As I understand it, the important idea is that the application is submitted by the deadline.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.5 Participants may submit as many Applications as they wish during the Offer Period; however, there is a limit of one (1) Device per Participant. Applications must be submitted using the Vendor Portal by the end of the Offer Period to be considered for the Offer. Applications initially submitted after the end of the Offer Period will not be eligible. Participants will be permitted to resubmit their Application one (1) time if it is not approved by BBAW. Any such resubmission must be submitted to the Vendor Portal by 11:59:59 pm ET on February 28th, 2013. Sponsor reserves the right to extend this deadline at its sole discretion and, in such a case, will advise the participants directly by email or by posting a notice on the Website. Proof of submission does not constitute proof of receipt. The Sponsor's server will be the official time clock for this Program.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So in theory you can submit the form once you receive your Dev Alpha PIN number to the site, but be aware that there is this note as well:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.7 There are a total of 12,000 Devices available for distribution under this Offer and they will be distributed while supplies last on a first come first served basis.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So the supplies are limited.
The key qualifiers are 'App Submission before Feb 28th, 2013', 'Dev Alpha Device to trade in", and supplies sufficient to satisfy your request. On one form site there is some statement around a December deadline for the trade in but that's not a representative of Blackberry that says that so it's just a conjecture.
The only note I see on the restriction of time is that it isn't necessary to submit the trade in form by the Feb 28th deadline:
Dev Alpha Limited Edition Process
(at the bottom of the graphic this statement is made: "*Registration is not required by Feb 28th, 2013" and "Register any time after submission" is the statement that the asterisk refers to).
Hopefully this helps.
