Research in Motion (RIM) is now accepting applications for its upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer into the company’s BlackBerry App World application store, RIM said on Tuesday.
Developers who submit applications also become eligible for a free PlayBook if their application is approved for distribution on BlackBerry App World. Unveiled in September, PlayBook is due to ship early next year and would compete with the Apple iPad and other tablets.
“With its groundbreaking performance and robust support for industry-standard development tools, the BlackBerry PlayBook provides an exceptional platform that appeals to a wide range of mobile app developers, including Adobe AIR and Flash developers, HTML Web developers, corporate developers and application hobbyists,” said Tyler Lessard, RIM vice president of global alliances and developer relations, in a statement released by the company. “We are very pleased to be working with developers in advance of the product launch and the opening of BlackBerry App World to accept BlackBerry PlayBook apps is an important next step.”
Developers who submit accepted applications into App World prior to the initial launch will receive a PlayBook subject to conditions, such as abiding by the SDK License Agreement, RIM said. A limit of one PlayBook per developer is in place. Applications must provide functionality considered beneficial to an end-user, with the following categories excluded from eligibility: Web launchers or shortcuts, Web browsers, and applications that provide a simple, single function such as playing noise or displaying a graphic.
The company recently released an update to the beta version of the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for AIR, which adds support for the Flash Builder 4.5 software development platform with plug-ins that work either Flash Builder 4.0 or the the release of Flash Builder “Burrito.” The beta also supports Windows in 64-bit mode and includes a simulator for Linux.