And, if you’re attending BlackBerry DEVCON Americas, be sure to check out the following session on Wednesday October 19th:

Tips and Tricks for Balancing Life and App Development from a Working Mother
Think application development is too time consuming? Come hear how a working mother with one-year-old twins used the time-saving features of the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ Platform.
Kathryn Lahrs with Self Employed

Register for BlackBerry DEVCON Americas today and don’t miss it!

To carve out a presence in the mobile app world, Kathryn Lahrs needs the mobile app development process to be simple and fun. As a part-time developer, Kathryn has harnessed the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ platform to create several successful applications, from the nostalgic game Mash to the family-friendly Santa Tracker. Her current challenge takes advantage of a huge opportunity: full integration with the new BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) 6.0 platform. Between her job and her one-and-a-half year old twin daughters, Kathryn works to find time to develop apps.

Kathryn tells us about using the BlackBerry WebWorks platform, working with Research In Motion® (RIM®) and what exciting BBM™ 6.0 apps are coming in the near future.

Let’s talk about the apps you’ve been developing for BBM 6.0. How are they integrated with native applications?

The first app is PowWow, a social gathering app. You’ll be able to connect to any of your contacts, invite them to events and track their RSVP status – and the event details go straight into the calendar on your BlackBerry smartphone. The basic version will be free, and in the paid version you’ll be able to check your friend’s calendar for their availability – you’ll even be able to check their current GPS location if you’re lost or waiting for them. One of the best features is that it is all running in the background on BBM – you don’t even need to have the app open. The other app will also be plugged into BBM, but based on study groups. Doing these apps has been almost addictive. It’s been a great deal of fun to build them from scratch.

Tell me about the response that the Santa Tracker application received.

The Santa Tracker app was a fun Christmastime app that received a lot of attention. It sold more than 3,000 copies at $1.99 per download. The response was wonderful and families really enjoyed being able to use an app with their kids. When RIM found out about the app, they helped give it an extra push.

Why has the BlackBerry WebWorks platform been so useful for you?

I’m comfortable with environments like HTML, JavaScript®, and Visual Studio, so BlackBerry WebWorks was really simple to get into. After a quick learning curve, it’s pretty easy to see how everything functions and how data is passed and what I need to look for in apps. It also gives you options when working with Java code, so you’re not limited. And I really like the way the web apps look and feel. I think BlackBerry WebWorks is going to take apps to the next level. I’m a mother of twins and developing part time and it still only took me three weeks to develop Mash.

How has your relationship with the RIM team helped your app development?

RIM has been really helpful in a couple of ways. RIM feels like a family environment where everybody truly wants you to do well. I started with the BlackBerry WebWorks environment in its infancy and connected right away with RIM over email. They introduced me to a broad network of people within the company and they were all really supportive. I just didn’t see that hands-on, help-me-in-any-way-possible atmosphere anywhere else. The forums are the same way – BlackBerry developers genuinely want to help each other. Any time I’ve come up against a problem, I put it out there to other developers and typically I receive a great response.

Be sure to check out Lahrs Apps for the latest and greatest apps from Kathryn!

Have you ever wondered how playing video games can change the world? I’m thrilled to announce that visionary game designer and futurist, Jane McGonigal, will be speaking at BlackBerry® DEVCON Americas 2011 on Wednesday October 19, 2011.

Her recent book, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, explores how some of the most difficult challenges facing humanity can be resolved by tapping into the skills demonstrated in gameplay. Think of how video games offer stimulating challenges, exhilarating rewards, epic victories and collaboration with trusted team members – and then imagine if those same skills could be applied to your next project!

Ms. McGonigal is an engaging speaker whose work offers entertaining and inspiring research. Her credentials include being the director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future, Creative Director of Social Chocolate, and a successful game developer for reality games such as EVOKE, World Without Oil, Crypt Zoo and Superstruct.

As part of her participation in BlackBerry DEVCON Americas, Ms. McGonigal will also hear five pitches from application developers and give feedback into how to improve their apps. Stay tuned on how you can be part of the collaborative session!

Don’t miss this inspiring speaker: register now to attend BlackBerry DEVCON Americas on October 18-20, 2011 in San Francisco, CA.

In just a short couple of months, some of the best community developers, key partners and industry gurus the world has to offer will gather to lead more than 30 sessions at BlackBerry® DEVCON Americas 2011. This year’s event runs from October 18-20 in San Francisco, California, and it’s a great opportunity to interact with experts on BlackBerry products and learn from their expertise.

Where else can you meet technical wizards from Adobe® for a bootcamp on Abobe® AIR® for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet? Or hear first-hand from innovators like Xtreme Labs, Penrillian, and Magmic (a game-developer dynamo responsible for Rubik’s® Cube, The New York Times® Crosswords, THKLive and Ka-Glom)? This is the place to learn how Universal Mind built a fantasy football app, how Assanka created The Financial Times app and how PricewaterhouseCoopers builds corporate mobile apps.

What else are our community leaders covering?

• Learn how to use the time-saving features of the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ Platform to build BlackBerry apps
• Understand how to build and test BlackBerry applications using the BlackBerry Java® Development Environment
• Learn how to make beautiful apps faster
• Find out how to squeeze more from an accelerometer
• Take your mobile campaign from basic to buzz with marketing tips

To tap into this vast community know-how, all you have to do is register for BlackBerry DEVCON Americas 2011. For more details on community-led sessions at the event, please visit our session catalog!

With the BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) v6.0 client now officially launched, we’re excited to announce that the BlackBerry® Partners Fund’s 2011 BlackBerry® Developers Challenge has just opened submissions for the ‘Most Addictive Social App Using the BBM Social Platform’ competition*! You can now test the apps you’ve been creating with the BlackBerry® Messenger SDK against the gold release of the BBM v6.0 client and submit them to the competition. If you haven’t created an app yet that integrates BBM features, you still have time to get to work. Submissions for the BBM competition close September 23rd and we’ve compiled a list of resources to help you get started:

Three-part webcast series: ‘Integrating with the BBM Social Platform, One Step at a Time’

• Step 1: Viral Distribution and the BBM Contact List
• Step 2: User Profile and Custom Profile Box
• Step 3: BBM Chat and Embedding Chat within your App

Blog posts:

• BBM Social Platform – Help Your App Go Viral!

Tools and Resources:

• Visit the BlackBerry Messenger Social platform landing page to download the latest BBM™ SDK and documentation. You can find the BBM v6.0 gold client in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.
• Twitterview with Research In Motion® (RIM®) development experts on @BlackBerryDev – Tuesday August 2nd at 2:30pm EDT. Bring your BBM questions!

We look forward to seeing your creative ideas come to life through your apps! Submit your app to the ‘Most Addictive Social App Using the BBM Social Platform’ competition today and be among the first to be considered for an incentive prize package (see the terms and conditions). For more information on this year’s BlackBerry Developer Challenge, see http://www.blackberry.com/developers/challenge.

*No purchase necessary. Submission deadline: 11:59PM EST on September 23, 2011. See Terms and Conditions for complete details and restrictions. Void where prohibited.

The last few weeks have been very busy for the BlackBerry® platform teams! We’ve launched important updates to our BlackBerry® WebWorks™ SDK (v2.1) for both the BlackBerry Tablet® OS and smartphone OS, as well as the BlackBerry® Tablet OS SDK for Adobe® AIR® (in addition to working with Adobe® to include optimized support for the BlackBerry Tablet OS in Adobe® Flash® Builder 4.5!). Also, we’ve released BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) Social Platform SDK 1.0 for BlackBerry® Java® SDK along with a beta version of the platform for BlackBerry WebWorks.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

As we plan excitedly and build passionately towards BlackBerry® DEVCON Americas, BlackBerry DEVCON Asia and BlackBerry DEVCON Europe, we’re taking the opportunity again to ask you about your highlights from 2010 and requests for BlackBerry DEVCON Americas – the first stop in our world series of developer events.

My top three personal favorite moments from 2010 were:

• Meeting with BlackBerry Developer Group Managers from around the world at a special reception in The View lounge on the 39th floor of the Marriott Marquis. The managers also shared their experience and tips for launching groups at a special community session.
• At a special evening event, we highlighted some of our favorite Super Apps from the 2010 BlackBerry Partners Fund Developer Challenge (go here to enter the 2011 challenge!)
• Mike Lazaridis welcoming an excited and passionate Dan Dodge of QNX on stage to talk about the ultra-powerful BlackBerry® Tablet OS. So much energy on stage and in the crowd!

Check out the BlackBerry DEVCON 2010 highlights photos and videos section for even more!

Your feedback from BlackBerry DEVCON 2010 is embedded in every aspect of the BlackBerry DEVCON Americas plan. One significant way we’ve implemented your feedback is that the conference is now three days instead of four – although we’ve kept the very best of the fourth day’s content in special community sessions throughout the event. That said, what else do you want to see at BlackBerry DEVCON Americas 2011? Let us know your ideas in the comments below!

We’re committed to making BlackBerry DEVCON Americas 2011 the biggest and best yet, and are excited to be offering great deals on our conference access, as well as alumni and hotel discounts. In order to give everyone the opportunity to register at our early bird rate (only $699 plus tax) we are extending this offer until August 26th – register now!

See you in San Francisco!

In May at the BlackBerry World™ conference 2011, we announced the launch of the first ever BlackBerry® DEVCON Europe and the second BlackBerry® DEVCON Asia. We are now pleased to tell you the dates and location of these events – BlackBerry DEVCON Asia will be held in December in Bangkok, Thailand with specific dates to be announced shortly. BlackBerry DEVCON Europe will follow in Amsterdam, February 7 & 8, 2012.

We are excited to expand these events as this gives us an opportunity to talk to you about the latest in BlackBerry development, as well as giving you the opportunity to share your experiences and showcase your applications with your community. As such, there is no better way to share your story than to answer the Call for Papers. If you haven’t submitted a paper yet, we want to hear from you – in fact, we are extending the deadline to Friday July 15th for BlackBerry DEVCON Asia and Friday September 16th for DevCon Europe. Stay tuned for details on registration and pricing for both of these events.

Remember to visit the BlackBerry DEVCON website to learn about these events and to register for the upcoming BlackBerry DevCon Americas!

We are thrilled to announce that registration for BlackBerry® DEVCON Americas is open! BlackBerry DEVCON Americas – taking place October 18-20, 2011 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, California – reflects our commitment to make this an incredible event for developers from across North America and Latin America. In fact, we have re-opened the BlackBerry DEVCON Americas Call For Papers for developers in Latin America until May 30th; we are looking to have sessions presented in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.

Early Bird registration for BlackBerry DEVCON Americas is only $699 USD, or $599 USD for our qualifying 2010 event alumni. This is our best registration offer ever (35% less than last year!) and represents incredible value to attendees. Also, this deal can be combined this with a special early-bird 4th-night-free offer for even more savings. Please hurry as these early bird offers end June 24th – register now! We also have special registration pricing for students ($199 USD) and faculty ($399 USD). All prices are subject to applicable taxes; please see the applicable terms and conditions.

We are also excited to announce the first ever BlackBerry DEVCON Europe as well as the second edition of BlackBerry DEVCON Asia, which builds on the success of its debut event earlier this year! We are opening the Call For Papers for BlackBerry DEVCON Europe and BlackBerry DEVCON Asia from May 2nd to June 24th. We are expecting great submissions for both events – make sure you stay tuned here for more information on dates and locations!

These events offer the best opportunity for BlackBerry platform developers – learn more about all three events at the official BlackBerry DEVCON website.

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

The time has come to crown the Regional Winners of the 2010 Super Apps Developer Challenge!

Here’s a quick recap of some of my highlights along the way…

The challenge launched in April, with an open call to the developer community to tell us why they thought they had built a Super App by explaining how they used the Super App characteristics to deliver an exceptional user experience. During the challenge, we shared insights through our blog posts and webcast series, and even dropped a few special Super Apps tips. And the community responded – at BlackBerry® DEVCON we accepted almost 400 participants into the challenge. Some of those entries were highlighted at the Community Connection event on Monday night.

And now, after many hours of reviewing the application forms and applications, we are happy to shine a light on the Winners! We selected one winner for each region – North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Each winner is a great example of how to leverage the power of the BlackBerry platform to build compelling applications that customers want to use every day!

Check out the winners at the BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »