One thing that distinguishes the BlackBerry brand is our strong focus on enabling productivity and professionalism. With the way people work constantly evolving, the expectations of what collaboration tools should do are also continuously changing. At MWC, we have taken a look at a few aspects we think will be valuable for collaborating and what collaboration might look like in the world of tomorrow – effortless aesthetics and productive yet playful collaboration. Take a look at our MWC demos PitchRocket and Confetti to see further examples of what this could mean in practice.

PitchRocket concept demo

Many have a limited time to prepare for meetings and presentations, still we all know how an impressive presentation can really help someone who wants to pitch an idea or a concept. What if there was a way to create an astonishing presentation on the fly, even just a few minutes before a meeting starts? The concept demo PitchRocket shows what possibilities open up when combining the efficient text input of a handheld BlackBerry smartphone with the powerful graphics and high-resolution output of a BlackBerry® PlayBook™. Imagine writing simple text on your handheld device, and then instantly see it rendered as a beautiful, fluid and “living” presentation available on your PlayBook. The immediacy and combination of minimal input with maximized output is what we mean by “effortless aesthetics.”

Confetti concept demo

People bring PlayBook tablets to meetings and use them for presentations, note-taking and communicating. What if all these devices could be seamless joined into an extended work space linking all the screens? The Confetti demo shows what futuristic collaboration may look like on the BlackBerry platform. The tool enables sharing and presentation among participants, with a presence and direction-aware user interface as well as dynamic particle-like effects, allowing meeting participants to seamlessly collaborate in a productive yet playful way. Also, after seeing this demo, it’s clear that the PlayBook experience extends beyond the size of the device’s screen.

In our sneak preview post, we mentioned we have social media Like Stations on our Mobile World Congress 2012 stand this year. Visitors coming to say hello to BlackBerry® will have the chance to engage with us like never before…via NFC!

The new BlackBerry® 7 OS -based Bold™ and Curve™ smartphones feature Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. NFC also powers BlackBerry® Tag, a new feature of the BlackBerry® 7.1 OS that we first announced at CES in January. At MWC, we’re using NFC technology to give our visitors the chance to share their BlackBerry experience, all with just a simple tap. We’ve put together this cool video to tell you all about our Like Stations and how easy it is engage with BlackBerry at MWC.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

This week we’re showcasing our BlackBerry® smartphone and BlackBerry® PlayBook™ platforms, our developer platform for visitors looking to create apps for BlackBerry App World™ and an exciting demo for visitors to test out NFC. Also joining us are our carrier partners Telefonica, Turkcell and Orange who are demoing their latest BlackBerry applications and services. Can’t make it to MWC? Don’t worry! We’re giving you a sneak preview of what to expect from BlackBerry at MWC this year as well as some exclusive photos.

BlackBerry Experience and Developer Zone BlackBerry experts are on hand to guide you through our latest BlackBerry device software. At our interactive demo stands, you’ll get hands on with the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 and OS 7.1 smartphones. If you are new to developing apps for mobile, you can speak to our RIM gurus who will take you through turning your idea for an app into a reality.

Porsche 911

The Porsche 911 loaded with BlackBerry & QNX technology takes pride of place on the stand. Whilst you can’t take the car for a spin around Barcelona (we’ve asked for the keys), you can check out how the BlackBerry platform integrates seamlessly with the Porsche’s automotive technology. Ask to see the NewBay Cloud Services in action too.

Like Stations

We giving all our visitors to the BlackBerry stand a chance to engage with BlackBerry like never before…via NFC. If you know anyone coming to MWC, keep a look out on their Facebook and Twitter profiles for some exclusive BlackBerry content.

This is just a glimpse of what we have on the stand. If you are at the conference, come by and say hello to us. If you can’t join us, we’ll keep everyone updated on MWC via our social channels. Keep an eye out on Twitter (@UK_BlackBerry) as well as our blogs for updates we have planned for this week. You can also follow us live here: http://www.BlackBerry.com/mwc12

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

As you may have heard, earlier this week during the keynote at Mobile World Congress 2011, Research In Motion® (RIM®) co-CEO Jim Balsillie stated that some of the BlackBerry® smartphones released later this year will feature Near Field Communications (NFC). I was fortunate to catch up with Andrew Bocking, VP Handheld Software Product Management, right after his appearance on a MWC 2011 panel about NFC. In the above video, Andrew explains what NFC is, how it can be used and what this all means for BlackBerry smartphone users. Check it out!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

I interviewed Ryan Bidan at CES 2011 in January to answer questions Inside BlackBerry readers had about the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. I thought Mobile World Congress 2011 would be a good opportunity to play catch-up with the BlackBerry PlayBook Product Manager, and Ryan was kind enough to give us some more time to discuss this week’s PlayBook announcements, as well as the tablet’s presence at the show. Please post a comment if you have questions you’d like us to ask Ryan in future videos!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

BlackBerry Developer Day at Mobile World Congress 2011 was a jam packed development party. Each bootcamp and speaker session was filled with eager developers looking to learn more about BlackBerry development. I was able to meet up with Mike Kirkup, Director of Developer relations, at the end of the day and get his thoughts on how things went, as well as the rundown of his BlackBerry Development Roadmap session (highlights: Near Field Communications, OpenGL 2.0, Magnetometer and Digital Compass support are all coming in BlackBerry 6.1).

We also were able to talk briefly about the AppCircus Spotlight on BlackBerry event. The event was streamed live on our BlackBerry Mobile World Congress 2011 page, but if you missed it, don’t worry! We have a full video recap of the event available by clicking the link below. Make sure to also check out these BlackBerry App World download links for the event winner, Gbanga and honorable mention, UrbanStep.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Like many of my fellow RIM employees that made the trek over the Atlantic to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2011, I’m very excited for our new BlackBerry Travel app which launched in the BlackBerry App World Test Center. If you haven’t read our BlackBerry Travel Core Features post or Ty’s great BlackBerry Travel Getting Started Guide, check them out, but also make sure to check out the above video I was able to film today with BlackBerry Travel Product Manager, Andreas. Andreas gives me a hands on demo of many of the features mentioned in the posts above, and explains what makes BlackBerry Travel a Super App.

Andreas also wanted me to pass this information along to current WorldMate users looking to test out BlackBerry Travel. In order to take advantage of BlackBerry Travel, you will need to sign up for a new and free BlackBerry Travel account. You can later choose to import your existing WorldMate trips into BlackBerry Travel by following these simple steps:

1. Log into your BlackBerry Travel Web Portal account at www.travel.blackberry.com
2. Go to ‘Profile’ and select ‘import trips from WorldMate’
3. You can also send your trips to trips@blackberry.com

Andreas also recommend that you uninstall your existing WorldMate app after installing BlackBerry Travel. This will avoid duplication and provide you with an overall improved experience – for free!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Mobile World Congress 2011 is a pretty interesting event from a BlackBerry developer perspective, because it actually contains a mini-DEVCON inside it: BlackBerry Developer Day. With BlackBerry Developer Day taking place tomorrow, we sat down with Director of Developer Relations, Mike Kirkup, to get a high-level overview of what attendees can expect. For those developers in Barcelona, make sure to read our previous BlackBerry Developer Day post for detailed session schedule information. If you’re not attending, don’t worry! The Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog will be uploading videos tomorrow with each of the BlackBerry Developer Day session leads, so you can get the info you need to build the next great BlackBerry Super App.

While there were lots of new things to see in Barcelona this week, the BlackBerry stand at Mobile World Congress 2010 was also host to familiar faces from our CES 2010 coverage. As Mobile World Congress 2010 has come to a close, we thought now would be a good time to look back to our experience in Las Vegas earlier this year. You’ll find 7digital above, as well video demos of Poynt and BlackBerry Presenter after the jump link below.

During the BlackBerry Developer Day keynote, the eBay for BlackBerry smartphones application was mentioned repeatedly as an example of an app deeply integrating with the BlackBerry platform, so I made a mental note to check it out. Ryan from eBay was nice enough to give me a walk through of the app at the Mobile World Congress BlackBerry stand and display some of the ‘deep integration’ talked about on Tuesday. I also learned that the eBay application gives users access to bid on over 200 million different items! Wow, that’s a lot.

The eBay for BlackBerry smartphones application is available in North America right now to download via the BlackBerry App World™ Test Center.