While CES is, by name, a consumer showcase, there is still an undercurrent of developer goodness to the event. Developers are just as interested as consumers in new hardware, because they need to know which cool pieces of tech to develop for. I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with Adobe evangelist Renaun Erickson about BlackBerry PlayBook development, and the rich tools available to developers that make life easier. Check it out!

Here are some of the links mentioned in the video:

BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK Overview (VIDEO)
Q&A from the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet Webcast series
Adobe Developer Connection

RIM President and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis showcased some amazing BlackBerry PlayBook apps yesterday at the Adobe MAX conference with Kevin Lynch, CTO of Adobe. The above video highlights some of what Mike and Kevin demoed during the keynote, such as the BlackBerry PlayBook’s multimedia capabilities (including web based videos using Adobe Flash), multitasking and the eUnity healthcare application. All apps demoed during the keynote were built by developers working with the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR as part of an early access program. The other applications included:

SAP Crystal Solutions Dashboard and CIO Cockpit by SAP
Chatter, an enterprise IM application by salesforce.com

Check out the BlackBerry PlayBook demo video to see what they showed on stage and post a comment to let us know what you liked the most!

- ActionScript UI components built specifically for the BlackBerry PlayBook
- API Reference docs
- A plug-in for Adobe Flash Builder 4.0
- Packaging and signing tools

The BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR will help you get started building great tablet applications, and to test them out we’ve also provided a beta of the BlackBerry PlayBook simulator. Check out the SDK Getting Started Guide to learn how you can get the SDK installed and simulator setup.

The release of the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR is just the start. Later this year, BlackBerry App World will be open and ready to accept your Adobe AIR app submissions. Make sure to start coding now, as we will be working to ensure that developers who get qualified apps submitted and approved prior to launch will be first in line to receive a BlackBerry PlayBook from RIM. Stay tuned for more details!

Not sure how to get started? That’s okay! Starting November 4th, we’ll be hosting a series of webcasts to get you up to speed on using Flash Builder and the new BlackBerry PlayBook development tools.

Don’t forget to keep checking back on the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog for more BlackBerry PlayBook development updates! We’ll be providing more information in the coming months on additional development platforms and tools for building thin-client and thick-client apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Hopefully you’re all as pumped as me! Remember: get your BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK NOW, get the BlackBerry PlayBook simulator NOW, sign up for the webcasts NOW and come back soon to submit your app to BlackBerry App World to have your app qualify to receive a BlackBerry PlayBook!

Download BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR
BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR Support Forums Board

Developing Adobe AIR apps for the BlackBerry® Tablet OS
Speaker: Julian Dolce, QNX
Time: Monday Oct 25 2pm, Wednesday Oct 27 3.30pm
Join Julian as he takes you through the process for creating Adobe® AIR applications for the BlackBerry Tablet OS. This session is designed to give you all the information you need to know to start creating AIR applications for the platform.
[Register for Julian’s Session http://bit.ly/aB7CCV]

How to monetize your apps on the BlackBerry® PlayBook
Speaker: Mike Kirkup, Director of Developer Relations – RIM
Time: Tuesday Oct 26 1.30pm
Learn how BlackBerry® App World™ can be used to deliver your applications to users and make you money. During the sessions you will learn the how to leverage BlackBerry App World as a channel to reach BlackBerry PlayBook users. For once you have acquired customers for your applications, learn how you can make additional revenue with the BlackBerry Payment SDK.
[Register for Mike’s Session http://bit.ly/9pHg0f]

The Power of BlackBerry® WebWorks
Speaker: Prosanta Bhattacherjee, Application Development Consultant – RIM
Time: Wednesday Oct 27 9.30 am
BlackBerry WebWorks open the doors of BlackBerry Development to web developers enabling them create standalone applications on BlackBerry devices. Join Prosanta Bhattacharjee in discovering what the BlackBerry WebWorks framework is, what a BlackBerry WebWorks application is capable of, and how you can leverage the framework to create a deployable web app to distribute to your users.
[Register for Prosanta’s Session http://bit.ly/9s9fDL]

In addition to voraciously following the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog and our @BlackBerryDev Twitter account, make sure to also check out the Adobe® Flash® Platform Blog for non-BlackBerry specific Adobe/Flash news throughout the week. Hope to see you there!

As you have likely heard, Mike Lazaridis introduced the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and BlackBerry® Tablet OS yesterday during his keynote at BlackBerry DEVCON 2010. The BlackBerry Tablet OS – based on technology by QNX Software Systems – has been designed to deliver unparalleled performance in a tablet. In honor of this announcement, we have with us today Dan Dodge, co-founder and CEO of QNX Software Systems, to talk about the BlackBerry Tablet OS and the opportunities it opens up to app developers, web developers and publishers.

Can you tell us a bit about the QNX® Neutrino® operating system?

If I had to sum up the QNX Neutrino OS in one word, it would be architecture. In fact, when you look at the qualities that have made QNX Neutrino so successful — reliability, scalability, performance, portability — they are all a natural product of its microkernel architecture. These qualities are baked into the very core of the OS.

This architecture explains why the QNX Neutrino OS is popular in such a huge variety of applications, from Internet routers to in-car infotainment systems. In fact, you’ve probably encountered QNX Neutrino today without even knowing it. It’s part of everyday life – being used to control power stations, automate TV broadcasts, and even to help ensure that your food is safe to eat. Now we are leveraging the flexibility and proven reliability of this architecture in the new BlackBerry Tablet OS.

What are some of the key features of the BlackBerry Tablet OS that our application developers need to know?

First off, you can develop some really cool apps for BlackBerry PlayBook using Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Flash, and HTML5. Under the hood, we have a 1GHz dual core processor, accelerated 3D graphics, HD video, and a 7″ multi-touch widescreen. Think of the potential for applications that can combine all these technologies!

Of course, since the BlackBerry Tablet OS seamlessly pairs with BlackBerry® smartphones, the types of things that customers have come expect in terms of enterprise-grade mobility features are available to BlackBerry Tablet OS applications.

Flexibility is in the very DNA of the BlackBerry Tablet OS. We’ve designed it to easily support additional runtime frameworks and virtual machines. For instance, you can expect to see a virtual machine that supports BlackBerry® 6 Java applications.

From a tools perspective, you can use standard Adobe products such as Flash Builder for application development and debug directly on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. For applications that require access to the native OS environment, developers can develop and port C/C++ applications and also take advantage of the QNX® Momentics® Tool Suite, which is based on the Eclipse standard. The BlackBerry Tablet OS provides built-in interfaces to integrate the rich graphical application environment with underlying native code.

We know that the BlackBerry Tablet OS is built upon the QNX Neutrino microkernel architecture. What are some of the key advantages that QNX Neutrino brings to the table?

First and foremost, with the QNX Neutrino microkernel architecture, every application, device driver, networking stack, and virtual machine runs in memory-protected user space. As a result, the BlackBerry Tablet OS can provide a resilient, self-healing environment in order to protect applications from hurting one another or the OS itself. And that’s exactly what you want when running software from a large community of developers.

The QNX Neutrino architecture can also support true multitasking on multicore hardware — in fact, its multicore prowess has been performance-proven in the world’s highest-capacity routers. As a result, it can run multiple applications simultaneously, while delivering very high performance. Multitasking might be new to other tablet platforms, but for us, it’s bred in the bone.

What was the most exciting aspect of this project?

That’s easy: creating something that is more than the sum of its parts. Over the years, QNX and Research In Motion® have developed phenomenal strengths in their respective domains. This project provided an opportunity to bring those strengths together on a single platform — and I believe we’ve succeeded brilliantly. Because our technologies are so complementary, and because our cultures are so compatible, we’ve been able to create a tablet OS that surpasses anything on the market today.

Dan, we have heard about how the QNX Neutrino OS already powers solutions in a variety of challenging environments. What is your favorite story around where it is being used?

Honestly, I couldn’t pick just one. The QNX Neutrino OS controls medical devices that save lives, in-car systems that find the nearest Starbucks, and vision systems that helped build the International Space Station. Some of these systems are incredibly important and others are simply cool — but they’re all immensely gratifying.

Thanks for taking time to talk to us today, Dan. I know that I can’t wait to see the great applications that get developed for the BlackBerry Tablet OS. For those of you interested in learning more about the new BlackBerry Tablet OS, check out the materials and sign up for the upcoming webinar on BlackBerry DevZone – and watch our BlackBerry Developer’s Blog for more details coming soon!

BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK Registration