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Port-A-Thon brings in over 15,000 BlackBerry 10 apps in less than two days

By Adam Zeis on 14 Jan 2013 09:27 am
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If you were still questioning how committed developers are to BlackBerry 10, perhaps the latest BlackBerry port-a-thon can clear things up. The 36-hour event which asked for developers to port their apps to BlackBerry 10 before launch offered up $100USD for each eligible app and even promised a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha to qualifying developers. While we knew that plenty of devs would turn up to bring their apps over to BlackBerry 10, we had no idea it would be this many.

During the event, many of the BlackBerry developer team at RIM sent tweets letting us know how high the app count was. They noted 2,500, 5,000, 11,000 and then an amazing total of over 15,000 apps in just 37.5 hours. It's a pretty awesome tally overall. Add that to the already large number of apps that BlackBerry World has seen for BlackBerry 10 so far and it looks like we'll most definitely not have a shortage of available apps come launch day. Pretty exciting stuff for developers and BlackBerry users. Go Team BlackBerry!!

Topics: Apps BlackBerry 10 Port-a-Thon BlackBerry 10 Apps News & Rumors

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Adam Zeis Adam Zeis 3025 (articles) 2790 (forum posts)
74 comments

crozyBB

And boom goes the dynamite.

Rub3n5

This is good news, but I'd be cautious. How many of these Apps will be good quality ones vs. developers looking to make a quick $100 per submission?

bbbruva

This is exciting!!! I can not wait! My friends were at first sick of hearing me talk about BB10 so much, now i'm converting would be iPhone/Android buyers in numbers. Pay attention people! BB is about to change everything! Unlike the other guys who change very little.

H_O_Boomaye

Tell me that isn't that most gratifying feeling; converting someone who has a solid product in their hand to seriously consider going to BB10. My biggest achievement so far was actually giving my old 9630 to a colleague so he could SELL his iphone5 to store money to buy an LSeries.

I feel like the pied piper. Onward to a BB10 lead future.

bb10_fan

Unfortunately, if you go to BlackBerry World you'll see what type of apps are getting in (see newest arrival section)

Vector-SS

I really hope that's not the case. I'm no developer, but 15k apps in 2 days? How many developers showed up?

bb10_fan

Well, if one make tons of apps like Kijiji - Barrie - Bikes, Kijiji - Barrie - Books, you don't need too many devs and it's possible to have 15k apps. It's sad that RIM also went for this quantity hype

vicentechable

So very effing true! It is not clear to me how BB10 is gonna attract people.. 15k apps? That's a low number and I have no idea the quality of these apps.. We'll see.. Jan30th is around the corner! Let's go RIM!

bb10_fan

no, 15k is only this weekend :) Total number probably will be over 100k at launch. Also on Twitter I've seen a message that most good apps are not visible yet in store. So, there is still hope

vicentechable

Hope.. That's the only thing keeping me from switching to Android

bbbruva

Yah 15,000 apps being submitted in 36 hours is high. But it's not the total number of apps just adding onto what's already in there and been accepted.

kill_9

Oh Research In Motion is releasing the sub-par applications to BlackBerry AppWorld while holding back the allegedly high-quality applications? Genius! Not.

THBW

Well, actually RIM has already publicly stated that they have greater than 90% of the so called quality Apps in their portfolio. If my memory serves me correctly, quality refers to the top 300 Apps on each of the iOS and Android platform.

mark37724

I'm afraid that wasn't milk on your cornflakes this morning, I know you were told yesterday, do you need to told daily?

eve6er69

Even though they are ported over they still have to go through the aw approval process and also a lot of them are probably not going to be launched until the 30th.

ladeberry

theres no way just ported apps are already available in app world, also unless u are using a dev alpha , u cant view bb10 apps in a appworld
'lade
9780

bb10_fan

you can :) just choose All touch or Dev Alpha. Another way is to download emulator of BB10, which itself is a good starting point to learn about BB 10 ;)

BruvvaPete2

What are you talking about? How are you able to see Blackberry World when it hasn't been made public yet? Maybe you're confusing it with AppWorld?

pick1eberry

I think the real 'take-away' message here is not just the total number of apps ported (which was great!), but how EASY it is to port your apps to BB10. Get the word out too all devs!!

birdman_38

I hope some are well known "brand name" apps. 15000 crapps are no good for anybody.

Quality, not quantity!

ciscobear

Correct, I care nothing for these nonsense apps currently in playbook appworld.

Abrante

If RIM in its current state of the market decides to go with your suggestion "Quality, not quantity". How much "quality" apps exist on any platform? 1000, if that. The truth of the matter is that they have to launch with as much apps as possible. I am sure that somewhere in between the 90-100k apps that BB10 will have at launch, some good and great apps will be in there. Or would you just rather for them to launch the 1000 Quality apps? and just advertise BB10 as such " the only platform with only 1000 apps, but they are the quality ones"?

kill_9

Pray tell how we are supposed to wade through a sewer of 99000 crap-apps in search of the 10000 high-quality applications most of which will likely be games anyway. The temptation to remain with my BlackBerry Bold 9700/9780 running BlackBerry OS 5/6, respectively, on my BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express 5, and BlackBerry PlayBook running BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.1 increases with each of these idiotic announcements from Research In Motion.

Abrante

iOS users "wade through a sewer" of 750k apps which means that their is a higher probability of "crap-apps" and they are doing just fine. RIM has to play the game with consideration to what makes the other platforms competitive. The amount of available apps (even if it is only for bragging rights), quality or not, unfortunately is a part of that equation.

ciscobear

Yes give me 1000 quality apps. I hate to wade thru the Google play store, loving the Windows app store.

Before I go further have you looked through the Appworld on Playbook?

bb10_fan

At least investors are impressed by the number of apps: RIMM 14.90 +1.34 (9.92%)

kill_9

The only numbers that matter will be post-launch on 30 January 2013 when the actual devices ship to consumers. My favorite pizza shop trades higher than 14.90 per share.

Easy-G

I'm sure there are a few gems among the 15k, but...

Apps that actually make or break a platform come from teams of devs, studios/companies that invest a great deal of time, money and expertise into a product. I would be surprised if a single "killer" or "deal-breaker" app came out of this event.

Porting is good. It allows RIM to say "70,000 apps at launch" or "100,000" or what have you. What's more important is that the handful of must-have apps make it to BB10.

lorax1284

If one of the main metrics on which RIM must compete is the ridiculous "over 750,000 apps in the App Store" and "over 500,000 apps in Google Play", then yeah, they have to buckle down and just shovel the turds into the store and get those numbers up, then effectively uprank QUALITY apps and keep the "The Letter A" app (you know, the app that is just a list of things that start with the letter A") basically invisible unless the most intrepid user trying to find useless apps digs very deep.

That's the world that consumers have made, and I don't think RIM should ONLY pursue 'quality' apps. If they were ONLY going after "quantity" they are doomed and will self-select out of business... but they're not... they ALSO have to pursue the shovelware (sadly)

green_ember

Is shovelware a real term? If not, we need to make it one! Best description I've heard so far

Rootbrian

Apps don't decide if a company goes out of business.

ps4rh

Are any of these apps Netflix? Spotify? Salesforce.com? I know Angry Birds is on the PlayBook (and at a hefty premium) andf hopefully it'll show here, too.

As much as this is a good thing, it's a potential repeat of the Playbook's early days: lots of books and web links, and little or no big-name items. It might have been a better idea for RIM to figure out the top 10/100/250 Android or iOS titles, as well as a select few big-ticket business apps, and pay developers whatever it takes to get them ported and up to par.

bb10_fan

They promised 90% of top 600 iOS/Android apps for launch :)

green_ember

Last I checked, the price of Angry Birds was in line with the price of the HD version for the iPad, so not really a hefty premium there...

Rootbrian

RIM has no control over anyone submitting apps. They can't tell or force them to. It's up to the developers to make/port skype, netflix and other big namers. Don't blame rim for anything of the sort if those developers DON'T MAKE THE APPS.

kozmo68

Relax people! I'm confident that RIM is working on both quantity and quality. The "quality apps" have been worked on in back rooms with partnerships and negotiations. The "quantity apps" are worked on with events like this..

#BB10Believe!

mandony

Plus and minus.

Minus
I agree, we all want 'quality not quantity'.

Plus
On the other hand, there is a great embarrassment to RIMM if they only have a 'few' apps of ANY kind on BB10 release. The press will kill them in reviews.

Rootbrian

There are going to be lots of good apps. Geese.

93Aero

I just hope Modern Combat 4 was one of them.

The blacker the berry the sweeter the use...

H_O_Boomaye

Ha! I love that... "the blacker the berry..."

dperry360

This is just a never ending debate for RIM when deciding which "Q" to chase. Personally I think if the main apps that android & apple users use to defend their choice in device finally become available for BB10 then that debate wont matter as much.

Living Bold-ly!

MoolahMitch

RIM CMO Frank Boulben told Fierce Wireless that BlackBerry 10 will launch with at least 70,000 apps, and that BlackBerry 10 will support 90% of the top 600 iOS and Android apps. Now that's quite impressive!

So that resolves the quality apps issue and there is also the built for BlackBerry program where apps that earn $1000 by themselves and pass the RIM quality test are guaranteed a further $9K

These port-a-thorn sessions are usually indie developers porting their apps from Android and iOS

megajo123

I'm no developer, so I don't know how much work you guys go through but as a football coach would say, C'MON PEOPLE 15,000!!!! IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT!! DO YOU KNOW WHO WE'RE UP AGAINST!!!???? WE NEED 20,000 A WEEK FOR 10 WEEKSS!!!!! PICK UP THE PACE!!! :D

kill_9

And as a player I would stick you with a pointy object between your legs making you cry like a baby. We need quality not quantity. I am not going to spend 10000 hours sifting through 99000 crap-apps; the limited real estate on the tablet screen is bad enough when sifting through garabge but a 3.5/4.5-inch screen will be torture. Unfortunately, RIM is still chasing the low-hanging-fruit consumer and will pay dearly for the latest folly. The media are poised to pounce with a bloodbath to make the Valentine's Day Massacre look like a Sunday School picnic in comparison.

THBW

Cut and pasted from above.

Well, actually RIM has already publicly stated that they have greater than 90% of the so called quality Apps in their portfolio. If my memory serves me correctly, quality refers to the top 300 Apps on each of the iOS and Android platform.

Further, if you need to find quality Apps on BB world, just go the "most downloaded" section. It is no harder than this.

Finally, I strongly disagee with your Apps arugment. Like it or not, this is RIMs weakness and the consumer is trained to want then. If RIM doesn't make a strong showing, you can bet every technology reporter will be moaning away. Then all the goodness of BB10 will be lost.

BruvvaPete2

I wouldn't want you for a coach. You don't pay attention.

backfire101

What is the definition of an eligible app? Books and newsapps are those eligible?

Rootbrian

Ebooks don't have to be submitted to the proper ebook stores. Newspapers, same thing. Some developers don't like going to multiple application stores. Or app repositories (kobo, press, etc.).

darrell joness

mannn! will you all calm down , rim has added 15000 apps to the over 70,000 apps they already have, and please dont speak about quality apps, they targeted the top 600-1000 apps to make sure they made you silly phuckers happy, no one talks about the quality apps apple or android has... for one android people dont load apps in fear of being hacked or system corruption, and do you really think that apple has 400,000 quality apps, hell no, but apple people love to throw out that large number, the fact of the matter is that apple and android need(desperately) to have 400,000 apps to make the phone usable,,, my 9930 is the best even without apps, and i dare any of you to challenge that,
I'll start ,
1.first creat a text group of at least 90 people and save it in your contacts
2.send that SAVED CONTACT LIST 30 PICS AS A TEXT

NOW YOU CAN SAVE TIME ,
ANDRIOD ALLOWS ABOUT 10 -40 AS A GROUP BUT WONT ALLOW NO MORE THAN 9 PIC SENT AS A TEXT AT A TIME
IPHONE WONT ALLOW SAVED TEXT GROUPS, NOW LEST SAY YOU Downloaded AN app, it will not allow MMS text nor will iphone allow you to send more than 12 pics at a time , and your cop out cant be , "WELL I DONT PLAN TO DO ALL THAT"!! GO....
REMEMBER I DARE ALL OF YOU !!!! WHO ARE USING IPHONE OR ANDRIOD

polytope

RIM is going for both quality and quantity.

The Built for BlackBerry program has very stringent and specific guidelines. So if you are looking for quality apps, you could choose to start with those that are Built for BlackBerry. This is not to say that there aren't gems that do not have that moniker. Because of the specificity of the criteria, good apps can still fall through the cracks.

THBW

I agree, you have to have both. Lets face it, the average consumer is trained to believe that they need tons of Apps and RIM is viewed as being weak in this category. RIM has to address this head on or all the goodness of BB10 will not see the light of day.

So place yourself in the mind of an average consumer at launch day or a few weeks there after as conveyed through the press.

1) Consumer, I need lots of Apps. RIM, how about 100K of new apps to start (my bet is closer to 150K). Check, done.

2) Consumer, I really need quality Apps. Wham, RIM has got atleast 90% of them, already. Check, done.

The App issue is now dealt with and we can move onto what makes BB10 shine. Oh cool, fresh UI, NFC support, balance, bridge, link, peek and flow, new BBM, swipe technology, an exceptional browser that leaves iOS in the dust, and a great camera.

Wow, I want one of those. Sold.

As highlighted above, put the App issue to bed so that all the BB10 goodness can shine. Play to your strength.

darrell joness

but you better make sure you know what your talking about, i have studied the iphone(even jail broked) andriod(galaxy, note, note 2,nexus,( ice cream sandwich, gingerbread etc...)now unless you have studied the blackberry 9930.........

oh yeah neither iphone nor galaxy can multitask, the bb10 does up to 8 apps @ one time , the note does it sorta after the update, and thats after a manipulation of the home , and thats two apps," but with your stylus", kinda clever, BUT NO NOT THE SAME THING.... THE SIMPLE FACT THAT WHEN THE BB10 DROPS, IF YOU STILL HAVE A HOME AND NAV BUTTONS , YOUR OUTDATED
FACTS ARE FACTS

koool1

Good news. The more apps the better I suppose.

I just hope there are some good ones in there, so much crap on Android.

magtheridon2000

Does someone know how many apps WP8 Marketplace had at WP8 Launch?

ayandakeith

If I actually took the advice of some of the "glass-half-empty" posters in this article, I think I would be depressed. In a world where the Blackberry device is constantly scrutinized for every move it makes, the announcement of an additional 15 000 apps is good news. It's the game they now have to play because the idiotic consumer (particularly here in North America) loves the all-you-can-eat buffet but will end up only picking from 1 out of every 10 dishes. Our minds are now trained to want bigger and more of everything. In a perfect world, I'm sure RIM would have launched a lean and mean list of apps. Unfortunately the world is not perfect.

As for the people who are worried whether the popular apps will be available on BB10, I'm sure the app developers as well as RIM know that they have everything to gain and nothing to lose by establishing those essential partnerships. I don't generally speculate but I can say without a reasonable doubt that your favorite apps will be available. You heard it here first. So chill out mother@#$%ers! (Samuel Jackson voice).

rodbo05

As long as they have Instagram and Netflix then I'll be good!

birdman_38

Those could be in the 10% of the top 600 iOS titles not included. All of Apple or Android's top apps minus many of the most popular 60 would be a disaster.

bigbadben10

HTML5 enuf said! Apps....big yawn~

green_ember

Two points:

1) The more apps you get, the more likely you will find good apps submitted to app world. This is simple statistics. The likelihood of finding a dozen or two quality apps is a lot better with 15000 apps than it is with 1000 apps. Plus, the more devs you get involved, the better. Period. No platform says "I wish we had fewer developers". Their first apps may not be pure gold, but who's to say that their next one won't be?

2) I read an article published today, yes today, that said BB10 will only have 500-1000 apps available at launch. Of course I left a comment correcting the author, but it obvious that to some people, these numbers matter, regardless of the apps that they represent.

G-bone

Everybody relax and quit complaining...what would you like Alec Saunders to do? Say, "well, we've got 400 apps but they're all awesome! "
Alec is working with indy developers. Marty is working with the big-name, big biz devs.
Nobody wants quality more than Alec.
Have some faith.
Keep Calm
And
Quit Complaining!
#BB10Believe

BruvvaPete2

All the bellyaching is getting to be a bit much.

Rootbrian

CHILL THE HECK OUT PEOPLE.
DON'T blame rim for the apps that haven't been shown in appworld.
DON'T blame rim if some big name apps haven't been even submitted or ported.

IT. IS. NOT. THEIR. FAULT. Blame those developers, NOT RIM.

Oscar_E

I'm really surprised of how nothing satisfies no one !!

First everyone was talking about how rim should have lots of apps to be on the game, and now that they are making it happen, is also bad cause they are not the important ones. man give rim credit, they are working their asses to make everyone of you happy and proud to be a BlackBerry fan.

To me, is great news, so people dont start talking crap about how poor in apps the blackberry world is. Go RIM !!

BlackBerry by choice !!

jwn66

If they're not the ones people want then who cares lol, skype, netflix...etc, slingplayer (personal must have, i'm not going thru another jury rigged version like i had to on 9800)

all3n7

15,000 apps is a Great numbers, however how many apps do you think would be approved?? and available @ launch.. And how many developers participated.?

Jimcmf

Wow .... great job Alec. That's a huge amount.

In your face iPhone!