As the 30 January release of BB10 closes in, RIM has extended the deadline of its Built for BlackBerry scheme, which rewards developers for submitting apps for the platform. 

The reason given for this extension is the sheer volume of submitted apps – its now-misguidingly-titled Last Chance Port-a-Thon last weekend brought in 19,000 apps.

And its not hard to see why developers have flocked to this scheme – they receive $100 per app submitted, as well as more rewards for submitting a number of apps, and are also promised a minimum of $10,000 revenue per app (as long as it makes more than $1,000), with RIM making up the difference itself. 

It could prove a costly strategy for RIM, but the manufacturer is showing it realises how make-or-break important apps are to a new OS, something which has historically been a weakness. Along with relaunching BlackBerry App World yesterday, adding music and video content and renaming the store to BlackBerry World, RIM is readying itself for a major launch which could decide the companys future – and the companys doing all it can to make sure its offering is strong out of the gate.