RIM Extends Free BlackBerry PlayBook Offer for Android Devs

Research In Motion is offering free PlayBook devices to Android developers interested in delivering applications for the Tablet PC.

In fact, it has been offering them for the past several weeks, and is now announcing that it has decided to extend the promotion’s period.

All those Android developers who would like to have their applications up and running on RIM’s PlayBook and want a free device to be delivered to them have until 11:59 PM EST on February 15, 2012 to register for one.

To be eligible for a free tablet PC, they will need to submit their application until 11:59 PM EST on March 2, 2012.

“We knew developers were excited about our latest BlackBerry PlayBook offer for Android developers when we announced it two weeks ago,” RIM notes in a recent blog post.

“You asked that Native C/C++, HTML5, Adobe AIR, and Qt developers have a chance to participate and we answered by opening the offer to all developers.”

Apparently, the initial response to the offering was great, which determined RIM to extend it so that more developers could benefit.

The BlackBerry App World storefront has seen 1,500 app submissions since the announcement, and there are over 6,600 new developers registered on the portal.

RIM is hard at work to approve vendor registrations and app submissions and says that it will all take a bit longer due to high demand. To speed up the process, developers should do the following:

- Before submitting your application to BlackBerry App World, please make sure to remove all mention of the word “Android” from your application – both in the application description and the application itself.

- Please remove all links to Android Marketplace from within your application.

- When submitting your Android application to BlackBerry App World, please make sure to select a minimum OS of 2.0.

- Please make sure your application is signed. For more information on code signing, please view the code signing documentation on the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps webpage.

Those Android developers who haven’t yet registered can do so on this page. All registered and new developers should keep in mind that they have until March 2, 2012 to submit their application to BlackBerry App World.