A few weeks ago we had some really exciting news for BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). You’ve responded about how excited you are for BBM Channels, and a large number of you are using the BBM Channels beta, which is great. I’ve also been happy to read your feedback on the news that BlackBerry plans to bring BBM to iOS and Android platforms later this year.

Now we’ve made it easy for you to share the news with your friends who might not have heard. Check out these avatars that you can save, download and set as your BBM or social network avatar to help spread the word. Simply follow the instructions below to add these images as your BBM display picture.

1. Right-click on the avatar of your choice and select “Save picture as” to save it to your computer.
2. Email the file to the email address associated with your BlackBerry smartphone.
3. Open the image on your BlackBerry smartphone.
4. Press the menu button to “Download Attachment”.
5. In BBM, set the new file as your profile picture.

Go forth, #TeamBlackBerry — spread the word about BBM and share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Catch his take on some of the best announcements and the showing of strength from the BlackBerry leadership team. Watch the brief video below for all the details:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Let us know if you have any questions for Jeff in the comments below. For those of you perplexed by the “tie you to a chair” reference — check out this video from early on in the BlackBerry 10 marketing days where Jeff and I show off some features in a fun way. Thanks for being a good sport, Jeff!

If you’re already a fan of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), we’ve got some exciting news designed to make it easier for you to connect with your entire mobile social network. BlackBerry plans to make BBM, our wildly popular mobile messaging service, available for the first time to iOS® and Android™ users this summer, (subject to approval by Google Play and the Apple App Store, as applicable). This means that, once available, you can welcome your friends and family using these other mobile platforms to connect over BBM and share in the Team BlackBerry love.

As we’ve chronicled on our Inside BlackBerry blog for some time now, BBM set the standard for mobile instant messaging with fast and reliable service and an added layer of engagement with delivered and read statuses. You’ve shared with us your stories about how BBM has kept you connected when it mattered most to you. Upon release of the multi-platform BBM service, you can broaden that real-time connection to friends and colleagues on other supported mobile platforms.

In the first version of multi-platform BBM, iOS and Android users are expected to be able to experience the following BBM features:

• The immediacy of BBM chats
• Multi-person chats
• Voice note sharing
• BlackBerry Groups, where BBM users are able to set up groups of up to 30 people and share calendar, photos, files and more

The team here at BlackBerry has definitely been working hard to bring the much-adored BBM experience to a wider group of mobile users. In a recent press release at BlackBerry Live 2013, Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President, Software Product Management and Ecosystem, at BlackBerry had this to say:

“For BlackBerry, messaging and collaboration are inseparable from the mobile experience, and the time is definitely right for BBM to become a multi-platform mobile service. BBM has always been one of the most engaging services for BlackBerry customers, enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy. We’re excited to offer iOS and Android users the possibility to join the BBM community.”

BBM Quick Facts:

• More than 60 million monthly active users
• More than 51 million daily active users who are connecting with friends or colleagues an average of one and a half hours every day.
• BBM users send and receive more than 10 billion messages each day, nearly twice as many messages per user per day as compared to other mobile messaging apps
• Almost half of BBM messages are read within 20 seconds of being received; indicating how truly engaged BBM customers are

Today, BlackBerry also announced BBM Channels, a new social engagement platform within BBM that will allow customers to connect with the businesses, brands, celebrities and groups they are passionate about. BlackBerry plans to add support for BBM Channels as well as voice and video chatting for iOS and Android later this year, subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play. If approved by Apple and Google, the BBM app will be available as a free download in the Apple® App StoreSM and Google Play store. Additional details about system requirements and availability will be announced closer to the launch.

That’s some pretty big news, indeed. Be sure to share your thoughts with us in the comments below, who will be the first person from your extended network that you introduce to BBM?

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 »

When digital media company PineLake Communications® wanted to learn more about BlackBerry® 10 development, it developed a simple application on the Android™ platform and ported it to the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device. The company quickly learned that porting the app was not only a simple and straightforward process, but also that the visibility of their application on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet was far superior to any other platform. After enjoying measurable early success with their Cubifice® app, the company is looking forward to the official launch of the game on the BlackBerry 10 platform.

PineLake’s Creative Director, Bill Larocque, Cubifice lead developer, Dave Wagler and Associate Account Director, Liana Buenaventura Brown talked about the ease of porting the application, why it is important to develop for the BlackBerry platform and the importance of sharing the app with other BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device developers.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog »

Today Research In Motion® (RIM®) has launched the next-generation in enterprise mobile device management (MDM) – BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion. This tool acts as a central platform giving IT managers the ability to effectively and efficiently manage the following:

• BlackBerry® 7 (and previous) smartphones
• BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets (and BlackBerry® 10 smartphones in the future)
• As of today, tablets and smartphones running Android® and iOS®

I recently spoke with some enterprise customers during the BlackBerry® Innovation Forum in both Toronto and Atlanta about their thoughts on BlackBerry Mobile Fusion – clearly customers are excited. Beyond Mobile Fusion Studio and BlackBerry® Device Service – both of which we’ve discussed previously – many seem eager to deploy the Universal Device Service. Check out a video overview of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion below:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

We knew developers were excited about our latest BlackBerry® PlayBook™ offer for Android™ developers when we announced it two weeks ago. You asked that Native C/C++, HTML5, Adobe® AIR®, and Qt developers have a chance to participate and we answered by opening the offer to all developers.

Today was going to be the deadline for the offer – but due to the overwhelming interest in the offer, we’re extending it one more time. How much interest? There have been over 1,500 app submissions as of last Friday and over 6,600 new developers registered in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.  We have teams working around the clock to approve vendor registrations and app submissions.  Because of the high demand, approvals are taking longer than normal – we appreciate your patience.

To help speed up the approval process of your application, we strongly recommend the following:

• Before submitting your application to BlackBerry App World, please make sure to remove all mention of the word “Android” from your application – both in the application description and the application itself.
• Please remove all links to Android Marketplace from within your application.
• When submitting your Android application to BlackBerry App World, please make sure to select a minimum OS of 2.0.
• Please make sure your application is signed. For more information on code signing, please view the code signing documentation on the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps webpage.

If you’re not a registered BlackBerry App World vendor, you now have until 11:59 PM EST on February 15, 2012 to register at
http://appworld.blackberry.com/isvportal
.

All vendors (new and existing) now have until 11:59 PM EST on March 2, 2012 to submit your application to BlackBerry App World. Check out our offer FAQ and we’ll be updating the official terms & conditions later today.

At CES 2012 in Las Vegas, we previewed the upcoming BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0 software, which is designed to have the BlackBerry® Runtime for Android™ Apps built-in! This offering will allow developers to repackage their existing Android™ applications to run on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, as well as the upcoming BlackBerry® 10 devices.

Seeing the great response for the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps at CES, developer meet-ups and conferences that we’ve attended over the last few months, we’re expecting a huge interest in the consumer space for these apps when the update is made available next month. We want to ensure that you are able to capitalize on this unique opportunity by having your applications available when BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 is launched!

In order to ensure that your packaged and signed Android app is available in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront for the release of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, be sure to have your app submitted by Monday, February 6th, 2012.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Developer’s Blog »

Wow! BlackBerry® DevCon Americas 2011 was one heck of a busy week for the Developer Relations team, and we’re sure the same thing can be said for attendees. BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 featured: an action-packed general session keynote; oodles of announcements (see below); App Express stations for Android™ developers to quickly get their apps ported to the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet; recognition awards for outstanding BlackBerry developers; Breakout and Ask the Experts sessions for one-on-one time with BlackBerry development experts; special BBM™ Hackathon events just for BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 attendees; and our biggest BlackBerry DevCon TweetUp ever! Oh, and did I forget to mention we gave every attendee a free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with the option to load the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 Developer Beta build?

For those who were unable to attend BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 in person, here’s a brief overview of some of the DevCon-related announcements you’ll want to catch up on.

Announcing BlackBerry BBX – The Next Generation BlackBerry Platform – BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 introduced BlackBerry BBX, the next generation mobile platform for BlackBerry smartphones and tablets. Development environments supported by the BBX platform include HTML5 with BlackBerry® WebWorks™, Adobe® AIR®, Native C/C++, and the BlackBerry® Runtime for Android™ Apps. Click the link above to learn more; BlackBerry developers will also want to read this outlining the developer roadmap for BlackBerry BBX and the BlackBerry® Java® SDK.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

BlackBerry BBX, the next generation mobile platform for BlackBerry® smartphones and tablets, was introduced to developers during the General Session Keynote at BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 today. BBX combines the best of the BlackBerry platform and the best of the QNX platform to to connect people, devices, content and services.

Development environments supported by the BBX platform include HTML5 with BlackBerry® WebWorks™, Adobe® AIR®, Native C/C++, and the BlackBerry® Runtime for Android™ Apps. Apps built today for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet will also run on BBX.

Additionally, BBX will include the new BlackBerry Cascades UI Framework for advanced graphics, also demonstrated during the General Session Keynote. BBX will also extend the core BlackBerry DNA of collaboration, communication and immediacy, with familiar “Super App” capabilities such as deep integration between apps, always-on Push services, BlackBerry security, the BBM™ Social Platform and much, much more.

Specific details regarding BBX products and availability will be provided at a later date, so stay tuned for more information in future posts on the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog!