Adobe AIR Development

[tags07]

I just an email from Rim with the following text:

The highly-anticipated BlackBerry® PlayBook™ is arriving soon in stores and you have the opportunity to be one of the first to receive your very own – free!

Whether you are new to the BlackBerry Solution, or an existing BlackBerry Developer, add a new dimension to your development skills and create compelling applications for a new mobile device.

The BlackBerry developer community has already begun developing and submitting applications for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™. Registered developers who submit a qualifying BlackBerry® PlayBook™ app that is accepted into BlackBerry App World™ prior to the initial product launch in North America (April 19th) will receive a free BlackBerry® PlayBook™. Learn how to qualify for the free BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet offer. 

We invite you to browse the information and resources that have been posted to help you start developing today.

Today you can develop using:
- Adobe® AIR® SDK  (Full Support for Flash 10.1); and
- BlackBerry® WebWorks™ SDK for Tablet OS (Web development on standard HTML5).

Coming soon, in addition to HTML5, Flash and AIR support:
- BlackBerry Tablet OS Native Development Kit (to develop native C/C++ applications with industry standard GNU toolchains) – Currently in Alpha version
- Support for BlackBerry Java and Android Apps
Developers can repackage, code sign and submit their BlackBerry Java and Android apps to BlackBerry App World™ for approval. The new optional app players will be available for download from BlackBerry App World and will be placed in a secure “sandbox” on the BlackBerry PlayBook where the BlackBerry Java or Android apps can be run. 

Access Available BlackBerry® PlayBook™ Developer Resources
                                
We look forward to seeing your new BlackBerry® PlayBook™ Applications!

If you experience difficulty accessing the link, please email alliances@blackberry.com.

Regards,

BlackBerry Alliance Team

Or is the deadline still March 31st?

[sergeh]

By the sound of the email it would seem that it's been extended to April 19...

[zezke]

Sigh, they really should stop extending the deadline and start sending the actual devices. I know a lot of developers (including me) are aching for some ondevice testing. 31st of March was a very good deadline considering they started the offer in December.

[TheMarco]

Interesting. Would be awesome for a friend of mine who's battling to meet the deadline.

I didn't get this email though... Maybe it's only sent to people who didn't already get the free PlayBook offer? Did you already, tags07?

[tags07]

May be they just want to give grace period for people in the queue...or perhaps the deadline is still March 31st and the date in the email is just referring to the date they will launch. Hard to tell..

[sergeh]

The actual Terms and Conditions haven't been updated though.

Even if it has in fact been extended again, it still sounds like they'll send us the Playbook around the 19th

[TheMarco]

I'm sure they'll start sending devices as soon as they can, regardless of the deadline. A tweet from BlackBerry a while ago suggested that much. I don't think extending the deadline means people who are already good to go with the offer will have to wait longer for their device.

[tags07]

It was sent if you are a BB Alliance member: BlackBerry Alliances <alliances@blackberry.com>

[berryawesome]

I think that, if they were not shipping them before 4/19 anyway, it doesn't really matter how long the promotion runs for. I agree that developers have had more than enough time (I submitted my app sometime ago) but I personally do not mind the extension.

[jtegen]

It does not say that the offer period has been extended.

Registered developers who submit a qualifying BlackBerry® PlayBook™ app that is accepted into BlackBerry App World™ prior to the initial product launch in North America (April 19th) will receive a free BlackBerry® PlayBook™. 

March 31th is "prior to the initial product launch...".  But I do agree it is very misleading.  The offer page has not been updated as mentioned earlier.

http://us.blackberry.com/developers/tablet/playbook_offer.jsp

I also agree, that they just need to end this.  The panic people are in is not being very kind and adding 2 more weeks will unlikley grossly increase the number of apps that will make it in the store.  At best, existing developers can do is to bring over an existing app and if it is not already a Flash/Flex/AIR app, 2-3 weeks won't be enough time.