(Originally posted on the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog)

Mobile apps in the corporate environment are more creative and influential than ever, helping businesses work faster, more profitably, and with the kind of efficiency that others envy. Here’s why we think attending BlackBerry® DevCon Americas 2011 can help your corporation go even further and do even more.

1. Understand more about the tools and options. Many of the sessions at the show are designed to increase your know-how and skill base, such as:

• DEV19 – Introduction to the BlackBerry PlayBook Native SDK: Building a Sample Application
• DEV21 – Creating a UI using the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR
• DEV22 – Mobile Application Architecture: How Do I Start?
• DEV23 – So You Think You Understand Mobile Web Services
• DEV29 – Lab: BlackBerry WebWorks Bootcamp for the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet

2. Learn from another corporation’s success. Nothing teaches as well as a company willing to share their experience, and PricewaterhouseCoopers is offering to do just that. Don’t miss COM01 – Enterprise Application Development Made Easy: The PricewaterhouseCoopers Story.

3. Train with the best. Sign up for training sessions on using Adobe® Flex®, Adobe® AIR® and BlackBerry® WebWorks™ to build apps for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. Both one-day courses are offered on Monday, October 17 from 9 am to 5 pm and cost $499 USD.

4. Discuss and influence the future. BlackBerry DevCon 2011 features a new series of “Collaboration Roundtables”. GRP04 – Collaboration Roundtable: Native App Development for BlackBerry Tablet OS is your chance to join an interactive discussion and offer feature requests and feedback on the technology roadmap.

5. Get one-stop access to everything and everyone to do with BlackBerry. Weeks of learning on your own can’t compare to three focused days where everything about the BlackBerry platform and technologies and corporate development is in one place. The sessions, labs, speakers, experts and networking opportunities are all here. If you need to tell your boss why you should attend, we’ve made it easy by summarizing it all with this Convince Your Boss Letter!

Make sure you don’t miss out – register now.

(Originally posted on the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog)

Lots of developers work day (and night) to try out a new technology until they understand it completely – but BlackBerry® DEVCON Americas 2011 has a shortcut. Research In Motion® (RIM®) and training partner New Toronto Group (NTG) are pleased to announce the launch of two new application development courses at this year’s conference. Choose between two one-day training opportunities that are intended to improve your skills for developing for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet OS!

Develop for the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet Using Adobe® Flex® or Adobe® AIR® is a great course if you’re an experienced developer working with Adobe Flex or Adobe AIR and need hands-on experience with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet OS. You’ll create your own code and work through various features of a sample application, focusing on fundamentals such as designing the user interface, geolocation, consuming XML data and JSON data and deploying the app.

Develop for the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet Using BlackBerry® WebWorks™ is a course designed for experienced HTML5, JavaScript® and CSS developers. This course will teach you how to create, compile, package and deploy a BlackBerry WebWorks -based application for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. As well, you’ll focus on details like debugging an application using the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet Simulator and using an offline database within an application.

Both courses are offered at BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 on Monday, October 17, from 9 am to 5 pm at the rate of $499 USD per person (lunch and refreshment breaks included). The course fee is in addition to the registration fees for access to BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011.

In one day, you can come away with skills that can make your apps better or your development process faster. And you can do it all while taking advantage of the resources offered at the biggest BlackBerry developer conference in the world. Register now and receive a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet when you arrive at the conference!

Have you registered for BlackBerry® World™ 2011? There are a lot of things that are new for this year, so you definitely won’t want to miss this year’s conference:

New Format for General Session – We’re hard at work on plans for two general sessions at BlackBerry World (one on Tuesday May 3rd and one on Wednesday May 4th). This year we’re taking a slightly different approach to the Tuesday general session – expect to see a lot more product focus and a lot more demos! I’m excited to see the BlackBerry platform innovations being showcased by Research In Motion® (RIM®) and some of our key partners.

On Wednesday, we’ve invited Malcolm Gladwell back as a keynote speaker. Malcolm received rave reviews when he spoke at WES 2009 and we’re thrilled that he will be returning to speak again this year.

Hot New Products – All eyes are on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, which will be available in stores in the U.S. and Canada just a couple weeks before the BlackBerry World conference. We’ll have focused sessions, onstage demos and lots of hands-on time in the BlackBerry Booth to give you every opportunity to see what this amazing tablet has to offer.

Showing Appreciation for our Alumni Attendees – We’ve designed some special extras just for our alumni: an exclusive breakfast on Wednesday, special VIP Lounge access, and Line Jumper privileges in the General Session.

Universal Studios Florida® Hosts the BlackBerry World Party – As mentioned in my previous post, we are going offsite for the party this year. Whether you’re into the rides or just want to sit back and enjoy some musical entertainment, this is going to be a party to talk about!

BlackBerry Channel Partners Get More – Look in the session catalog for an expanded list of breakout sessions for our BlackBerry Channel Partner community to help partners do more business than ever before. For the first time, there’s a special focus on partners who market to consumers and the tools that can help them succeed.

Register now for your BlackBerry World Full Conference Pass and you’ll save $200 USD off the onsite rate — but hurry, this special discount rate is only available until April 1st.

What are you looking forward to the most at BlackBerry World 2011?

Our attendees tell us that one of the most valuable aspects of our BlackBerry® conferences is the networking they do with other BlackBerry platform customers and partners. At BlackBerry World™ 2011, you’ll find many informal opportunities to network with your fellow attendees – over breakfast or lunch, while you’re waiting for a breakout session to begin, on the shuttle buses between hotels, or while you’re grabbing a coffee at the Dev Lounge. You’ll also be able to participate in a few planned activities designed to help you connect with our sponsor partners and your peers.

The first official event of the conference is the BlackBerry World Welcome Reception, held the evening of Monday, May 2nd in the Solutions Showcase. This event is the kick-off for the week, and is your first chance to see what our sponsors have been working on all year. You can grab some food and refreshments and begin to explore all the demos and solutions brought to you by BlackBerry partners from around the world. The Welcome Reception is one of my favorite events of the conference – the buzz in the air is so energizing and there’s a sense of anticipation as everyone begins to come together. It’s a great way to start things off!

Then, after the first day of sessions is over, you won’t want to miss the BlackBerry World Party, held Tuesday, May 3rd from 7:00-11:00pm. This year, for the first time, we’re taking the party offsite to Universal Studios Florida. As a ride junkie, I’m super excited about the chance to hit the roller coasters! If thrills aren’t your thing, we’re also lining up some great musical performances to entertain you while you mix and mingle over food and drink with your fellow attendees. It’s going to be tough to fit everything in! Details on entertainment will be announced soon so keep checking at the BlackBerry World website.

Ready to network? Drop a line in the comments to introduce yourself and let us know if you’re attending BlackBerry World!