RIM attracts 15,000 apps for BlackBerry 10 in two days

IDG News Service - It's starting to look like the BlackBerry store will be well stocked with apps when Research In Motion launches BlackBerry 10 at the end of this month.

The company held an event over the weekend where it offered app developers incentives to port their programs to the BlackBerry 10 platform and managed to attract 15,000 app submissions.

"Well there you have it. 37.5 hours in, we hit 15,000 apps for this portathon. Feel like I've run a marathon. Thanks to all the devs!" wrote Alec Saunders, vice president of developer relations at RIM, in a Twitter message.

The "port-a-thon" event was held in two parts.

One was aimed at Android developers and the other at apps written in other platforms, including Appcelerator, Maramalade, Sencha, jQuery, PhoneGap and Qt.

RIM was offering US$100 for each app ported and subsequently approved for sale in the BlackBerry 10 app store, up to certain limits. Developers could also win BlackBerry 10 development handsets and a trip to RIM's BlackBerry Jam Europe developer event.

(Watch a preview of the BlackBerry 10 operating system in this YouTube video.)

Research In Motion is due to launch the BlackBerry 10 OS and unveil the first handsets to support the platform at a news conference in New York on Jan. 30.

Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com