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 »

For freelancers – the one-person profit centers that take business into their own hands – keeping existing clients happy while adding new ones can be especially challenging. While talking with a freelance app developer recently, my friend asked about which BlackBerry apps are best for freelancers. Naturally I thought this would make for a great app list on the Inside BlackBerry Blog, so here are a few great apps to help freelancers do everything from managing their time to transferring files. And since we know freelancers work on a tight budget, all of the following apps are free to download:

timr – Time and Mileage Tracker by troii Software GmbH: timr is a project time tracker app for BlackBerry smartphones that includes a web application component for syncing your data whether you are at home or on the go. If you travel across time zones, timr can adjust your work clock to ensure accurate billing of your clients. It’s like having a pocket project manager.

Box for BlackBerry PlayBook by Box, Inc.: Box allows you to create your files on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, laptop, or desktop, then access and edit the files from anywhere. Since portable hard drives can be dropped and flash drives can be easily lost, Box for BlackBerry PlayBook makes sure you have access to your files anytime and anywhere.

Freelancer’s Estimation Assistance Tool by M Khurram: This helpful app for your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet – called FEAT by its developer – allows you to quickly calculate your hourly rate for a project when creating a quote for a potential client. It’s a relatively new app to the BlackBerry World storefront, but the interface looks slick. I think it’s got a bright future.

xLancer by Zhaidarbek Ayazbayev by Handster Inc.: The folks at Handster are known for bringing some quality apps to the BlackBerry World storefront, and xLancer is certainly one of the more useful apps for freelancers. By connecting with online freelance site Elance, xLancer offers a more robust set of tools for searching and flagging jobs in which you are bidding on or offering to other freelancers.

Color LED by DAN INFO TECH: I love this app for dividing my contacts into LED colors on my BlackBerry smartphone. Coworkers’ calls flash red, family flashes green, and when my boss calls…“police strobe.” These classifications allow me to know who’s calling even while my device is on the other side of the room. How does this help a freelancer? Imagine different color LEDs for current clients, clients you’ve quoted, and for personal calls. Could be pretty helpful, right?

Though this list is geared toward freelancers, those of us working with an organization could probably benefit from these as well. Freelancers, feel free to share any additional apps you use to keep your clients, and thus your life, organized.

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 energy inside Research In Motion (RIM) is at an all-time high. We are weeks away from the biggest product launch in BlackBerry history. To capture some of the excitement, I took a moment to connect with a few of our senior executives who have been leading teams directly involved in the making of BlackBerry 10.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Each week leading up to the launch of BlackBerry 10, I will be releasing a fresh video interview clip with this group of execs. Special thanks to: Scott Totzke, Senior VP of the BlackBerry Security Group, Pete Devenyi, Senior VP of Enterprise Software and Mike Maloney, VP of Customer Support Operations – America’s, for participating in this “behind the scenes” leadership video series for our Inside BlackBerry For Business blog readers!

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

From all of our conversations on our LinkedIn® Group and Company Page, Twitter®, and here on the blogs, we know that you’ve been patiently waiting for a LinkedIn app for your BlackBerry® smartphone. Today we’re excited to announce that the day has come! A free LinkedIn app for smartphones running BlackBerry OS 6 and 7 is now available for download; get it here.

With LinkedIn, you can put your professional network at your fingertips. The new LinkedIn app for BlackBerry smartphones lets you access many of the LinkedIn features that you love from the desktop experience and stay connected while on the go. Read on for an overview of the features that are included in the app.

Note: Thanks for your excitement in LinkedIn 2.0! Please be aware that it may take up to 24 hours for the app to be available in BlackBerry® App World™. The LinkedIn app for BlackBerry smartphones supports all devices that are BlackBerry OS 6 or higher, and requires a Wi-Fi connection or data plan in order to function properly. Learn more about regional availability and language preferences on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

It’s no secret that we love Near Field Communication (NFC). What’s exciting at this point is watching some of the use cases come to fruition, and today in particular, the ability to replace security access badges with BlackBerry® smartphones. NFC is an innovative technology with many stakeholders and interested parties including enterprise customers, end users, financial institutions, carriers, and of course smartphone manufacturers. BlackBerry smartphones have been leading the way in mobile payments for some time, becoming the first smartphones to be certified by MasterCard® and Visa® for NFC-based payments, and now we’re first to be available as an access badge replacement solution. “RIM has proven to be a leader in NFC technology, and in bringing NFC solutions to market – we spearheaded the efforts in mobile payments. Now we are taking NFC beyond payments into the enterprise sector and partnering with HID Global®, an industry leader in physical access solutions” says Geoff MacGillivray, RIM Sr. Product Manager for NFC.

Late last week HID Global announced the availability of Secure Identity Services™, a comprehensive suite of web-based services for managing physical access credentials (read the HID press release for more info). Secure Identity Services is the enterprise’s first all-in-one web-based solution for credential provisioning and management. The platform provides businesses with the tools to create, use, and manage identities for traditional badges on plastic cards, for tokens, and for digital credentials on NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones beginning with models on the Verizon Wireless network: the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 and the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9370.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Guest post today from Dan – Ed.

Hi, I’m Dan Sloshberg, Regional Manager for Small Medium Business Marketing in Europe, Middle East and Africa. I work on helping to promote our BlackBerry® solutions for those who are looking to start or grow their business.

Following on from our last post on mobile social networking for SMBs, we’ve put together this great new video, showcasing some examples of how smart small business can use mobile social networking to connect and engage with their customers and find and attract new customers.

Starting or growing a business can be tough and a lot of hard work. Engaging on social networks from your smartphone or tablet is a powerful and efficient form of communicating and connecting with customers and prospects. If done right, not only can it be highly effective but is also a very low cost marketing strategy. See how you can use some simple social tactics to attract and keep more customers wherever your day takes you – and all from your BlackBerry smartphone.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Does your business use social networking to engage with customers? Share your tips and advice for using social networking on a smartphone or tablet in the comments below.

It’s been an honor to be a part of conversations with enterprise customers during a major transition for Research In Motion® (RIM®). We’ve had many valuable questions sent to us, and we’re taking the opportunity to get answers from Robin Bienfait, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for RIM. Robin oversees the Enterprise Business Unit, BlackBerry Operations, Customer Service, and Corporate IT functions. In short, she plays a major role in leading the vision for BlackBerry enterprise solutions, and the execution of making that vision a reality. Check out our chat below:

Hi Robin, thanks for joining me today! I’m looking forward to representing our enterprise customers and voicing the questions that they have.

My pleasure Luke, it’s both a challenging time and a very exciting time for us at the moment, and I’m glad I can help to address our customers’ concerns directly.

Can you tell me a bit about your background and the role that you play with our enterprise customers?

Our customers are the reason we do what we do every day. My job is to meet customers where they’re at and help bring solutions to them that work best for their environment. I spent 22+ years at AT&T through all sorts of engineering and network operations leadership roles. When I left AT&T to join RIM over 5 years ago, I had led 30,000 people all dedicated to building a scalable and reliable enterprise class network. During that time, I interacted with enterprise customers on a daily basis, as I continue to do today. I believe it’s important to get to know the different pieces of a business – it’s not just about being a leader, it’s about getting involved in problems and solutions. I am 100% committed to using my experience, knowledge, and dedication to meet the needs of our enterprise customers – that’s what I’m here for.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

The good news is that there are a ton of apps to help you accomplish tasks in each of those categories. We put our heads together and rounded up our “staff picks” for the top 10 BlackBerry® smartphone apps that you can use at networking events. This list is by no means exhaustive, so head over to the gold mine that is the BlackBerry App World™ storefront and start exploring! Mention any of your favorites not on the list in the comments below.

On to the list!

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »