Good news for business: The Citrix® Receiver for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet (Citrix Receiver) is now available for beta testing. Download it today from the Test Center on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

The Citrix Receiver is enterprise virtualization software that allows users to access virtual desktops (such as Citrix® XenDesktop) on servers running Microsoft® Windows, plus enterprise applications hosted within your organization to allow standalone app virtualization. With the Citrix Receiver, users can open: (1) any Windows software that’s installed on the server you’re accessing; (2) Software as a Service (SaaS), or (3) a web app.( I’m personally looking forward to using the Microsoft® Office® suite and Microsoft® Outlook® via the Citrix Receiver, as well as the Adobe® Creative Suite® of products.) Check out more important features below:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

We’ve got another guest blogger for you – Andreas, who’s here to tell you all about the BlackBerry® Travel™ app. It’s our newest BlackBerry Super App, and a great app for all the road warriors out there! Take it away, Andreas… – Ed.

Today, I am excited to announce the latest Beta addition to the lineup of BlackBerry® smartphone “Super Apps”: the BlackBerry Travel app.

Why would you need a native travel application for your BlackBerry smartphone? Because it’s the perfect solution for the large number of BlackBerry smartphone users who are travelling frequently and need a better way to plan, book and manage their travel plans right from their device. And because BlackBerry Travel is fully integrated with BlackBerry® 6, it gives you a seamless app experience that leverages some of the best of BlackBerry platform technology.

We have been working on the BlackBerry Travel app with our partner WorldMate® for the last few months, and today, we’ve launched the first release of the BlackBerry Travel app in the US, Canada, UK and Spain (we have a very aggressive localization roadmap, so expect us to launch a localized version in your country soon!). You can download it in the BlackBerry App World™ Test Center, and we have an additional community set up in BlackBerry Beta Zone to discuss the app!

The BlackBerry Travel app is focused on three core feature sets:

Itinerary Management

The BlackBerry Travel app is designed to automatically discover itineraries and booking confirmations that are sent to your inbox. These individual itinerary components are then quickly loaded into your BlackBerry Travel app and the accompanying BlackBerry Travel Portal. This occurs so the app can begin monitoring your itinerary components such as your flight plans, and alert you to any changes (flight delays, gate changes, cancellations and so on) as well as alert you to potential gaps (such as nights where you are missing accommodations).

The real power of this feature becomes clear if you’re dealing with complex itineraries that involve multiple booking partners and repeated changes to booking details. No more searching for the last mail from your travel agent! The BlackBerry Travel app is designed to auto-discover any booking confirmation or itinerary change mailed to your account and automatically insert, remove, adjust the components of your trip itinerary so everything is up to date and monitored for status changes.

Flight Search and Hotel Booking

Missed your flight, or had your flight cancelled? Search for alternate flights or book a hotel right from your phone. We are excited to bring you an inventory of more than 110,000 hotels worldwide through our partnership with the Expedia® Affiliate Network. The hotel search is contextualized, allowing you to very quickly find the right accommodation based on your location and preferences.

Travel Tools

Whether you travel for business or for fun, we know you need information about your surroundings, so we have built a comprehensive local search application right into the BlackBerry Travel app to help you find what you’re looking for. Because of our integration with LinkedIn, the app is designed to notify you if any of your LinkedIn contacts are in the same location, so you can reconnect with friends and colleagues on the road!

Download the BlackBerry Travel app from the BlackBerry App World Test Center if you’re a BlackBerry smartphone user in the US, Canada, UK or Spain – also, check out the community on BlackBerry Beta Zone to discuss the app. As we mentioned earlier, if you aren’t located in one of those four countries, keep an eye out for your country to be added soon – and keep checking back to the Inside BlackBerry blog for more info on the BlackBerry Travel app coming soon!

We’ve got another guest blogger for you today, Inside BlackBerry readers — Sonia, who’s excited to tell you all about the newly-released Amazon MP3 music store app! Read on for all the details. Ed.

Recently I had a chance to play with the new Amazon MP3 music store app for BlackBerry® smartphones. Using the Amazon MP3 app, I had access to Amazon’s entire catalog of music, and could browse, search and discover tracks in all kinds of ways. I was able to preview tracks, download and integrate them into my playlists, and I found that I could easily keep my inner circle posted on my latest finds. Click the link below to read my walkthrough of some of the app’s key features.

Search & Browse

I found it really easy to find the music I was looking for within the app. Users can swipe through the top nav on the landing screen and then browse by New Songs, New Albums, Top Songs, Top Albums, and Genres. You can also browse by Sub Genres (such as American Alternative, British Alternative, Goth, Hardcore Punk, Indie & Lo-Fi, and so on). I also used the standard keyword search quite a bit.

Free Song and Album Deal Daily

One of my favorite features was definitely the free song of the day – the new album deal of the day is also a great feature.

Social Networking functionality

There is social networking functionality built into the app, so I was able to quickly let my friends know about some of my top choices and new finds. The Amazon MP3 app BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), email, SMS, Social Feeds, Facebook®, Twitter®, and more.

Select a delivery option to suit your data plan

The ability to control my download preferences within the app is another handy feature. The Amazon MP3 app allowed me to download over Wi-Fi®, which is great if you do not have an unlimited data plan; otherwise, users can download via Wi-Fi or OTA (over-the-air). Another option is to only download when not roaming – if you choose this option and try to buy a song while roaming, the song will be held in the download queue until you return to local soil where it will download, sparing you roaming charges.

Bookmarks

This is a great feature for multi-taskers like me. In case of interruptions, the app allows you to easily bookmark the song so that you can preview or download it at a more convenient time.

Other great features

• Enter promotional or Amazon.com gift card codes directly from the Amazon MP3 application.
• Access a 30-second preview, so that users can be sure that it’s the song or version they intend to buy.
• All songs downloaded are integrated into the ‘on device’ media library for easy integration into playlists.
• This app is integrated with Universal Search, so that users are presented with Amazon findings the next time they perform a search on your favorite artist.

Coming soon: Amazon MP3 store ‘buy’ function for app developers

Look for this app to be integrated into other upcoming apps. For instance, ISV partners can now apply to be members of the affiliate program, and approved partners will have access to a developer toolkit available in February – allowing application developers to integrate a ‘buy’ function within their own apps that connects with the Amazon MP3 store.

Device Requirements:

To enjoy the Amazon MP3 for BlackBerry Smartphones app, you will need activation with a data service plan and a device running BlackBerry® OS version 5.0 or higher.

Starting on December 14th, this app will be available in open beta in the US on BlackBerry App World™, and on mobile.blackberry.com. For more information, visit www.blackberry.com/amazonmp3

I look forward to reading your comments!

Welcome to the second part of our interview with the RIM beta team! Today, Stephanie Joiner, Director of User Engagement at RIM answers your questions about the BlackBerry® Beta Zone. Click the link below to see Stephanie’s answers; if you have any more questions, post them in the comments and we’ll try to get them answered as well. If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to also read part one of our Inside the BlackBerry Beta Team interview!

When we Tweeted out to our followers asking for BlackBerry® Beta Zone questions, we got a lot of variations on the “when will we see an updated version of app X?” Is there a roadmap you can share with us?

We work really closely with the RIM® product teams to identify beta candidates and bring them to BlackBerry Beta Zone members. As the site continues to grow and be well-received by users and by the RIM teams benefiting from the user feedback, we anticipate adding more and more programs. I can’t really speak to future or rumored products, of course, but I can definitely say that our members will continue to get access to some great programs and we are always looking to add more products to our site and to build out the ones we have there.

We also received the question as to whether or not increased BlackBerry Beta Zone participation would lead to a better chance at unique beta invitations. Can you explain to us how the invitation process works?

There are a number of different ways a program could be introduced on BlackBerry Beta Zone. It could be an open program, which means everyone can join. Or it may be a limited preview, which would have a cap on program size. The limited previews are filled on a first come, first serve basis. In addition, some programs are designated for specific regions (handheld software is regionally based), while others are specific to business or organization use.

Lastly, there are a few products which will be offered by invitation only. In these cases, invitations are based on matches to current user profiles. All members are encouraged to keep their profiles up to date in order to increase opportunities for selection in these types of programs!

Our readers are also very interested in knowing when BlackBerry Beta Zone is coming to their country? Can you fill us in on which countries now have access to BlackBerry Beta Zone?

One of our top priorities in growing the site is to keep up the global expansion. Ensuring we receive feedback from all the places where BlackBerry smartphones are sold is very important to us. So as of last week, we’ll be adding new countries each week until we have covered the globe. Here is a list of the most recently added countries:

• Australia
• Bangladesh
• Caribbean:
  * Anguilla
  * Antigua and Barbuda
  * Aruba
  * Bahamas
  * Barbados
  * Cayman Islands
  * Dominica
  * Grenada
  * Jamaica
  * Montserrat
  * Netherlands Antilles
  * Saint Kitts and Nevis
  * Saint Lucia
  * Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  * Trinidad and Tobago
  * Turks and Caicos Islands

• Hong Kong
• India
• Malaysia
• Pakistan
• Philippines
• Puerto Rico
• Rwanda
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Sri Lanka
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Thailand

What does the future hold for the beta program at RIM?

Can I say more, more and more? More programs, more people, more countries, more feedback, more changes. Our goal is to steadily increase the number and size of our programs to give members increased opportunities to participate and provide feedback on a variety of BlackBerry software.

Astute BlackBerry® smartphone users (and regular readers of Inside BlackBerry!) may have noticed an increased focus on product betas from RIM. The Twitter® for BlackBerry smartphones beta update is only the most recent example, but it all started with the launch of the BlackBerry App World™ Test Center in December of last year. With the beta release of the BlackBerry® Feedback Tool this week, I thought now would be a good time to talk to the RIM beta team to learn more about how it all got started and where it’s heading.

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Stephanie Joiner, the Director of User Engagement. My team works with various product groups here at RIM to run beta programs via BlackBerry® Beta Zone.

First with BlackBerry App World Test Center and now BlackBerry Beta Zone, RIM has embraced external betas. Can you explain the intent behind this new movement?

BlackBerry smartphone users are a passionate group and we wanted to support that enthusiasm and show appreciation for it. The beta programs are a great way engage with our users and help them to participate in the evolution of RIM products, which we feel is central to building products that meet and exceed customer expectations. Our intention with BlackBerry Beta Zone is to provide users with a venue to try out products and provide feedback, and make that easy to do. Not every suggestion can be implemented, but our goal is to be sure we’re constantly aware of the things that matter most to our customers.

Was this also the reason for the release of the BlackBerry Feedback Tool?

The name says it all, right? Our greatest resource is our user base and the BlackBerry Feedback Tool is a great way for anyone to send in comments about BlackBerry smartphones and how they are using them. How many times have you been doing something on your BlackBerry smartphone and thought to yourself “Gee, I’d really like to tell someone about ___”? I know I have! The BlackBerry Feedback Tool sits right in the BlackBerry Menu, and lets you share your thoughts in the moment.

What kind of responses are you expecting from BlackBerry Feedback Tool users? Is there anything you’re hoping for or will it all be a surprise?

We don’t really have any preconceived expectations, but we’re hoping the BlackBerry Feedback Tool will be something customers find useful. Beta testing is all about putting it out there and iterating through changes. It will be exciting to see where it takes us. We’re really curious to see how people will use it and look forward to seeing even more suggestions.

Since the launch of BlackBerry App World Test Center and then Beta Zone, your team has been collecting a lot of app-specific feedback. What have we learned so far about how BlackBerry smartphone users use our applications?

Great question! As BlackBerry smartphones have evolved, so have BlackBerry smartphone users and their preferences. Applications that make life easier, as well as social media applications to help people stay in touch with friends and family have been real drivers.

One of the coolest things about BlackBerry Beta Zone is that it too is in beta. What’s the verdict so far on the site and the community?

BlackBerry Beta Zone launched in March and since that time users have been fantastic at giving us feedback to help improve the site and make it their own. We’ve had several updates since our first launch, with nearly all changes based primarily on incoming user feedback, so please – to everyone who has participated and had their say –keep it coming! We’d like to hear from you!

So far the product groups have been amazed by how quick and thorough users are when testing out the products, and I think a lot of that comes from the community feel BlackBerry Beta Zone promotes. Each beta program has its own discussion board where members can share ideas, comments, tips and tricks, anything. I think that community connection is such a big part of what people get from their BlackBerry smartphones, and being able to build on the social nature of our users while we work to empower and learn from them on this site and in these programs, is just fantastic.

Stay tuned for part two of our RIM beta team interview Monday, where Stephanie answers questions sent to us by Inside BlackBerry readers and Twitter followers!