[mithrazor]

Via Alec Saunders twitter. So expect quite a bit of apps to come in throughout the near future.

The Playbook giveaways seem to be working.

[TheStoof]

Including me! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[kennyliu]

I doubt we will see too many good, quality apps with 6600 developers' only incentive being a tablet worth $200. There may be a few decent ones though.

[pmccartney]

I doubt we will see too many good, quality apps with 6600 developers' only incentive being a tablet worth $200. There may be a few decent ones though.

You're probably right but even a low percentage like 1% equals 66 good apps and that's a lot more than I need/use today.
If they have attracted 6600 in 11 days then hopefully there will be many, many more to follow.

...glass half full

[howarmat]

i hope we see some good stuff but the idea of taking an hour to find an obscure android apk, convert it and submit it for a free PB doesnt get my hopes up.

[kennyliu]

i hope we see some good stuff but the idea of taking an hour to find an obscure android apk, convert it and submit it for a free PB doesnt get my hopes up.

But doing so increases the magic number

I guess RIM can no longer rely on Digi-Media. After all, there aren't too many more free books left to be converted into an "app" and sold in App World. But there are still puzzles though

[TheStoof]

I doubt we will see too many good, quality apps with 6600 developers' only incentive being a tablet worth $200. There may be a few decent ones though.

They screen them.

They won't give the PBs to hello-world apps.

[zzbsb]

Can I just pretend to be a developer and get a freebie?

[kennyliu]

They screen them.

They won't give the PBs to hello-world apps.

What are the criteria? Are they just screening the apps to make sure there is no copyright infringement? I am just curious how they define quality, if they are after quality, of course.

[howarmat]

you are right they do have some requirements for the free PB. But im sure they will hand out a few for some fart apps or the equivalent.

[pmccartney]

Did RIM give the PB's to all the newly registered app developers prior to reviewing what apps they port or write?
That would be a mistake.
Edit...not counting the app dev's that attended DevCon

[lnichols]

Hopefully they have higher criteria than simply port any Android app to Playbook for a free Playbook. That clown that ported his POS flash Plinko app for a free Playbook then did the unboxing trashing the free Playbook he got for such a dumb app that didn't even look good. We don't need all the crap Android app developers doing the same.

[BuzzStarField]

I see a lot of negativism in this thread. Giving away a PlayBook is not such a bad idea if it brings developers to this platform. Let's face it folks, as nice as you are and as kind as you have been to me, one still can't make a living by selling apps in App World - there just aren't enough PB owners yet.

RIM is right to play percentages with offers like this - more than a few of the 6600 new developers will have talents that might impress you and, more importantly, will give new customers something to crow about. If these are brand-new developers with limited experience writing PlayBook apps, their first apps may not be much to behold but there is much room for improvement. My own app was not all that great at launch a year ago, but I would like to think that it is a bit better now.

Anyway, all I ask is that you be a little bit more circumspect and try to understand what RIM is trying to accomplish here. Yes there will be a number of new devs who are gaming the system but you should try to be supportive of the bright lights who are arriving on the scene (and wouldn't have considered submitting an app without the offer).

[dugggggg]

Did RIM do a similar developer giveaway earlier this year when the PB first came out?

I briefly looked at the Terms and Conditions. There was mention of PayPal and some kind of vendor fee. Were vendor fees charged to the earlier developers?

[BuzzStarField]

Did RIM do a similar developer giveaway earlier this year when the PB first came out?

I briefly looked at the Terms and Conditions. There was mention of PayPal and some kind of vendor fee. Were vendor fees charged to the earlier developers?

Yes, there was a free offer prior to launch and I participated with my air app. We received our PBs some weeks after launch. A PayPal account is required because this is how we are paid. Vendor fees have been waived and did not apply at the time I registered over a year ago and I don't think it will be reinstated although I could be wrong. RIM has been quite vocal about having removed any and all impediments to becoming a bb developer and I don't believe that they will return to their old policies of charging fees to get signing keys and a set fee for each version submission.

[collapsed]

one milliom dollars worth of playbooks...thats impressive

[diegonei]

My app (android and niche-specific, will serve almost none of you) is still under review and I have not heard of a free PB yet.

They will most likely review, approve and only then contact people about the free getty.

[dugggggg]

Thanks for the quick reply Buzz! Did you have to buy your own PB first, in order to actually develop and test your app---then you got the free PB later, after the app was submitted and approved? Just trying figure out why we didn't have 6600 developers originally...

[BuzzStarField]

Thanks for the quick reply Buzz! Did you have to buy your own PB first, in order to actually develop and test your app---then you got the free PB later, after the app was submitted and approved? Just trying figure out why we didn't have 6600 developers originally...

We had an incomplete and somewhat buggy simulator - nobody but the few privileged revs had access to a real device. The environment was particularly tough on java developers like myself because I has to learn an entirely different language - actionscript. In addition we had no idea what the final hardware configuration was going to be. It was a lot harder for the original batch of developers than it is for current Android developers but you should not disrespect for their willingness to enter the unknown - most of these will not have a real device to test their apps on either.

[DrFrancky]

Its 6600 registrations not developers.
i am sure that most of those registrations comes from the same people just with different emails. with the current rules for the promotional program is very easy to abuse the program with different regs. imagine a android developer with only 10 programs (which is normal), why should he submit all those 10 apps in batch and get 1 free device and not create a 9 more emails and get 10 devices ? what about people/small companies with 50 programs ? what about all the freeware examples available freely..just waiting somebody to submit them ?
so let me say it again 6600 registrations does not equal 6600 devs.

[missing_K-W]

Its 6600 registrations not developers.
i am sure that most of those registrations comes from the same people just with different emails. with the current rules for the promotional program is very easy to abuse the program with different regs. imagine a android developer with only 10 programs (which is normal), why should he submit all those 10 apps in batch and get 1 free device and not create a 9 more emails and get 10 devices ? what about people/small companies with 50 programs ? what about all the freeware examples available freely..just waiting somebody to submit them ?
so let me say it again 6600 registrations does not equal 6600 devs.

Well for one you have to validate your account by submitting ID....I'm sure it'll be close.

[BuzzStarField]

Its 6600 registrations not developers.
i am sure that most of those registrations comes from the same people just with different emails. with the current rules for the promotional program is very easy to abuse the program with different regs. imagine a android developer with only 10 programs (which is normal), why should he submit all those 10 apps in batch and get 1 free device and not create a 9 more emails and get 10 devices ? what about people/small companies with 50 programs ? what about all the freeware examples available freely..just waiting somebody to submit them ?
so let me say it again 6600 registrations does not equal 6600 devs.

So everyone has 10 separate government picture ids, PayPal accounts and mailing addresses just so they can scam RIM. Sorry, you have to have to give RIM a little bit of credit for being able to identify who they are dealing with. Your post is just too much. As I said, they will be a small number of scammers but it will be small-time stuff where someone wants to get a very cheap device for minimal effort. RIM has been using this kind of promotion for quite some time and it is effective in meeting their goal of attracting bona fide developers.

[missing_K-W]

I doubt we will see too many good, quality apps with 6600 developers' only incentive being a tablet worth $200. There may be a few decent ones though.

I believe that we will see quality app submissions relative to the state of the Android Market Place. If 70% of Android apps are poor quality, then this should closely reflect in Appworld.

[Chrisy]

It was a good idea and I'm happy to see more devs getting in the game.

Still waiting on myperiod app.

[greatwiseone]

At least RIM's trying.