[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

What are you most looking forward to today? Share in the comments below.

One of our goals for this year’s BlackBerry Live conference is to integrate mobile technology not just in the discussions, sessions, and resources – but into the actual conference itself to help keep attendees closely plugged into all of the action.

Near Field Communication (NFC)

One of my all-time favorite technologies, Near Field Communication (NFC) will be integrated into BlackBerry Live in a big way. You’ll be able to scan into BlackBerry Live and BlackBerry Jam sessions and interact with aspects of the venue using the BlackBerry Live Conference App, but that’s just the beginning. You’ll also be able to share contact information with sponsors, scoop up links to resources and web sites, and take advantage of all that BlackBerry 10 has to offer when it comes to NFC.

BlackBerry Live Conference App

Shortly before BlackBerry Live the Mobile Conference Guide app will be available in BlackBerry World for you to download. This will be your ultimate conference guide, including a wide range of features:

• Find sessions, speaker, sponsor, and event details
• Receive event update messages
• View the conference agenda and floor plan
• Build and edit your conference schedule
• Scan into sessions using Near Field Communication (NFC)
• Complete conference and session surveys
• Share your information with conference sponsors using NFC

It’s not too late to register for BlackBerry Live!

Head over to www.blackberrylive.com to register for this year’s conference, and don’t forget that if you’ve attended a BlackBerry event in the past, you may be eligible for a $150 discount as part of the Alumni Discount!

Stay tuned for availability in BlackBerry World, and get ready for a seriously mobile conference! See you next week in Orlando.

Last week the BlackBerry® 10 Jam World Tour – Enterprise Edition was held in Madrid, Spain. 121 developers took part in some very interesting sessions, demonstrations, and workshops. With these events, Research In Motion® (RIM®) aims to help enterprise developers find out what the BlackBerry® 10 platform has to offer and provide experts in building applications to show developers the wide variety of tools currently available. These tools include BlackBerry® WebWorks™ using HTML5, CSS and Javascript®, and the NDK/Cascades™ leveraging C++. On this occasion, attendees also become versed in BlackBerry MDS-CS, BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10, and BlackBerry advantages in security.

In the opening session, Eduardo Fernández, Managing Director at RIM for Southwest Europe, welcomed all attendees with a message of RIM’s dedication to the enterprise segment, highlighting that RIM continues to work tirelessly to respond to the needs of all businesses. Gregg Ostrowski, Senior Director of Enterprise Developer Partnerships, talked about the importance of developing for enterprise and highlighted the benefits that BlackBerry 10 brings to enterprise developers, such as the ability to create applications with behind-the-firewall connections, secure information with VPN connection, applications with the ability to be pushed to devices by administrators, leading development standards such as HTML5 and C++, and full management of applications with BlackBerry App World™ for Work. He also offered an exciting live demonstration of the BlackBerry 10 platform on a Dev Alpha device.

Gregg also laid out certain services and features that are vital for enterprise developers, such as BlackBerry® Balance™, which helps employees separate their professional data from their work content. BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion was also positioned as a trusted solution for tackling the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend, as it allows IT administrators to manage multiple platforms in a secure environment.

In the afternoon, developers attended sessions where they were shown how to build enterprise applications for RIM’s new upcoming operating system including enterprise mobility, enterprise architecture, and enterprise design. During the Jam Session, they were also given the opportunity to attend hands-on labs with the BlackBerry WebWorks and Cascades NDK tooling to get an all-encompassing look at BlackBerry 10, thus broadening their building capacities. Developers were delighted to discover the potential of the new BlackBerry 10 platform, and to get familiar with the development framework options.

To further ensure that enterprise developers have the tools they need, they were also offered a free 20-user version of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. This allows them to build their applications with the direct VPN-like connection, leverage Push, and manage their applications using BlackBerry Balance technology. Qualifying enterprise developers were also given a BlackBerry Dev Alpha device, providing them with the chance to test their enterprise applications before submitting them to the BlackBerry App World.

The BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour – Enterprise Edition events continue. Check www.blackberryjamenterprise.com for all of the details!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

What we learned, who was there, and what happened

BlackBerry 10 is getting all of us more excited every day. The live demonstration showcased fantastic UI elements like the flow, notification screen, and the BlackBerry Hub, as well as how application management is experienced by end users via App World and App World for Work. As a hobbyist BlackBerry developer on the side of my social media work at RIM, the screen real estate, crisp resolution, and smooth transitions have me itching to get started.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

This week we caught up with RIM’s Gregg Ostrowski, Sr. Director of Technical Solutions, and Jeff Holleran, Sr. Director of Enterprise Product Management to chat about both enterprise app development and deployment. Check out the video below:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

We’ll be sharing more details about the Enterprise BlackBerry Jam events in the coming weeks, so stay tuned by checking back regularly on the BlackBerry Developer blog and the BlackBerry for Business blog.

Do you develop apps for business? What need are they designed to fill? Share in the comments below!

As someone who has been engaged with our enterprise customers for the past 11 years, I’ve had the luxury of seeing so many well-built applications really change the way in which a business operates. These range from simple tasks like allowing an internal intranet page to be viewed on a smartphone to fully integrated workflow applications. I’ve also seen many of them never leave the proof-of-concept state. The number one reason that these fail is because in the end they cannot interact with real data, meaning that they do not have any connectivity to a backend data source where the relevant information resides. Unfortunately what often happens is that the application is built first and then shown off to executives and stakeholders with dummy data. Once they’re committed, the developer or project owner faces the sizable challenge of connecting a front-end mobile application to back-end data. This often requires additional investment and can prolong the development.

When building custom enterprise apps for BlackBerry® smartphones connected to a BlackBerry® Enterprise Server or BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets connected to BlackBerry® Device Service, we’ve worked to make it simple to create this type of connection. A component is available called BlackBerry MDS Connection Service (or MDS-CS), which helps to provide a VPN-like connection to the backend, allowing your application to easily connect to important data. It connects apps on BlackBerry devices to information stored on an organization’s servers or web servers, processing push and pull requests for data. Data conversion, optimization, authentication methods, access control, and much more can be configured using MDS-CS.

Take this scenario, for example: You have a workflow application to provide your executives with the ability to approve a time-sensitive contract. In this instance, you can build an application for BlackBerry smartphones without trying to reinvent the connection; it’s already there. Unlike VPN connections, there is no need for the end user to invoke a session, nor do you need to build that into your app. It is simply just there.

Here’s a high level overview of the architecture that allows for that inherent connection in BlackBerry devices. Develop along these lines with confidence; MDS-CS will remain part of the future for the BlackBerry Enterprise solution.

Let’s get that app off of the drawing board and into the hands of a mobile workforce – don’t forget connectivity, and when it does come time, consider the elements that are already in place with BlackBerry smartphones and tablets connected through enterprise servers. Learn more by checking out the Feature and Technical Overview for MDS Connection Service.

Has your organization developed a custom application? How does it connect to back-end data? Share in the comments below.

Kendro talks about the tools inTouch used to develop NFC-enabled apps, introduction of NFC capabilities in their existing apps and the unique features for BlackBerry smartphones that were key to success of their apps.

Tell us about the development tools you used to develop BlackBerry apps and the importance of NFC capabilities.

We developed using the BlackBerry Java® Development Environment, which was a great tool to work with. The JDE helped us create projects that we could automatically build and package into applications. We were also able to take advantage of BlackBerry NFC API’s such as NFC Reader API, NFC Emulation API, and NFC Listener API, which were extremely helpful. In terms of NFC as an emerging technology, one thing that’s important to understand is that it’s not restricted to payment-related functions. As a developer, you can utilize NFC in a number of interesting ways, from tag-reading smart posters to emulating something like a campus card. We’re working on a smart campus app that will act as an alternative student ID for daily attendance, library access, parking and payment at the cafeteria.

Your AIRewards app will soon feature NFC capability. How will it work?

The application allows merchants to distribute coupons, gift vouchers and tickets using BlackBerry smartphones. When you purchase something from a participating merchant, you scan a QR code and collect a stamp, which can then be redeemed for free products. The application is also integrated with BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) and the Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones app, allowing users to share stamps with other members and post what they’ve collected on their BBM profile or Facebook page. With other platforms, our work on NFC has been mainly research-based, but with RIM we’ve had specific projects like this in mind for a while. Once people get used to tapping their phones with smart tags, smart accessories, and other NFC-enabled devices, it will be much easier to use than QR codes.

What unique RIM features have been particularly important to the success of your applications?

The AIRewards app is a good example of some of the features we’ve leveraged. The BlackBerry Push Service is definitely very important. It allows us to notify the user about a merchant’s offer shortly before it expires, which encourages people to go back to that business and purchase more of their goods. We think that BBM is a killer app that no one can live without. It’s extremely popular in Indonesia and it allows people to update their profile with URLs and deals that they’ve redeemed. When they do so, their friends can click on the URL and download the same application. Since sharing is such a vital part of the BlackBerry community, these features are significant.

Thank you for your time, Kendro! Readers – stop by the inTouch website to see what the team is currently up to.

Pongsak Tham, E-Innovations Owner, CEO and Managing Partner, tells us about the support he’s received from the Research In Motion® (RIM®) team and his experience using the multitude of BlackBerry developer resources and tools.

Why is it so important for your apps to leverage features like BlackBerry Push Service notifications?
I believe that Push notifications are without a doubt one of the strongest ways for developers to improve the user experience. The immediacy of the BlackBerry Push Service allows us to interact with the user at any time. Using The Nation app as an example, consumers can choose which topics they want pushed to them, so it’s a unique experience. Not only are the right topics being pushed to the right people, but there’s also a very important timeliness factor. For example, with all the flooding in Bangkok recently, BlackBerry users want to know immediately about any alerts concerning their neighborhoods or their commute to and from work. This built-in technology offers that seamlessly.

Your applications are in HTML5. Can you tell us about your development experience using BlackBerry WebWorks and if it helped to enhance your web development?
Our existing team has been studying and working with HTML and browser-based applications for more than three years, and it made working with BlackBerry WebWorks really easy. In terms of the basic know-how of developers who have HTML experience, building an app using BlackBerry WebWorks was not difficult at all, and it means that you aren’t forced to build a native application if you don’t need to. In terms of speed of development, BlackBerry WebWorks has an advantage over other platforms. I think it is definitely one of the strongest points in terms of developing for the BlackBerry platform.

How important is it to integrate your apps with BBM?
BBM has helped us a lot, especially with Thai users, who are just crazy about it. Integrating the application with the BBM SDK certainly enables our developers to create better features for news sharing. Using the flooding as an example again, if a notification has been pushed to the user, they can then easily share the message with their BBM peers. That’s the kind of functionality people are looking for: the full integration of social media with real-time info. Moving forward, we hope to integrate BBM 6 into games to make them social, thereby allowing users to message each other directly and share information with one another.

Thanks for your time, Pongsak!

For Tang Thien Hai, founder of Viet Hop Co., Ltd. and community manager of the BlackBerry® developer forums in Vietnam, the hardest part of developing an application is coming up with an idea. Ironically, his most successful idea came when he least expected it. Caro, a Tic-Tac-Toe type game, was developed by Tang to demonstrate to the growing Vietnamese BlackBerry developer community just how fast and easy it can be to build integrated BlackBerry apps. Developed in only one week, Caro has achieved great success, garnering more than two million downloads in less than three months and 60,000 daily users.

Tang sat down with RIM to discuss the advantages of developing for BlackBerry® smartphones, the importance of integrating apps with BBM™ 6, and working with an engaged Vietnamese developer community and users.

When did you start developing for BlackBerry smartphones?
I owned a BlackBerry® 8700 series smartphone a few years ago and there weren’t any applications available that supported trackwheel devices, so I decided to start developing some for myself. I had previous experience developing with the Java® platform, which made it really easy to start creating apps for BlackBerry platform since it was Java based as well. I developed my first consumer-facing application for travelers and I now have a number of different apps, including my Tic-Tac-Toe app, Caro.

Caro has been a very successful application. How easy was it to develop?
The truth is I developed Caro to show the BlackBerry developer community that I manage in Vietnam how BBM 6 works and how it can benefit their applications. I completed the first version of the game in one week but realized only once it was done that I had something people might want. I submitted the app and had it released on BlackBerry App World™ storefront. Within weeks there were over a million downloads.

Why do you think it became popular so quickly?
I believe it’s popular because of how integrated it is with social features, especially BBM 6. BBM is reliable and accommodates hundreds of thousands of players at any given moment. The user can easily see their scores and their opponents’ scores while playing. Users can also access their contacts to send invitations and find out who’s currently available to play. This enables users to share the application quickly and easily and challenge people to play. Every time a player plays the game, their points accumulate on their record making it very competitive for some. They can view their standings online through a ranking system I created on my website. People also share their ranking on Caro’s Twitter® and Facebook® pages. All of this along with the simplicity of the game has made it extremely addictive.

What advice do you pass on to the BlackBerry developer forums that you manage in Vietnam?
Developing for the BlackBerry platform is not only fast and simple because of my previous Java experience; it is practically free of any significant costs, besides your own time of course. Research In Motion Limited (RIM®) provides such a wide variety of free sample code for the developer to use, it’s hard not to find what you need. Once you have an idea, you simply take the sample code, understand it, modify it, and within two or three days you can develop an app. The other advantage is that the BlackBerry developer community has been very helpful in providing feedback on each other’s apps. They are always eager to help you fine- tune your app, or find ways to get your app out to the masses. The community has been extremely beneficial for everyone regardless if you are a new or experienced BlackBerry developer.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Tang!