Here’s Rich from our Enterprise Mobility Architect team reporting on the recent BlackBerry® Dev Day and Hackathon in Washington, D.C.!

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to welcome a group of developers to the DC office of Research In Motion® (RIM®) for a BlackBerry Dev Day and Hackathon focused on HTML5. We had a great turnout for the full day event, with attendees from federal government agencies, government contractors, and intergovernmental organizations in the Beltway region. Developer skill levels also varied greatly in terms of previous coding experience. Many had never worked web technologies before and were surprised at how easy it was to code using the HTML5 and BlackBerry® WebWorks™ tooling. Participant Darrion Beckles, a contractor for the NIH, said, “I definitely want to learn more about programming! I’m interested in it now – now that I’ve gotten to meet some other programmers.”

I started the day by giving an overview on developing BlackBerry applications, and I didn’t neglect to mention the continued growth of the BlackBerry App World™ storefront over the past year. I also talked about the importance of HTML5 in building cross-platform experiences for both the BlackBerry® 7 OS and BlackBerry® 10 platforms. The Hackathon was a great opportunity for the attendees to gain some hands-on coding experience with tools such as BlackBerry WebWorks, bbui.js, AliceJS, the Ripple emulator, and BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets.

I was very impressed by the apps the various teams were able to produce in just one afternoon! Considering again how many participants were working with bbUI.js for the first time, the developers seemed comfortable with the tooling. They were excited to present their apps, which included one that allowed you to challenge and compete against other BlackBerry users to become the “Titan-Berry” or the “Wack-Berry.”

Our winning team was from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), who used bbUI.js (with no previous experience) to build a GPS-based app that displayed the air quality index. “It gives the air quality for today, tomorrow, and the day after…so that [users] can decide whether to stay indoors and what activities to do,” said Desmond Andrades, a member of the winning team.

The winning app!

In the end, I definitely thought the day flew by, and it was a good balance of high productivity mixed in with lots of fun moments. It is exciting to see the enterprise developer community in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area diving into our latest tooling, and I look forward to seeing more custom apps in the future!

RIM Team and the winning app developers! From left to right: Rich Balsewich, John Mutter, Deepak Srivastava, Desmond Andrades, Hyunjun Jung

What a week! We’ve had an amazing time here in beautiful Barcelona; showing off BlackBerry® OS 7.1, BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0, and meeting with developers excited to build apps for BlackBerry!

On Monday, our BlackBerry DevZone section of the BlackBerry Booth was teaming with developers looking to get some last minute passes for our Developer Day sessions. All three sessions were fully booked by the afternoon but we were able to squeeze a few more developers in.

By 7pm we headed out of the Fira and on to the PocketGamer party all the while checking in with Alec Saunders who was judging at the Mobile Premier Awards. Congrats to the winner – BearCare.

We were excited to kick off the Tuesday with three booked solid sessions covering BlackBerry 10 development and BlackBerry App World™ monetization tips and tricks. All of the attending developers left with their very own BlackBerry PlayBook tablet loaded with BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 so they could get started developing right away.

Wednesday was my favourite day of the conference as developers came by to ask advice about developing apps and some came to show off their HTML5 and Android apps that they had ported over to their new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet overnight!

Thursday is a typically the easiest day at this show, but this year it was one of our busiest as we manned an expert table at the WIPJam event. James Dreher, from Developer Relations hit it out of the park with his lightening round BlackBerry Development pitch to the main audience and his pitch to the Barcelona GTUG group on repackaging their apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Thanks to all that came out. Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.

Ciao!

All Week

Come by the BlackBerry DevZone (@ 7B42, Hall 7) where, in just a few minutes, developers can port your existing Android™ app to the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet or transform an existing web application into a full-fledged app for both the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and BlackBerry® smartphones. The BlackBerry App World™ storefront team will be here too, available to speed up the vendor approval process and help you get your app posted up on BlackBerry App World right away.

Monday, February 27th

• Mobile Premier Awards– Alec Saunders, RIM’s VP of Developer Relations and Ecosystems Development, is on the judging panel
• PocketGamer Party – Meet us there!

Tuesday, February 28th

• BlackBerry Developer Day at MWC
• Session 1: 10:00 – 12:30
• Session 2:  13:00 – 15:30
• Session 3: 16:00 – 18:30
• http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/blackberry

Thursday, March 1st

• WIPJam – BlackBerry Dev Expert table

Stay tuned to @BlackBerryDev for updates from Mobile World Congress 2012!

Hi Antonio, thanks for taking some time to talk about the 2nd annual ARM Developer Day that took place at RIT this year. Could you tell us more about the event?
ARM produces one of the most used micro-controllers for electronics nowadays. Different semiconductor companies such as Research In Motion license ARM cores and integrate them into high performance chip systems. The ARM Developer Day was an event that focused on letting students and faculty at RIT gain hands-on experience with different platforms that use these micro-controllers. These platforms range from simple hobby-like applications to sophisticated, high level application development such as those done with the BlackBerry® Tablet OS. By exposing students to different platforms at different levels of their academic program, this type of event helps ignite creativity and gets students innovating.

How did RIM become involved in the event?
I met with representatives from the BlackBerry Academic Program during the Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) in South Dakota this year. We chatted about what kind of academic offerings are available from RIM and how we could partner to introduce students to BlackBerry application development – enter the ARM Developer Day. Since the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet contains an ARM processor, it was a natural fit for the event. RIM had a full day workshop that covered an introduction to the Native Software Developer Kit (SDK) for Tablet OS, game development using the BlackBerry® Native SDK for Tablet OS and a hands-on lab session using the BlackBerry Native SDK. They also gave away a total of 10 BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets throughout the workshops to student participants.

What impact does this type of event have on the students of RIT?
This year the event was great! It grew dramatically from last year, when it only had four workshops and a single lab. Thanks to industry participation and growing student interest, we had 20 sessions and workshops throughout the day. Students were able to pre-register for workshops of interest. We hope that getting students to attend this type of workshop will spark innovation and get them developing their own creative applications. These events are great as resume builders and networking opportunities for students to engage with industry and senior faculty.

The event wrapped up with an RIT design contest announcement. What is the contest about? What kind of projects can we look forward to?
At RIT, we are encouraging students to design the next generation of applications. Our job as educators is to provide the tools that will encourage students to apply technological applications in ways we cannot imagine. The theme of the design contest is “creating a better quality of life,” and the purpose is to have students create an application that is designed to help those in need. This could include applications for young children, elderly, disabled or underprivileged persons. This type of project prompts students to identify situations in their day-to-day lives that they may take for granted, and to take a step back to see how technological applications can help people overcome everyday challenges. One of the contest categories challenges students to create an application for the BlackBerry smartphone or BlackBerry PlayBook tablet that will interact with an embedded system to make someone else’s life easier. Proposals are set to be submitted by January 13, 2012 and designs will be completed by April 27, 2012. All final designs will be showcased at “Imagine RIT”.

These projects really create technology with heart – it seems like there is a lot to look forward to. You mentioned that the projects will be showcased at “Imagine RIT”. What exactly is Imagine RIT?
Imagine RIT is an annual festival held at RIT that allows students an opportunity to showcase their end of term design projects. Over 30,000 people from on campus and within the local community attend to see that latest and greatest in technology developed at RIT. Students always have a great time, and it gives them a chance to show off all of their hard work. We are living in a world where “The Internet of Things” is becoming a reality. We are more connected than we know. The new generation of engineers should take advantage of this inter-connectivity. This event showcases what this new generation is capable of.

Thank you for your time, Antonio!

Learn more about the BlackBerry Academic Program, and check out more information about Imagine RIT.

Our North American series of BlackBerry® Developer Days continues with new dates announced for New York, NY on March 15th; Sunnyvale, CA on March 22nd; Toronto, ON on March 31st; and Washington, DC on April 5th.

This is your best chance to hear about the latest technical platform advances and market opportunities for your BlackBerry® platform apps. An updated agenda now features more sessions on developing apps for the new BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet.

Join us for the morning sessions to get oriented to the BlackBerry Development Platform, and get up to speed on recent platform advancements and opportunities. The afternoon sessions will open with the opportunity to learn from a fellow developer’s success, and then focus on a few key platform updates including the new BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) Social Platform, BlackBerry® WebWorks™ Platform, and Adobe® AIR® development for the new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Check out the full agenda for these events and register now!

New York, NY – March 15, 2011
Sunnyvale, CA – March 22, 2011
Toronto, ON – March 31, 2011
Washington, DC – April 5, 2011

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

One of the most popular bootcamp sessions during BlackBerry Developer Day at Mobile World Congress 2011 was the BlackBerry WebWorks platform session. In the video above, I talk with fellow blogger Adam about how BlackBerry WebWorks makes it easy for web developers to make BlackBerry smartphone and BlackBerry PlayBook tablet applications quickly using HTML5 and CSS (as The Astonishing Tribe demonstrated earlier in the week). Below are some worthwhile BlackBerry WebWorks related links.

BlackBerry WebWorks SDK For BlackBerry Tablet OS
BlackBerry WebWorks Webcast Series (with Sample Code)

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Update: AppCircus Spotlight on BlackBerry video recap is now available! Check it out via the link below.

BlackBerry Developer Day at Mobile World Congress 2011 was a jam packed development party. Each bootcamp and speaker session was filled with eager developers looking to learn more about BlackBerry development. I was able to meet up with Mike Kirkup, Director of Developer relations, at the end of the day and get his thoughts on how things went, as well as the rundown of his BlackBerry Development Roadmap session (highlights: Near Field Communications, OpenGL 2.0, Magnetometer and Digital Compass support are all coming in BlackBerry 6.1).

We also were able to talk briefly about the AppCircus Spotlight on BlackBerry event. The event was streamed live on our BlackBerry Mobile World Congress 2011 page, but if you missed it, don’t worry! We have a full video recap of the event available by clicking the link below. Make sure to also check out these BlackBerry App World download links for the event winner, Gbanga and honorable mention, UrbanStep.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Mobile World Congress 2011 is a pretty interesting event from a BlackBerry developer perspective, because it actually contains a mini-DEVCON inside it: BlackBerry Developer Day. With BlackBerry Developer Day taking place tomorrow, we sat down with Director of Developer Relations, Mike Kirkup, to get a high-level overview of what attendees can expect. For those developers in Barcelona, make sure to read our previous BlackBerry Developer Day post for detailed session schedule information. If you’re not attending, don’t worry! The Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog will be uploading videos tomorrow with each of the BlackBerry Developer Day session leads, so you can get the info you need to build the next great BlackBerry Super App.

I am excited to announce that we will again be holding a BlackBerry® Developer Day at Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. This one-day event will take place on Tuesday February 15th as part of the MWC App Planet Application Developer Conferences.

We will be holding general sessions in our main auditorium to get you up to speed on the latest and greatest information on the BlackBerry development platform with special focus on how to best monetize your apps on BlackBerry App World™ and integrate with the BBM Social Platform. We will also be hosting a number of hands-on-labs covering BlackBerry® WebWorks™ and Adobe® AIR® development on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. You can attend sessions either in the morning or afternoon – and don’t forget to bring your laptops to get the most out of the bootcamp sessions!

Also, don’t miss our special AppCircus Spotlight on BlackBerry between 13.30 and 14.30. This event is a unique chance to showcase your BlackBerry app and win a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet! If you’re a developer with a BlackBerry app, you can submit it here to do a 3-minute pitch at this AppCircus Spotlight. Deadline to apply is February 4th 2011, midnight CET!

During the rest of the week, you can come by and meet with BlackBerry development experts in the BlackBerry® Developer Zone area of our booth in Hall 7. If you already have a ticket to MWC, please drop by BlackBerry Developer Zone on Monday February 14th between 9am and 6pm to register your place. We also have a number of tickets available – register here.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in sunny Barcelona!

I am excited to announce that we will again be holding a BlackBerry® Developer Day at Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. This one-day event will take place on Tuesday February 15th as part of the MWC App Planet Application Developer Conferences.

We will be holding general sessions in our main auditorium to get you up to speed on the latest and greatest information on the BlackBerry development platform with special focus on how to best monetize your apps on BlackBerry App World™ and integrate with the BBM Social Platform. We will also be hosting a number of hands-on-labs covering BlackBerry® WebWorks™ and Adobe® AIR® development on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. You can attend sessions either in the morning or afternoon – and don’t forget to bring your laptops to get the most out of the bootcamp sessions!

Also, don’t miss our special AppCircus Spotlight on BlackBerry between 13.30 and 14.30. This event is a unique chance to showcase your BlackBerry app and win a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet! If you’re a developer with a BlackBerry app, you can submit it here to do a 3-minute pitch at this AppCircus Spotlight. Deadline to apply is February 4th 2011, midnight CET!

During the rest of the week, you can come by and meet with BlackBerry development experts in the BlackBerry® Developer Zone area of our booth in Hall 7. If you already have a ticket to MWC, please drop by BlackBerry Developer Zone on Monday February 14th between 9am and 6pm to register your place. We also have a number of tickets available – register here.

If you’d like to get BlackBerry at Mobile World Congress info from your desktop or directly from your smartphone while at the event, please visit BlackBerry MWC 2011 here:

• BlackBerry at Mobile World Congress 2011 – Desktop
• BlackBerry at Mobile World Congress 2011 – Mobile

Looking forward to seeing everyone in sunny Barcelona!