BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha C and BlackBerry 10 Gold SDK to come

Research In Motion revealed the upcoming release of a keyboard version of the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device.

Alec Saunders, Vice President of Developer Relations and Ecosystem Development, announced the upcoming BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha C devices and the final Blackberry 10 Gold SDK ahead of the official BlackBerry 10 launch at the end of January 2013. The BlackBerry Dev Alpha C will be a keyboard device unlike the full touch screen Dev Alpha A and Dev Alpha B.

BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha C

For the 1,500 BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha C devices, priority will be given to developers who submit two or more applications. The following point system will also be used:

• 50 points for ported Android applications
• 250 points for all other applications {Native, BlackBerry WebWorks, Adobe AIR)
• 1,500 points for Built for BlackBerry certified application
• 200 points to start for BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha A/B recipients
• 200 points to start if you are a BlackBerry Elite Member

Developer must register through the BlackBerry developer website. The offer will run from 1 December 2012 to 5 February, 2013.

BlackBerry 10 Gold SDK

The BlackBerry 10 SDK received its latest update today. The new update will add support for installing the Blackberry 10 IDE on Mac OS X, an update to the Visual Studio Plug-In beta, forward compatibility for BlackBerry WebWorks HTML5 apps, sensor and orientation APIs for BlackBerry WebWorks and more. Developers can expect the BlackBerry 10 SDK to come out of beta into full launch on 11 December, 2012.

BlackBerry Dev Alpha device swap

To thank developers for their support through the development phase of BlackBerry 10, Research In Motion is offering a device swap from the test device to a limited edition BlackBerry 10 smartphone after the launch. Developers currently testing their applications on BlackBerry Dev Alpha devices and have an app submitted and approved on BlackBerry World are eligible for the swap.