You’ve been reading about it, you’ve been waiting for it, and it’s finally almost here: BlackBerry World 2012 next week in Orlando from May 1-3! We’re heading down south to capture all the action so you, #TeamBlackBerry, can get the BlackBerry World live coverage you crave. And whether you’ll be in Orlando with us or glued to a computer screen for the webcast of the keynote, we’ve got you covered when it comes to keeping you up to date on the latest news.

I remember the first time I ever attended BlackBerry World, I left totally energized by the general sessions, announcements and, of course, the enthusiasm from thousands of attendees. Not to mention the highlight of the event: the keynote address!

Be sure to mark the keynote address in your calendar – you won’t want to miss what Thorsten Heins and the awesome lineup of speakers have to say when they hit the stage. If you can’t make it to the conference, be sure to catch the live webcast of Thorsten’s keynote presentation on Tuesday May 1st at 10 am 9 am EST.

Aside from the big event, we’ll have lots going on next week, so you’re going to want to keep it locked and subscribe to the Inside BlackBerry Blog and the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog for the most up-to-date BlackBerry and Research In Motion® (RIM®) coverage from the show. You can also follow all the action on our website, on Twitter® at @BlackBerry4Biz and @BlackBerry (hashtag: #BBWC), and Facebook®. Be sure to say hi if you see us around – and give us a shout out for those of you keeping tabs online!

For those more development-inclined, we’ve got BlackBerry® 10 Jam happening at the same time with a whole roster of great sessions, including Cascades Development, jQuery Mobile, and everything related to developing for BlackBerry 10. Even if you’re not there in person, you can follow the #BB10Jam action by keeping up with the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog, or by following our dev friends on Twitter at @BlackBerryDev.

I’ve got my itinerary all set in BlackBerry® Travel™ and my bags packed. Will we be seeing you in Orlando, or will you be following along at home? Let us know in the comments!

Sessions are one of main reasons BlackBerry World™ attracts so many attendees. People who’ve been to this conference before tell me they learn so much more by hearing BlackBerry® product news first-hand and directly engaging with the experts. I want to give you an inside look at some of the outstanding sessions we have in store for you this year – so you can register before the conference fills up!

You can already review and search all of the posted BlackBerry World 2012 sessions, but the sessions that stand out for me focus on some of the really hot topics.

If you’re interested in the future direction of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server – and managing BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets and non-BlackBerry devices along with your deployment of BlackBerry smartphones – you’ll want to attend the sessions on BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion. There are good overviews like Introduction to BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, as well as more in-depth sessions like Support iOS and Android Devices with the New BlackBerry Universal Device Service.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

(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.

One of my favorite parts of WES – now the BlackBerry World™ conference – has always been the “Solutions Showcase”. Yes, the parties and concerts are fun and the keynotes are inspiring, but what really sticks with me is the exciting amount of innovation to be discovered amongst partners!

There was a time when I knew all the Alliance Members by heart – but that was when there were fewer than a hundred. Now, with thousands of partners – not to mention registered developers (corporate and individual) – all producing an increasingly diverse set of applications distributed through the BlackBerry App World™ storefront, in-house or direct, the character of the Solutions Showcase certainly has changed!

In addition to the Welcome Reception held in the Solutions Showcase on Monday May 2nd, I like to hit the showcase in between breakouts to stretch my legs and see what’s going on. Aside from reading the full list of sponsors, I wanted to get a better sense of what I could look forward to seeing this year, so I had quick chat with our Alliances Enterprise Solutions team. As expected, every conceivable category of business need seems to be addressed at BlackBerry World: vertical solutions, custom development, field automation, workflow management, and hundreds more.

Here are just some of the solutions that I’m personally looking forward to checking out during my time at BlackBerry World:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

We are all very busy here preparing for the BlackBerry World™ 2011 conference, coming up soon on May 3-5! Small and Medium-sized Business mobility is always a popular topic of discussion at the conference, and this year we have added more SMB sessions, tracks and content than ever before. There are multiple sessions being held for our Global Retail Channel partners and our IT Value Added Resellers, as well as for the Small & Medium-sized business owners and IT decision makers who will be with us in Orlando.

If you’re an IT decision maker within a small business attending BlackBerry World, I’d like to point you to this session in particular: BlackBerry Solutions for Your Business (WA28) – taking place Wednesday May 4 at 11:15 a.m.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

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!

Having organized and attended my share of conferences, I’ve found that there are two things every great conference has to deliver. First, the content presented should be timely and relevant, so you can walk away equipped with the information and resources to do your job more effectively. And second, you should be able to connect with your fellow attendees to make new contacts, learn what’s working for others, and get inspired to see what else is possible. Today I want to share how we’re aiming to meet the first goal with the BlackBerry World™ conference. I’ll talk about networking opportunities in a future post.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

With a successful BlackBerry® DEVCON Asia just completed, we are already working on creating the best possible BlackBerry DEVCON 2011 on October 18-20 in San Francisco, USA. With little surprise, one of the biggest drivers for both new and past attendees continues to be the speakers and sessions. To ensure that we are providing one of the best programs anywhere in the mobile industry, we are going to open our call for papers earlier than we ever have in the past.

The Call for Speakers submission is now open for developers to submit their ideas for great sessions at the conference. We are now accepting descriptions for sessions that you would love to deliver at the conference. In a simple twist on last year, we are also accepting submissions for sessions you would love to see at the conference but may not be able to deliver yourself. We are actively recruiting great speakers in the field and would like your ideas on key topics for the conference.

The deadline for submissions is April 1st, but we encourage you to submit your BlackBerry DEVCON 2011 session ideas ahead of the deadline. We will be providing feedback on submissions and working with potential speakers through the submission process. I am looking forward to seeing your great ideas and session submissions!