Author: Luke Reimer

Credit to Alden Jewell, Auto Historian for the photo!

Auto technology has come a long way since the Model-T, but in the same way early vehicles required mechanical tune-ups, today’s modern cars—with 30 to 100 computers—need software maintenance and optimization. Using the same technology it uses to keep the software in its smartphones updated, BlackBerry is now working with car manufacturers to update vehicle software via wireless networks, known as over-the-air (OTA) communication.

Auto makers around the world are eager to adopt OTA technology as it can truly transform the vehicle experience—enabling and simplifying the delivery of new, compelling features to their customers long after the initial sale. Software updates can refresh a vehicle with new features and services as they become available, keeping the car up to date with the latest upgrades and capabilities. Drivers will also save time as system updates are delivered seamlessly and securely without the need to schedule maintenance appointments. And vehicle owners are just as enthusiastic. Last year, a Gartner survey revealed that 40 percent of owners would “definitely want to get” or were at least “likely to get” the ability for wireless software updates in a new car.

Read more on the Inside BlackBerry Business Blog

Today, we are happy to announce a new version of LinkedIn for BlackBerry 10 smartphones is now available for download on BlackBerry World. LinkedIn is a great way to connect with your colleagues, search for job opportunities, network with peers in your industry, and to stay on top of the latest news. Read on for the new features included in today’s update.

LinkedIn for BlackBerry 10 version 10.1.4

Let’s get right to the good stuff – a ton of new features are included in this new release of LinkedIn for BlackBerry 10 smartphones, available on the BlackBerry World storefront. Take a look at the list below and tell us your favorites in the comments.

• Get More from your Recent Updates
  When you first open the app, your recent updates will now include posts from companies that you follow as well as job suggestions 
• Auto Refresh
  The latest LinkedIn update automatically brings you fresh and up to date content. The automatic refresh gets the latest information from your contacts, groups and brands.
• New Notifications
  When a page has content that has been updated since you last visited, you’ll see the BlackBerry spark icon. 
• BBM Connected
  When you publish a new status update from your LinkedIn profile, you now have the option to post it to your BBM status. 
• Search for Companies and Jobs
  On the “Companies” screen you can use the search icon to find out more and follow companies on LinkedIn. Why not start with BlackBerry? You also now have the ability to search for job listings on LinkedIn to explore your career opportunities. 

The LinkedIn apps for BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry OS smartphones can be used as powerful business tools, particularly with today’s updates and the brand new functionality packed into each. How do you use LinkedIn as a mobile professional? Share your tips, and what new feature you’re most excited about, in the comments below – and don’t forget to visit our BlackBerry company page and BlackBerry for Business discussion group on LinkedIn!

Originally published on the Inside BlackBerry for Business blog

Armed with BlackBerry Z10 devices and these awesome costumes, our BlackBerry Balance demo team took to the streets to show the people of Washington, D.C. the power and versatility of BlackBerry Balance. Our team members don’t just love BlackBerry Balance — they live it. Sporting half-business, half-casual attire, the demo team exemplifies how BlackBerry allows you to manage your personal and work lives. They even wore special BlackBerry Backpacks with LCD screens for device demonstrations!

The Demo Team mingled with the public, surprising pedestrians with their costumes and impressing onlookers with the functionality of the re-invented BlackBerry Z10. Our BlackBerry Balance Demo Team spread out across the city to demonstrate how Balance helps government workers move seamlessly between their work and personal apps.

One reason BlackBerry 10 is such a great solution for government employees, IT admins, and internal policy makers is the BlackBerry Balance feature, which keeps personal and work data separate. Key features that make BlackBerry 10 the best option for government include:

Secure separation of government and personal data

• Privileged information is secure and separate from personal employee information
• Through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, businesses can seamlessly manage and curate a corporate app storefront ó BlackBerry World for Work ó within the BlackBerry Balance Work Space to push and install mandatory apps and publish recommended apps to both corporate and BYOD users

BlackBerry 10 supports IT policy protection

• Employees will receive alerts when they take actions that conflict with internal policies
• BlackBerry Balance is designed to restrict third-party applications, like social media platforms, from accessing government data, and it helps to prevent copy-and-pasting from government assets to personal apps

Secure data with role-based administration

• In the event of a potential security breach, admins can remotely wipe all privileged data associated with the government agency and cut off the device from the office’s BlackBerry server. Personal information and apps remain intact.

We shared demos with hundreds of D.C. workers, encouraging them to jump into the unified experience of the BlackBerry 10 platform. Responses were positive and everyone involved had a lot of fun giving BlackBerry Balance on BlackBerry 10 a try. Our favorite consistent response: “So I don’t have to carry two phones anymore? …Great!”

The fastest adopters of mobile innovation are not just infrastructure-rich markets. It’s in regions like Africa and Asia where peoples’ first experience of the Internet is mobile. Smartphone uptake is exploding in emerging markets due to rising wealth, brand desire, access to education and need for key services in health, welfare, education and finance. In many ways, they are further advanced in mobile service innovation, as many businesses are built first from a mobile perspective.

Across emerging markets, mobile is consistently an engine of growth, but as technology evolves, the mobile industry will need to play an active part in helping governments address socio-economic challenges, enable progress and build sustainable mobile ecosystems for the future. To discuss some of these challenges, we held a panel at BlackBerry Live 2013 with industry leaders, analysts, and developers to exchange insights on BlackBerry innovation in emerging markets around the world.

Participants in the panel included: Robert Bose and Wes Nicol, BlackBerry’s Regional Marketing Directors for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Latin America (LATAM) respectively; Leandro Melo de Sales, Professor at Institute of Computing (IC) at Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) and Principal at BlackBerry Tech Center, Brazil; Alexander Rusli, CEO of Indosat, one of Indonesia’s largest telecommunication networks and service providers; Leon van Dyk, BlackBerry apps lab manager in South Africa; and Victor Dibia, developer and founder of denvycom in Nigeria.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Biz blog »

First year engineering students at Dalhousie University received something extra when they started last year – a BlackBerry PlayBook. Professors took advantage of the new teaching opportunities created when every student is connected.

“Given its ultra portability and power, the PlayBook has given the students the ability to interact with professors at an unprecedented level,” explains Dalhousie Professor George Jarjoura.

Having every student using a PlayBook opened up new ways to teach. Students could follow along with course presentations on their PlayBooks, annotating slides with their own notes. Equally as important, given the size of first-year lectures, was the ability to ask questions and take quizzes electronically, in real time.

“For some first year students, participation during the question period is very intimidating, especially in large classes with hundreds of students,” says Professor Jarjoura. “With the PlayBooks, students could ask questions, submit answers and interact with me in real time, as I lecture.”

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Biz blog »

What a week! We’ve seen a lot of exciting news come out of BlackBerry Live and BlackBerry Jam Americas this week including app launches and announcements, partner demos, the future vision for BlackBerry from Thorsten Heins, and more. Today we wrap up BlackBerry Live with a flourish – be sure to check out the hands-on labs, breakout sessions, the BlackBerry Store, and the Showcase. Check out the video below for today’s morning brief:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

If you missed the keynote general sessions, you can replay the full videos for BlackBerry Live and BlackBerry Jam and their respective web sites.

Make sure that you check out the daily specials in the BlackBerry Store, including HS250 Bluetooth headsets, and microfiber pockets for BlackBerry Z10 smartphones.

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

Our live stream from BlackBerry Live 2013 begins at 10:00am ET! The feed will appear below until 11:30am. If you’ve missed it, we’ll be posting the video footage later today.

Each morning this week we’ll be providing a morning brief to keep you up to date on what you won’t want to miss at this year’s BlackBerry Live 2013 conference in Orlando. We’re committed to keeping a pulse on the event with videos, closer looks, inside perspectives, and breaking news. Check out the video below for the full scoop on today’s packed agenda, which includes the General Session keynote this morning and the BlackBerry Jam Americas keynote this afternoon:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

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

This year’s BlackBerry Live will give you our most mobile conference experience yet. We have some very exciting news: conference attendees will receive a BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, courtesy of Brightstar, our premier mobile sponsor!

Your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone will be a valuable tool throughout BlackBerry Live. The Mobile Conference Guide application has been designed to leverage features unique to BlackBerry 10, making it easy for you to:

• Build and edit your conference schedule in the Session Catalog while on the go
• Scan into breakout sessions using NFC functionality
• Interact with sponsors
• Complete conference surveys
• Much more

Quantities are limited, so register for BlackBerry Live today! To learn more about Brightstar, head over to www.brightstarcorp.com.

With the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone now launched in over 40 countries worldwide, many are making the jump from a BlackBerry 6 or 7 smartphone to a BlackBerry Z10 powered by BlackBerry 10. In order to help you make the transition seamless, we’ve put together a video outlining options and the steps that you can take to transfer your data. Check it out below for the full scoop:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Learn more information on switching devices at www.blackberry.com/deviceswitch. For more How To articles, tips, and tricks, head over to the BlackBerry Help Blog.

We’ve briefly mentioned a few of our future plans for BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 in the past, but today we’d like to share a preview of how secure enterprise mobility management is growing and evolving to meet the needs of businesses worldwide with Secure Work Space for iOS and Android devices. BlackBerry has and continues to be the only choice for enterprises with security, functionality, and collaborative mobile strategies in mind. As needs evolve and IT departments face an ever-growing variety of devices being brought into the workplace, we’re building our solutions to match your needs and priorities.

BlackBerry security capabilities for data-at-rest and data-in-transit will soon be extended to iOS and Android devices; both for smartphones and tablets. A separate and secure work space will hold corporate apps, work email, calendar, contacts, and more. Administrators can configure, secure, wipe, and interact with the Secure Work Space, while employees can enjoy a work and personal experience on a single device. Check out just a few of the benefits:

• Trusted BlackBerry security extended to iOS and Android
• No need for an expensive VPN infrastructure to secure data in transit
• Third party MDM providers and multiple vendors aren’t required – we’ve designed Secure Work Space to be managed by BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 from a single console
• Deployment is straightforward, with all components on a single server
• Global and flexible technical support is available for all aspects of the solution, even further reducing the need for multiple IT and mobility vendors

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Early in December of 2012 we launched the BlackBerry 10 Ready Program to provide businesses around the globe with the tools, offers, and knowledge that they needed to prepare for BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

The program includes a free BlackBerry 10 smartphone offer with BES 10 installation and training courses, a license trade up program to help you seamlessly switch to BlackBerry 10 from prior BlackBerry smartphones, a webcast series, and BlackBerry 10 Readiness Services to provide you with a suite of support options for installation and upgrades.

With BlackBerry 10 launching around the world and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 available for download, let’s take a look at some of the progress so far.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

(Originally posted on the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog)

If you’re like me, you’ve got a sweet spot for the latest sleek and functional accessories that help bring your technology to life. Over the years I’ve collected holsters, pockets, docks, adapters, chargers, and more in order to make my life easier at home and on the road. Today we’re showcasing the incredible new line up of accessories that have been designed specifically for the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone. Check out the video below for the full scoop:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Head over to ShopBlackBerry.com or hit your local retailer to get a hold of these awesome accessories, and share your favorite in the comments below!

(Originally posted on the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog)

BlackBerry 10 is launching in less than 24 hours and we couldn’t be more excited. The official launch event will happen simultaneously in multiple cities around the world including New York City, Toronto, London, Paris, Johannesburg and Dubai. Tomorrow we will unveil the BlackBerry 10 platform as well as the first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones. To keep you connected to all of tomorrow’s action, we thought it would be helpful to provide a list of all of the BlackBerry social channels where you can get the most up to date information in real time.

How to Stay Connected to the Action

Twitter is a great first stop for real-time information and updates. @BlackBerry will be live-tweeting from the global launch event providing news and updates as they happen. @BlackBerry4Biz will be a great resource for business related announcements and updates, and @BlackBerryDev will provide up-to-date information for developers.

We will also be posting updates throughout the day on our LinkedIn Company Page, and the BlackBerry for Business LinkedIn Group will be a great forum to join in on conversation.

You can also check out our blogs regularly for more in depth updates and information about the newest BlackBerry 10 features:

• Inside BlackBerry
• Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog
• Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog

The Inside BlackBerry Help Blog will also be providing tips, how-tos and walkthroughs.

How to join the conversation

We also want to hear from you. Leave us your initial thoughts on BlackBerry 10 in the comments below. If you’re tweeting, be sure to include the #BlackBerry10 hashtag. We’ll be back tomorrow with updates. Until then, let the countdown continue!

Earlier this week we trekked down to Washington, D.C. where BlackBerry was the technology partner at a Canadian Embassy inauguration event. Government leaders, military officers, and Capitol Hill personnel were in attendance and eager to get hands-on with BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha devices.

Reactions to the QNX-based tablet and upcoming smartphone were solidly positive, and it was a real pleasure to see individuals discovering features, functionality, and gesture-based interaction that they hadn’t before experienced. The ability to peek into BlackBerry Hub, the overall flow of BlackBerry 10, and the separation between work and personal data with BlackBerry Balance were clear differentiators for the attendees. Check out the video below to see what a few of them had to say:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

The highly anticipated BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 officially launches today. RIM’s enterprise mobility management solution with BlackBerry Enterprise Server has evolved over the past decade, and today we’re pleased to offer our re-invented solution to help businesses embrace mobile trends and enable management, productivity, and secure interaction with corporate data. I caught up with RIM’s Jeff Holleran, Sr. Director of Enterprise Product Management, to discuss the launch:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Learn more at www.blackberry.com/bes10

Features of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10

A cost-efficient, secure, reliable, and scalable solution, BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 offers a robust feature set to help you get your employees up and running on their, or your, devices. Here are some of the new features, and there’s much more.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »