Deciding not to mince around when it comes to creating apps for its Playbook tablet device, Research in Motion has hit upon a pretty eye-catching method of drumming up interest from developers.

Want a free RIM Playbook?

According to reports today, RIM is offering a free Playbook to anyone who submits an app for the gadget and gets it accepted. The company wants as many apps as possible for the launch of its debut tablet next year.

The Blackberry App World portal is now open and accepting Playbook application submissions. If yours is accepted, a Playbook will be on its way to you.

As TG Daily notes, “it’s hard to get developers interested in a new platform, especially when they don’t own the device themselves. So it’s sort of always a catch-22 situation,” hence the new course of action.

There’s still plenty of doubt out there that the Playbook will be able to make a dent in the iPad’s business and indeed by the time the RIM device hits shelves, the iPad 2 may be on release too. Most tablets thus far have gotten lost in Apple’s slipstream – can RIM be any different?