RIM knows a platform is only good as the apps available to run on it, so it cleverly came up with a way to get developers to port their apps to BlackBerry 10 and reward them in the process. The BlackBerry maker began its BlackBerry 10 Community Port-A-Thon on Jan. 11 and in 37.5 hours over 15,000 apps were ported to the platform.

RIM announced it would be holding a BlackBerry 10 Community Port-A-Thon beginning on Jan. 11 at 12:00 PM EST and ending on Jan. 12 at 11:59 PM EST:

The BlackBerry 10 Community Port-A-Thon will start on January 11, 2013 and run for 36 hours. This is a virtual event so you can log in from the comfort of your home, from your desk at work or even get friends together and have a porting party. Wherever you happen to be join us; our experts will be there for the entire 36 hours to help you port or build your applications for BlackBerry 10.

• *Get one or more apps approved - $100 per eligible app - a maximum of 20 paid applications.
• *Get between five (5) and ten (10) apps approved - the first two hundred (200) qualified participants only receive one (1) BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device in addition to other rewards.
• *Get more than 10 BlackBerry apps approved - $100 per eligible app + one (1) Dev Alpha + for the first ten (10) qualified participants only one (1) paid trip to BlackBerry Jam Europe to celebrate the launch of BlackBerry 10 with us!

Additionally; submit five (5) or more apps and be entered into a random draw for one (1) of one hundred (100) BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha Device. Receive one (1) additional entry for every eligible app that you submit over 5.

Finally, submit ten (10) or more apps and be entered into a random draw for one (1) of ten (10) additional trips to BlackBerry Jam Europe. Receive one (1) additional entry for every eligible app that you submit over 10.

Get your apps into the BlackBerry World storefront before BlackBerry 10 launches.

The BlackBerry 10 Community Port-A-Thon turned out to be a huge success and according to a tweet from Alec Saunders, VP of Developer Relations and Ecosystem Development, in 37.5 hours the event managed to bring over 15,000 apps to BlackBerry 10. That's a very impressive number of apps and will be part of the already over 70,000 apps available at the launch of BlackBerry 10.