BlackBerry Qt Porting Program

Today’s guest blogger is Hashiq Nazir, BlackBerry Developer Evangelist at Research In Motion UK Limited.

Qt is important to Research In Motion (RIM). It is so important to us that it has helped us create the new user experience of cascades.

We were proud to be part of Qt Developer Days in Santa Clara and also the gathered Qt Community. We had our own booth setup near the entrance of the main exhibitors room where we showcased the BlackBerry 10 OS and also spoke to Developers about the excitement surrounding the upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS that will launch on the 30th January (not long to go now). After seeing the OS for themselves, they hopefully also shared our excitement.

Alec Saunders our VP of Developer Relations had a Keynote speech where he presented BlackBerry 10, which is a brand new mobile computing platform for smartphones, tablets and embedded mobile communications devices. He also communicated RIMs involvement with Qt and how you as Developers stand a fair chance of getting great rewards for your Qt Applications.

We seeded eager Developers with BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha devices for them to port over their existing MeeGo / Symbian Qt Applications and also provided some technical support. For Qt Mobile Application Developers, BlackBerry 10 offers the ability to get a revenue return on your investments. That’s right now. Today.

We do realize that not everyone can get to these events and so we have the BlackBerry Qt Porting Program that is an Online offer so that Eligible Developers can get their hands on BlackBerry Dev Alpha Devices. For complete details, see Official Program Terms and Conditions.

What you need to do is:

• •  Become a BlackBerry World Vendor.
• •  Submit your porting plan to bring your Qt app to BlackBerry 10 for approval at https://developer.blackberry.com/offers/qt 

For BlackBerry 10 to be successful we need Qt Developers to bring us their applications and also a strong Qt Development framework and therefore we also have an offer of a one-time donation of $10,000 USD to the Qt Project Hosting Foundation if 50 eligible Qt apps are ported to BlackBerry 10 by the Qt Community and then posted and available for sale in BlackBerry App World by January 30, 2013(*)

Criteria:

• •  Become a BlackBerry World Vendor.
• •  Apps must be submitted to BlackBerry World by Jan. 20/13 and be approved.
• •  50 Qt apps must be up for sale in BlackBerry World by Jan.30/13.

It was fantastic being part of Qt Developer Days in Santa Clara but this is the start for us and by no means the end. We are actively working with Digia and the Qt foundation to further strengthen Qt and our relationship with it and also with you.

Below are some links of how we can help you develop for us:

•  Qt Project Wiki:

• http://qt-project.org/wiki/blackberry

•  Qt Project Group:

• http://qt-project.org/groups/qt-blackberry-and-qnx

•  Open Jam Sessions for Qt developers to talk to RIM internal Qt experts about technical problems.

• Qt Live Time with BlackBerry Developer Relations
  Wednesday, December 12, 2012 @ 10:00 – 12:00 ET
  https://developer.blackberry.com/devzone/jamcommunity/supportjams/session_registration.html?id=307

• Qt Live Time with BlackBerry Developer Relations
  Wednesday, December 19, 2012 @ 10:00 – 12:00 ET
  https://developer.blackberry.com/devzone/jamcommunity/supportjams/session_registration.html?id=308

•  Porting Qt to BlackBerry 10:

• Porting Qt Applications to BlackBerry 10 is Easier than Ever!
• Writing Qt apps for the BlackBerry 10 platform

•  Built for BlackBerry and the 10k Developer Commitment:

• http://developer.blackberry.com/10k

Ash Nazir
@ashnazir

• * To be eligible, fifty (50) Qt Apps ("Apps") must be submitted to BBAW by the Qt Community by 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time ("ET") on January 20, 2013. Apps will be accepted beginning at 8:00 AM ET on December 8, 2012. Allow a minimum of ten (10) days for BBAW approval. Approved apps must be posted on BBAW for sale on or before January 30, 2013. Apps are not eligible if they simply contain a web launcher or shortcut or a web browser ("Excluded App"). RIM will confirm if Qt Community is eligible for $10,000 USD donation to the Qt Project Hosting Foundation ("Donation") by February 28, 2013. Allow 8-12 weeks for delivery of Donation. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.