member teams of developers, designers, marketeers, entrepreneurs to work on an awesome app for BlackBerry 10.  To ensure that each team is properly equipped for the challenge, RIM is providing round-the-clock Global Technical Helpdesk support, by the tech experts from Developer Relations Asia Pacific team onsite, as well as platform experts streaming live from North America.

Don’t miss the great opportunity to hack with the subject-matter experts and fellow brilliant minds, across continents! On each weekend, there will be five simultaneous JamHack events happening:

Jammin’ on Oct 12-14 (5-city simultaneous Hacks):

• India – Delhi (by @skjsaurabh)
• India – Bangalore (by Rubus Labs DevGroup)
• Singapore (by @BBDevSG)
• Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur (by @BBMYCoders)
• Philippines – Manila (by @PinoyBBDev)

Jammin’ on Oct 19-21 (5-city simultaneous Hacks):

• Indonesia – Jakarta (by @BBDevID)
• Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City (by @Louis_Keeper)
• Thailand – Bangkok (by @BBDevThailand)
• China – Shanghai (@immmooo)
• Australia – Melbourne (@csaunders_ca)

Over each of the weekend events, RIM will also be sharing market insights tailored to the respective cities so developers can develop market-relevant applications. Beyond that, the two days will also include sharing sessions aptly named as JamBytes. During these sessions, participants will have the chance to understand in-depth developmental tips and tricks on BlackBerry 10 platform, how to enhance their BlackBerry 10 applications, as well as go to market strategies for their new apps.

The ten winning teams from the JamHack events will receive an all-expense paid trip to BlackBerry Jam Asia, where you will represent your city and compete at the Asia-Pacific Finals.

Final winning team of the “Asia-Pacific Finals” will win the grand prize of:

• Cash Prize of US$10,000
• BlackBerry App World™ marketing for 2 months for BlackBerry 10 launch in Asia, Middle East and Africa (where applicable) & one  week marketing in North America, Latin America and Europe (where applicable)
• App marketing with launch campaign of BlackBerry 10 in market
• Dedicated technical & Business Consultancy for up to third month after launch of BlackBerry 10 in team’s market

Don’t hesitate! Sign up or find out more at: www.blackberryjamhack.com!

Organized by Apstrak Studio, a partner in Thailand, BlackBerry Jam Sessions Thailand provides Thai developers in Bangkok and Chiangmai insights into app development for BlackBerry® 10 platform — its strengths, vision, and how to make BlackBerry apps that stand out and get downloaded. Join us as Justin Lee (@triplez82), BlackBerry Application Development Consultant, and Johan Kremer, Senior Manager, Alliances and Business Development from Research In Motion® (RIM®), tell you more about BlackBerry 10 and how to make money on the platform.

Jam Chiangmai
Tuesday September 18, 2012
18.00 – 22.00
Centara Duangtawan Hotel
Registration:
http://www.blackberryjamthailand2012.com/blackberry-jam-thailand-2012-chiangmai/

Jam Bangkok (SOLD OUT!)
Wednesday September 19, 2012
18.00 – 22.00
Dusit Thani Hotel

Following hot on the heels of the Thailand sessions, there are two more mini BlackBerry 10 Jam sessions in Vietnam, organized by BlackBerry Dev Group Viet Nam. Happening in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, the Jam Sessions bring to Vietnam developers a localized version of the BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour series. Vietnam developers will hear from Justin Lee at these events too. To register, send your details to the group’s manager Louis Tang at louis.keeper@gmail.com! For more details, check out BlackBerry Dev Group Viet Nam’s post here:
http://blackberryvietnam.net/threads/blackberry-10-mini-jam-viet-nam-2012.12427/

Ho Chi Minh City
Thursday Sep 20, 2012
6pm-10pm
Café Tinh Tế, Hồ Chí Minh

Hanoi
Friday Sep 21, 2012
6pm-10pm
Café Amigo, Hà Nội

And that’s not all! We’re not forgetting our dear friends in Indonesia. BBDevID is holding a series of BlackBerry 10 Jam Sessions in Indonesia! Named “BlackBerry 10 Mini Jam Indonesia,” the series also brings snippets from BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour to the Indonesian developers in six cities. They have already kicked off the first event last weekend in Yogyakarta and there’s more to come. Look out for the BBDevID and RIM troop in the following cities and dates:

Saturday September 16 – Yogjakarta
Tuesday September 18 – Semarang
Saturday September 22 – Malang
Tuesday October 2 – Bandung
Saturday October 6 – Denpasar Bali
Monday October 8 – Jakarta

For more details:
http://bbdevid.tumblr.com/post/31129297043/bb10minijam

It’s non-stop action here in Asia, and the developers simply can’t get enough. If you’re in the region in the cities above, you must not miss the action here!

For Tang Thien Hai, founder of Viet Hop Co., Ltd. and community manager of the BlackBerry® developer forums in Vietnam, the hardest part of developing an application is coming up with an idea. Ironically, his most successful idea came when he least expected it. Caro, a Tic-Tac-Toe type game, was developed by Tang to demonstrate to the growing Vietnamese BlackBerry developer community just how fast and easy it can be to build integrated BlackBerry apps. Developed in only one week, Caro has achieved great success, garnering more than two million downloads in less than three months and 60,000 daily users.

Tang sat down with RIM to discuss the advantages of developing for BlackBerry® smartphones, the importance of integrating apps with BBM™ 6, and working with an engaged Vietnamese developer community and users.

When did you start developing for BlackBerry smartphones?
I owned a BlackBerry® 8700 series smartphone a few years ago and there weren’t any applications available that supported trackwheel devices, so I decided to start developing some for myself. I had previous experience developing with the Java® platform, which made it really easy to start creating apps for BlackBerry platform since it was Java based as well. I developed my first consumer-facing application for travelers and I now have a number of different apps, including my Tic-Tac-Toe app, Caro.

Caro has been a very successful application. How easy was it to develop?
The truth is I developed Caro to show the BlackBerry developer community that I manage in Vietnam how BBM 6 works and how it can benefit their applications. I completed the first version of the game in one week but realized only once it was done that I had something people might want. I submitted the app and had it released on BlackBerry App World™ storefront. Within weeks there were over a million downloads.

Why do you think it became popular so quickly?
I believe it’s popular because of how integrated it is with social features, especially BBM 6. BBM is reliable and accommodates hundreds of thousands of players at any given moment. The user can easily see their scores and their opponents’ scores while playing. Users can also access their contacts to send invitations and find out who’s currently available to play. This enables users to share the application quickly and easily and challenge people to play. Every time a player plays the game, their points accumulate on their record making it very competitive for some. They can view their standings online through a ranking system I created on my website. People also share their ranking on Caro’s Twitter® and Facebook® pages. All of this along with the simplicity of the game has made it extremely addictive.

What advice do you pass on to the BlackBerry developer forums that you manage in Vietnam?
Developing for the BlackBerry platform is not only fast and simple because of my previous Java experience; it is practically free of any significant costs, besides your own time of course. Research In Motion Limited (RIM®) provides such a wide variety of free sample code for the developer to use, it’s hard not to find what you need. Once you have an idea, you simply take the sample code, understand it, modify it, and within two or three days you can develop an app. The other advantage is that the BlackBerry developer community has been very helpful in providing feedback on each other’s apps. They are always eager to help you fine- tune your app, or find ways to get your app out to the masses. The community has been extremely beneficial for everyone regardless if you are a new or experienced BlackBerry developer.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Tang!