This June and July our EMEA superstar evangelists will be heading down to Africa to spread the BlackBerry 10 love.

If you have never developed for BlackBerry 10 before and would like to learn how to go from nothing to a fully functioning app using either HTML5 or C++/Qt Cascades, then you should come and join us for one of the tour stops around the continent.

Our team will be on hand all day to give you all the tips and tricks you need to build a beautiful app that users will love and value.

To find out more and to register for a place check out the links below. Spaces are limited and are filling fast so don’t wait!

BlackBerry Jam Tunisia 14th June

BlackBerry Jam Kenya 21st June

BlackBerry Jam Ghana 1st July

BlackBerry Jam Nigeria 3rd July

BlackBerry Jam South Africa date tbc

Last week the BlackBerry® Developer Relations team was at GSMA’s Mobile Asia Expo 2012. This year the show debuted in Pudong, Shanghai for the first time, at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) featuring operators, telcom brands, and of course the popular App Planet. Shanghai is quite a fascinating city with an interesting mix of modernity and ancient culture. Despite having the largest population on earth, things (including their metro) seem to move quite smoothly.

We were looking forward to meeting MMMOOO at the expo, but we weren’t expecting a special invitation for a visit to their headquarters from Jonah Lin, the CEO for MMMOOO. In case you haven’t heard of them before, let us rewind back to BlackBerry® DevCon Asia last year. MMMOOO won Top Achiever in BlackBerry App World™, and their latest count in BlackBerry App World sits at 375+ applications. We simply could not refuse the invitation as the team, and I was dying to figure out how many elves were coding away at the MMMOOO Innovation Workshop. We looked forward to observing their behaviour, monitoring their habits, and if we got lucky, extracting their DNA to take back with us. What ensued was quite a humbling experience for the RIM team:

As you walk in, the slogan “Enrich Your Mobility” greets you into the world of MMMOOO. The 500 square-metre space took the concept of open office to a new level with long rectangular tables of designers and developers facing each other. You could easily tell one from the other based on the tools and IDEs open on their screens. Several smiling heads turned and greeted the visitors, but the level of concentration within the one-room office space quickly became apparent as the team of thirty or so developers immediately immersed themselves back into their work.

A small ping-pong table in the middle of the room, although abandoned at the moment, showed signs of heavy use. On the left, a modest lounging area, with several photo frames on the wall of various MMMOOO milestones (including BlackBerry DevCon Asia and the recent CHINICT hackathon). As they also sponsor D-Starine, a charity that serves Tibet and Qinghai province, he had every reason to be proud of showcasing their invaluable social contribution. Knowing Jonah and his team, they might even whip up an app to encourage the same.

Jonah introduced us to the rest of his team. They had folks dedicated on BlackBerry® WebWorks™ and HTML5 as well Native and Qt. They told us that they were glad we were supporting the Qt community, and were particularly excited about Cascades™ for its charming UI. There was no shortage of mobile devices on their desks, but the BlackBerry® 10 Dev Alpha was the only rarity, which they were fortunate enough to get at BlackBerry 10 Jam.

The conversation became more casual, and the RIM team went on to share some of their favourite MMMOOO apps ever built (my personal favorite is their BBM GIF Avatar creator), and we got a glimpse of some of the exciting new stuff that they were working on for BlackBerry 10 that I can’t share here yet.

Time flies when you’re with other developers. We had to start heading back, but of course there’s always time for a group picture. It’s quite fitting but paradoxical that the team deployed itself and posed in front of their Wall of Fame. Perhaps this very photograph might end up on that wall as well.

Austin, Texas is one of the most important technology centers in the United States, and it was stop number three on our BlackBerry® 10 Jam World Tour. The excitement and enthusiasm was growing throughout the day, with attendees coming from various regions and even other states like Michigan, Oklahoma and Colorado. Many arrived early, even before we opened registration. We received many compliments for choosing Austin for the tour, highlighting local talent and opening doors of communication between Research In Motion® (RIM®) and developers.

It was clear to everyone that this is a new BlackBerry® smartphone with a clear strategy and innovative solutions, focusing on those who seek productivity and efficiency through the use of technology. Many good discussions were initiated, such as the real possibility of creating new BlackBerry Developer Groups in Texas, and also the interest to take our BlackBerry Academic Program to local educational institutions.

After our presentations in Native, Web and Enterprise, some of these attendees were ready to evangelize and promote our BlackBerry® 10 story. One of the developers I met said: “I can’t wait to show this to my colleagues; they have no idea what BlackBerry 10 is…”

We also found longtime BlackBerry fans, who continue to believe in BlackBerry as we face the challenges during the transition to BlackBerry 10. Within the audience, it was evident that the desire for RIM to succeed is there.

During lunch, we heard pitches from local developers showcasing their apps. Congrats to the big winner with an app to monitor diabetes through an external peripheral that connects to our device that collects information on blood sugar levels and can share the results.

It was a great start for the tour in the U.S. and the whole team should be congratulated; we were able to change many perceptions throughout the day. I can say that the day’s mission was successfully accomplished.

Some interesting tweets:

It was an awesome day at #BB10Jam in Austin! RIM knows how to treat their devs right! Thank you RIM! Can't wait for #BB10! @BlackBerryDev—
SDK Wireless LLC (@sdkwireless) June 06, 2012

In a world where there is a divide of iPhone vs Android, a new contender to blow them all away #BB10! #BB10Jam—
Mitchell Clay (@MitchellrClay) June 05, 2012

great session (Web Track) at #BB10Jam in Austin! @blackberrydev twitpic.com/9t5sxx—
Julio Rodriguez (@jhey) June 05, 2012

@demianborba #BB10Jam #bb10 #revolution I'm loving it!—
  (@djhankfresh) June 05, 2012

Cinematic, multitasking, content, Fluid and Charm defines what BB 10 experience all about #BB10jam—
Ritwik Bose (@ritwik1st) June 05, 2012

(I know this is Austin, but I found three surfers in the audience, and one of them from Brazil, from the same city I live in — can you believe it?)

Now let’s move on to our next sold-out shows here in the United States. We are building a good story and we plan on keeping this momentum going for our stop in Santa Clara on Thursday June 7th.

Happy Monday! We’ve got a recap of the most recent BlackBerry® 10 Jam World Tour event from Kamel – read on for all the good news from Barcelona. – Ed.

¡Hola Barcelona! We just completed our second BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour event in fantastic Barcelona, a mecca of mobile developers. This was our second time in Barcelona this year after our presence at Mobile World Congress, and we were happy to be back. The venue was fantastic and the weather was great, but that was nothing compared to the great developer audience we had actively enriching our presentations throughout the day.

We kicked off the day with talks about the BlackBerry 10 experience and a technical overview of its architecture, outlining the flexibility that developers have to work with HTML5, Adobe® AIR®, Java®, Android™, and Native C/C++ – giving developers a choice of technologies to use. The spontaneous applause after demonstrating the “flow, connect, extend” experience on a real BlackBerry 10 prototype (that fantastic BlackBerry device keyboard…) was exciting.

The afternoon was split in a rally of presentations and hand-on demos about our Native and HTML5 platforms. A very engaged audience managed to stay focused and stay with us through to the end (even with the fantastic weather outside and being only meters away from a wonderful marina and beach!). Aaron Ardiri, our new evangelist, presented his own experience porting his games from other platforms to BlackBerry 10. The audience enjoyed it – check the tweets from @ardiri at #BB10Jam.

We also organized the opportunity for developers to present 3-minute lightning pitches of their BlackBerry apps (whether finished or under construction) to the audience, who then voted for the best one. The winner was AparKarma — see happy winner David with myself after winning:

The Developer Relations team really enjoyed being in Barcelona, talking to the local developers and showing the capability and opportunities of our Native and HTML5 platforms. Although my hands-on demo of the powerful momentics IDE didn’t work as I expected (demo syndrome…) and I had to resort to Plan B (snapshots on slides), I was so surprised and happy about the applause I received from the audience anyway. Amazing BlackBerry developers in Barcelona!

Once again, thank you so much Barcelona! Looking forward to my next amazing stop in Paris on June 12th.

Image By Albert Bridge (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The BlackBerry® 10 Jam Road Show will soon be hitting the road! We want to be sure no developer is left behind, so we have condensed BlackBerry 10 Jam and are taking it on tour to bring the action to you.

The Road Shows are developer events designed to connect mobile application developers with BlackBerry® development experts. Join us in the city closest to you to learn more about the benefits and business opportunities of the BlackBerry platform!

Come Jam with us so you can:

Be one of the first to develop for the BlackBerry® 10 platform.

• Get a snapshot of the new things you can do with the BlackBerry 10 development platform. Learn about the unique capabilities of BlackBerry 10 to set your application apart.
• Collaborate with your community. Learn, share and network with your peers. Make valuable connections that will make you even more successful with BlackBerry.
• One-on-one expert guidance. Jam with BlackBerry platform experts and build a better app.

Attendees will gain insight on building applications for the launch of the new BlackBerry 10 platform later this year. Beginner and master mobile application developers will be able to attend in-depth breakout sessions focused on HTML5 + BlackBerry® WebWorks™ and Native C/C++  development for the BlackBerry platform. They’ll have hands-on time with the BlackBerry 10 tools and development experts who can provide guidance, tips and tricks, and other information to help developers get started building apps for BlackBerry 10.

Road Show Locations
Take a look at the BlackBerry 10 Jam Road Show schedule and watch for more information coming soon.

North America
June – Austin, Texas
June – New York City, New York
June – Montreal, Quebec
June – Toronto, Ontario
June – Atlanta, Georgia

EMEA
May – Milan, Italy
May – Barcelona, Spain
June – Paris, France
June – London, UK
June – Moscow, Russia
June – Berlin, Germany
July – Warsaw, Poland

Asia Pacific
July – Delhi, India
July – Beijing, China
July – Singapore, Singapore
July – Jakarta, Indonesia
July – Sydney, Australia

Latin America
August – Buenos Aires, Argentina
August – Mexico City, Mexico

Dates, locations, and registration information will be posted to http://www.blackberryjamroadshow.com over the next few weeks. Stay tuned to the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog for more information and updates.