The best defense is a good offense, including when it comes to your BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 settings for enterprise mobility management. By regularly reviewing your settings, you’re helping your business maintain its important connectivity to the BlackBerry infrastructure and ensure the best possible BlackBerry experience.

BlackBerry executives want to ensure our customers are fully equipped to maximize their investment in BlackBerry technology and services. “BlackBerry has invested in the expansion of our infrastructure in an effort to continuously improve resiliency and scalability to meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers and BlackBerry’s continued global growth,” said Jeff Holleran, Senior Director of Enterprise Product Management. “We want to help ensure our customers have the best possible BlackBerry experience, and one way to do this is by encouraging administrators to regularly check that the correct SRP and IP addresses are being used to connect to the BlackBerry infrastructure.”

Here are five tips to optimize your BlackBerry Enterprise Server connectivity to the BlackBerry infrastructure:

1. Review Knowledge Base (KB) articles KB16738, KB03735, and KB04359 available at www.blackberry.com/btsc/. These include technical information on the recommended BES configuration settings.
2. Conduct a BlackBerry SRP test before making changes on your firewall to confirm whether or not your firewall is configured properly and validate the intended SRP path. (This applies to both BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.x and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10)
• Fig. 1: Here is a screenshot of the “bbsrptest” tool what you will see when conducting a BlackBerry SRP test. Note: You would substitute the host name for the SRP address/host that your company connects to (or proxy if you are using a specific proxy), as well as a custom port.



• Fig. 2 If you’re a BES 5.x customer you can also go into the BlackBerry Server Configuration panel settings and click on the BlackBerry Router tab. Here you will find the Router settings which includes the SRP Address, SRP host port (outbound), and BlackBerry services connection port (inbound). There is also a “Test Connection” button which displays which SRP address and port it is attempting to connect to and whether it is successful.



3. Verify that the appropriate country SRP address and IP ranges are allowed through your corporate network firewall.
4. If you are using proxy servers, view recommended configuration for SRP connections through a proxy here KB19236.
5. BES administrators should review settings regularly as updates are added to the KB articles as required.

The knowledge base articles referenced will help ensure your BlackBerry Enterprise connectivity and corporate firewall settings stay up to date, are configured correctly, and help you determine if these changes apply to your business. To check for any changes that can impact your business, take a look at the KB article links provided in the tips above for more details.

So there you have it – five tips to maximize your BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 settings by ensuring you are configured correctly. We are committed to keeping your business moving!

If you have any questions that are not answered in the KB articles, please follow your standard BlackBerry support path. In addition, you can head on over to the BlackBerry Community Support Forums – Business Support Forums.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Enterprise developers have embraced the new BlackBerry 10 platform – in fact, we recently announced that BlackBerry 10 now offers more than 100,000 applications. Amazon Kindle, OpenTable and The Wall Street Journal are available to BlackBerry 10 customers and in the coming weeks CNN, The Daily Show Headlines, eBay, eMusic, Maxim, MLB at Bat, MTV News, Pageonce, PGA, Rdio, Skype, SoundHound and Viber will be available for download or purchase.

At the BlackBerry Experience Forum, companies like SAP, Citrix, IBM and CISCO and many more, were in attendance to connect with many of the enterprise business leaders and IT decision-makers to showcase how their powerful apps can enable business innovations and empower mobile employees.

According to Adam Linford from Truphone, “If you are a mobile application developer and you’re looking to bring BlackBerry 10 into your existing portfolio, it’s so cheap and easy to add.” Adam also remarked that, “BlackBerry made some very sensible decisions in adopting technologies that are known – you are building on the shoulder of giants, a lot of the work is already done.”

Howard Travers from the Formicary Collaboration Group commented, “We’re pleased to work with the BlackBerry 10 application – we see it as a next step and evolution of mobile collaboration.” When asked about how the BlackBerry 10 platform enables enterprise customers to balance both work and personal data, Howard stated, “One of the biggest asks of all our top customers around the globe is the separation of personal and business. The fact that BlackBerry has now been able to merge the two is a great step forward.”

The BlackBerry 10 platform has empowered global businesses to embrace enterprise applications that enhance productivity, increase collaboration and connect their mobile employees with the important resources they need on the road.

Have you personally tried any of the apps mentioned in this blog post? Any app developers or partners you would like to see us connect with in the future? Let us know by commenting below!

With only a few days left, we want to make sure that you have one last chance to submit an application for this year’s BlackBerry Achievement Awards, which will be presented at the BlackBerry Live conference in Orlando, Florida in May 2013.

If you haven’t yet completed your application, the deadline to do so is March 22, 2013.

Award recipients will receive a series of incentives for their participation. Prizes for first place award recipients include: travel and accommodations to BlackBerry Live 2013, conference passes, extensive BlackBerry training, BlackBerry 10 smartphones and more.

Below are this year’s award categories:

1. App of the Year
2. Putting Customers First
3. Mobile Innovation of the Year
4. Making the World a Better Place
5. Entrepreneur of the Year

A BlackBerry selection committee will be carefully reviewing each application and identifying the top 3 finalists shortly after the call for nominations end.

For those interested in being a part of the voting process, you will soon be able to cast your vote for your favorite BlackBerry Achievement Awards candidate beginning on March 28, 2013 until April 15, 2013 at 5pm EST.

What are you waiting for? We want to hear from YOU!

Name: Stephen deRusett

Occupation: Sales

Twitter Account: @StephenBB81

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I’m 31 years old and married with two kids aged three and two. I attended Lakehead University for Software & Electrical Engineering, and wrestling (a sport I’m still involved in today as much as possible). I’m a first generation Canadian, both my parents are British born, though they met here.

I like trying new beers, wines and ciders. Whenever the opportunity arises, if I find a meal at a restaurant I enjoy, I go home and try to recreate it and add my own touches. My wife says I like shiny things and blinking lights which I guess draws me to my BlackBerry!

Why are you a #TeamBlackBerry fan?

I’m a #TeamBlackBerry fan because of the community. When I was first given a BlackBerry in 2008 (a BlackBerry Curve 8330), I didn’t want it. I went to the Internet to find all that was wrong with it so I would tell my employer to take it back. The community and the device proved to be amazing and helpful. I ended up purchasing my first personal BlackBerry Tour on July 9th 2009.

What’s your favorite BlackBerry app?

I really don’t have a “favorite app” – I’m not an app junky. I like BlackBerry Travel, BBM and Twitter. But, if I was to be asked about my favourite BlackBerry 10 features, I would say the universal message box, now dubbed the “BlackBerry Hub” on BlackBerry 10 and autotext/word substitution.

How do you use your BlackBerry smartphone and BlackBerry PlayBook tablet for work?

I work out of my car traveling around Ontario. Every day I log what I am doing in memo pad and then email it off to my assistant to be entered into our call reporting software. Autotext is also a life saver. I often email one of three large paragraphs out of a feature list. Using the autotext feature, I can generate a few hundred words in seconds. I also often use my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to bridge to my BlackBerry 9900. I use “open on PlayBook” to view new flyers that I am sent to critique, instead of waiting until I can boot up one of my laptops

What picture is your current BlackBerry wallpaper, and why?

My BlackBerry 9900 wallpaper is this fan created BlackBerry wallpaper I just love it, I like the dark theme (mind you I don’t spend much time ever seeing the wallpaper!).

My BlackBerry Z10 wallpaper is the first picture I took with my Z10 on Jan 30th – I just thought it looked cool!

What’s your favorite BlackBerry smartphone model, and why?

This is HARD to say, but I think the BlackBerry Bold 9790 is my favorite all time model. I have to give honorable mention to the BlackBerry 8330, that device was a beast and just kept going and going and was comfortable to type on.

If a friend were in the market for a new smartphone and/or tablet, what would you say to convince them to join the BlackBerry family?

I always show BlackBerry Messenger and the universal message box. I talk about autotext and with BlackBerry 7 and earlier devices BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) is a BIG conversation point, especially as Canadians we tend to leave our own country to travel and compression is a big dollar saver. The beauty of BlackBerry is you aren’t forced into one form factor, people can choose the BlackBerry Pearl, the BlackBerry Bold, the BlackBerry Torch or the BlackBerry Z10. You have a full range because one phone isn’t right for everyone – heck I carry 2 or 3 phones at any given time!

What are the “Top 5” things you keep in your briefcase or backpack at all times?

• MyChargePeak6000 – Battery pack with enough juice to charge all my phones/tablets when away from a power outlet
• GridIT – a grid board I use to hold 4-6 various cables, a mouse, business cards, etc
• Laptop – either my Lenovo T520 or X220 (sometimes both)
• BlackBerry PlayBook – Before I got the BlackBerry Z10 my PlayBook lived in my pocket, now it lives in my laptop bag
• Product information folder- I always have product information with me – vacation or working- you never know when an opportunity will present itself!

What are some of your favorite blogs and websites that you visit often?

I visit N4BB, Seeking Alpha, LinkedIn, LibriVox and Huffington Post. I also visit the various Inside BlackBerry blogs (Inside BlackBerry for Business, Inside BlackBerry Developers and Inside BlackBerry Help) and spend a lot of time on Twitter!

Any interesting facts people would be surprised to know about you?

I’m a foodie who loves trying new things, YET I also LOVE McDonalds. Those two things don’t usually go together, but I could eat McDonalds every day – and, for a month in University I DID!

Also, I’m a sales guy who doesn’t like golf. If I can find a way to NOT go golfing I will. The only golf course I’ve played a full round on has been Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.

Thanks for joining us Stephen!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Momentum for BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 continues to build as the BlackBerry Experience Forum (BEF) adds more stops to its international tour. Connecting with well-known Fortune 500 customers, IT decision-makers, and developers has made this whirlwind experience undeniably worthwhile. The BlackBerry 10 platform has received note-worthy acclaim in many international markets. These BEF events provide attendees with valuable hands-on time not only with the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, but also 1:1 time with the BlackBerry executive team. Rob Orr, BlackBerry Managing Director for the UK, kicked off the day’s activities with an engaging keynote session which invited BlackBerry customers on stage to demonstrate how they use BlackBerry technology to power mobile innovation. Customers on stage commented that the BlackBerry solution has been not only fun to use but also efficient, scalable, and beneficial for their global workforce.

Many attendees came away with a newfound appreciation for the powerful BlackBerry 10 platform, especially the BlackBerry Balance functionality that many enterprise customers have already been taking advantage of in the UK market. “We’ve come to the event today to learn more about BlackBerry 10 and find more information about how the developments have been taking off,” said Drew Evans from Aneurin Bevan Health Board. The Health Board employs over 13,000 staff, two thirds of whom are involved in direct patient care (nurses, midwives, allied professionals, and community workers). The fully booked event featured customer presentations from large organizations, and keynote participation from public sector BlackBerry customer Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust (BSMHFT), which announced a deployment of 1,800 BlackBerry Z10 smartphones across their organization.

According to Gavin Clements from MBDA, a world leader in missiles and missile systems, with 10,000 employees at industrial facilities in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United States, “BlackBerry is the only CESG approved device for email traffic – there is only one email solution.” This CESG approval allows government employees access to classified data up to and including “Restricted.”

Enterprise customers participated in breakout sessions focused on educating IT decision-makers on how the BlackBerry 10 platform and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 can easily deploy, manage, secure, and control BYOD and corporate devices to empower employees. More than 100 UK public and private sector organizations are currently trialing BlackBerry 10. Organizations include BT, Centrica, Aviva, The Co-Operative Group and University Hospital Birmingham. Jon Mooney from Aviva added, “No other device can really give us the kind of integrity and management of a handset that BlackBerry Enterprise Service can already offer us.” Aviva provides over 43 million customers with insurance, savings, and investment products, and is one of Europe’s leading providers of life and general insurance.

Vivek Bhardwaj, Head of the BlackBerry Software Portfolio and often recognized for his expert BlackBerry 10 hands-on demo’s was also in attendance to show his support for BlackBerry enterprise customers. Vivek remarked that, “it’s great to be here today and see so many enterprise people so focused on BlackBerry 10.”

The energy continues as the BlackBerry Experience Forum continues its world-tour to Dubai, Sydney, Paris, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, and New Delhi. To learn more, visit www.blackberryexperienceforum.com.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

The recent BlackBerry Experience Forum in New York City hosted a number of well-known app developers who showcased their innovations to a crowded room of attendees. “We have a number of developers in attendance who have blended together the enterprise and consumer sides of their applications to give our BlackBerry customers a great experience on the new BlackBerry 10 platform,” said John Mutter, Senior Manager of Enterprise Developer Partnerships.

Well-known enterprise developers shared the keynote stage with the BlackBerry leadership team to show the audience how their apps can help enhance business productivity, cost-savings, and organizational efficiencies. One of the keynote speakers was Meaghan Reinecke from Macadamian Technologies. Meaghan mentioned that “the BlackBerry Experience Forum is an excellent opportunity for Macadamian to be able to talk about the different services we can provide. We help our customers make excellent products by understanding that beautiful spot where business requirements meet the user experience, and where design meets powerful technology…right in the middle is where the magic happens!”

A number of partners also made announcements at the BlackBerry Experience Forum in New York City. NoteSmartly, a productivity platform, unveiled their official app on the BlackBerry Z10. CEO of NoteSmartly, Amit Kanodia commented, “We got an awesome integration experience with the BlackBerry 10 OS. The teams at BlackBerry were so helpful in getting our app up and running.” Similarly, Vishal Patel from IBM Mobile Technical Sales noted, “Working with BlackBerry has been excellent. IBM is now selling a new mobility platform which helps developers build and target applications for the BlackBerry platform.”

The app developer ecosystem is thriving at BlackBerry. Come and see for yourself as the BlackBerry Experience Forum continues its world tour. Register for an event near you today.

With BlackBerry 10 launching soon in the United States, the opportunities to get hands-on time with the new platform as well as speak to executives about secure connectivity, BlackBerry Balance technology, partner applications and opportunities in the BYOD space were particularly well received. Attendees were also keen to learn more about BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, and how it can help with enterprise device management, security, and app management for BlackBerry, iOS, and Android devices.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Throughout the day’s activities, breakout sessions were also offered for attendees interested in device management, security, applications, unified communications, and collaboration.

To learn more about the BlackBerry Experience Forum and tour stops coming to a city near you in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, South Africa and India, visit: www.blackberryexperienceforum.com

Did you know that both VISA and MasterCard have certified BlackBerry smartphones with NFC capabilities to be used for mobile payments?

Over the last couple of years, NFC technology has become increasingly popular in smartphones. Recent blog posts on the Inside BlackBerry for Business blog have shown that NFC-enabled devices can be used for a wide range of tasks, including access to your workplace and paying for your morning coffee. NFC has enabled many of us to see our BlackBerry smartphone as not only an important communications tool, but also as an efficient, contactless payment tool. When considering the use of a smartphone for mobile payments security is a major factor.

If you’re interested in learning more about some of the security features embedded in your BlackBerry smartphone when using it as a mobile payment solution, here are the details – straight from the BlackBerry experts!

According to our BlackBerry Security Certification Manager, Nayef Khan, “One major concern customers have when making mobile payments is security. A lot of focus in the mobile industry is put on the security of the “payment tap” process and overall device security. However, what’s often overlooked is how a credit card’s information travels directly to a smartphone, and how that overall data transmission process is secured.” In the NFC industry the systems that get your credit card data securely onto the device are called Trusted Service Managers (TSM). They are a key part of making NFC payments secure. BlackBerry is actively working on TSM functionality. The certification of BlackBerry as a VISA approved Trusted Service Manager (TSM) proves that the world’s top banking organizations recognize the high level of BlackBerry security standards.

So what are Trusted Service Managers (TSMs)?

A TSM is a cloud-based service that creates a secure communication channel between your NFC-enabled smartphone and the financial institution’s payment tool. The BlackBerry solution is designed to create a secure location within a ,secure container called a “Secure Element.” This secure storage area on an NFC-enabled smartphone enables financial institutions to store the sensitive payment information directly within the smartphone.

Our implementation of the TSM is known in the mobile payments industry as a “Secure Element Manager” (SEM). The SEM is responsible for managing space on a Secure Element. SEM also grants access to this secure space to mobile network operators or issuers of credit cards (know as Service Provider TSM or SP-TSM). Through the infrastructure that our SEM provides, SP-TSMs will have a single secure gateway allowing them to support any customer with an NFC-enabled smartphone that wants to enable a “mobile wallet” application. While the provisioning of credit card information is left to the SP-TSMs, the SEM allows for them to make a secure connection to the Secure Element. This arrangement also makes our solution highly scalable – new issuers can be on-boarded quickly.

Can you clarify what a secure element is, exactly?

As an analogy, think of the Secure Element as an apartment building. The manager of the apartment building (BlackBerry) allows each individual apartment (location for issuers and application providers) to be unlocked by a unique key. New tenants (issuers and application providers) can move in as soon as they are approved by the manager and provided with the key.

Visa’s approval of the BlackBerry SEM shows that we have been able to meet the rigorous standards that are expected in the financial industry. Over the years, BlackBerry has been associated with strong security and we are using our experience to build a secure foundation in this new domain.

Securing the “payment tap”

We have talked about how we secure the transmission and storage of sensitive information. In order to provide end-to-end security for a mobile payment transaction, the payment process also needs to be secure. Ever since BlackBerry launched NFC-capable smartphones, we have been working with the financial industry and credit card companies to certify our devices for use of mobile payments. The BlackBerry Curve 9360 and BlackBerry Bold 9900 were among the first smartphones to be certified by MasterCard and Visa for NFC-based mobile payments.

These certifications were granted on the basis of the BlackBerry smartphones meeting the functionality, interoperability and security requirements of MasterCard and Visa. The process includes extensive technical, security, and usability testing. This helps to ensure reliable and secure transactions which are compatible with the global standard for chip-enabled payments. With these certifications, any MasterCard PayPass or Visa payWave issuing bank globally will be able to deploy accounts to the SIM card of these smartphones.

Currently, all NFC-enabled BlackBerry devices in market have received the necessary payments certification. We have also done some great work with our brand new BlackBerry 10 platform. Looking at the device and back-end certifications in unison, BlackBerry is undeniably at the center of NFC innovation. The tools and security are available; we expect wireless carriers and financial institutions to pursue mobile payment solutions using BlackBerry smartphones in the near future – and some have already been implemented.

Is your business looking to make use of mobile payments? Does the TSM infrastructure alleviate some of your concerns regarding mobile payments? Share in the comments below.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Building a Strong BlackBerry Enterprise Developer Community

Cisco, SAP, Box, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Truphone, and BigHand are just some of the companies whose applications, used daily by millions of customers worldwide, are available on the BlackBerry 10 platform.

“The developer community for enterprise and government has been incredible in the support of BlackBerry 10,” said Derek Peper, Vice President, Enterprise Partnerships, BlackBerry. “The community sees the potential of the BlackBerry 10 platform to help individuals and organizations make the shift from mobile communications to mobile computing, and have stepped forward with powerful, dynamic and user-friendly applications that are designed to empower employees around the globe.”

BlackBerry made a significant commitment to developers for BlackBerry 10, making it fast and efficient for organizations to develop and manage applications. Developers were provided with toolkits that included the BlackBerry 10 Native SDK with Cascades to create graphically rich, high performance native apps in C/C++ or the Qt Modeling Language (QML); and the BlackBerry 10 WebWorks SDK for HTML5 developers, allowing them to create native-like apps using common web programming technologies (HTML5, CSS and JavaScript).

BlackBerry launched BlackBerry Partners for Enterprise in 2012 to succeed the BlackBerry Alliance program and increase support to the enterprise software and services community. BlackBerry also rolled out the BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour – Enterprise Edition to 11 cities to help enterprise application developers and partners develop for or port existing applications to BlackBerry 10.

What Partners are Saying

“We’re proud to extend Cisco’s WebEx technology to the BlackBerry 10 platform letting customers of any size join, start, view content, and stay connected to WebEx meetings right from their BlackBerry 10 smartphone,” said Raj Gossain, Vice President of Product Management, Cloud Collaboration Applications Technology Group at Cisco. “Our customers access Cisco collaboration capabilities, such as instant messaging, IP voice calling and conferencing on BlackBerry devices to stay connected anywhere, anytime, and with anyone. BlackBerry and Cisco have worked together to develop an application that is user friendly and meets the needs of our global customers.”

“SAP is committed to building beautiful, easy-to-use mobile apps to help our customers run their business better,” said Pete Graham, Director of Finance Solutions & Mobility, SAP. “We are having a very good experience developing enterprise-grade finance apps on the BlackBerry 10 platform using the SAP Mobile Platform. With the SAP Mobile Platform the mobile app development community can build apps that can run on both the new BlackBerry 10 and the existing BlackBerry platforms and devices.”

“As a leader in enterprise mobility, Citrix provides secure apps and data for any device on any platform. With the BlackBerry 10 platform coming to the market, we are working with the BlackBerry development teams to support BlackBerry 10 enterprise users with access to Citrix applications,” noted Chris Fleck, Citrix VP Mobile Solutions and Alliances.

“Mobility has completely transformed the enterprise, powering new levels of productivity for businesses and individuals around the world,” said Karen Appleton, VP of Business Development at Box. “Our deep integration with BlackBerry 10 connects users directly with all of their business content on Box, delivering a secure collaboration experience with intuitive features for fast and fluid file sharing. Box has built native apps for every leading mobile platform and we’re excited to continue our great relationship of innovation with the RIM team.”

“BlackBerry users have had access to critical news and market information via the Bloomberg Professional service for over 10 years, enabling business and financial professionals to make real-time, informed decisions about the markets,” said John Waanders, Head of Bloomberg Anywhere Mobile. “We are pleased to deliver a high-quality, secure experience to our subscribers with our Bloomberg Anywhere app on the new BlackBerry 10, and look forward to working with RIM as the platform evolves.”

“The debut of The Wall Street Journal’s app for BlackBerry 10 is the latest evolution in our ‘WSJ Everywhere’ digital strategy to meet new audiences through new digital platforms,” said Alisa Bowen, Head of Product for Dow Jones & Company. “The global reach of the BlackBerry platform allows us to continue expanding upon our own international growth, particularly in Asia, Europe and South America.”

“BlackBerry 10 changes the game – while the platform conforms to modern standards and is easy to adopt, the applications can integrate with the mobile operating system and with other applications in entirely new ways,” said Adam Linford, Head of Truphone Labs. “This has provided Truphone with the opportunity to rethink how we approach mobile VoIP applications, and open up new avenues for development in the future.”

“With over 165,000 professionals using our voice productivity technology worldwide, BigHand is focused on providing applications that can help busy professionals get more done from anywhere in the world on their smartphone,” Jon Ardron, CEO of BigHand. “Our longtime relationship with RIM has helped BigHand bring some of the first enterprise mobile dictation apps to the marketplace years ago. The new BlackBerry 10 is a continuation of that relationship and reinforces BigHand’s commitment to providing first-to-market productivity apps for professionals, as well as, continuing to support our large mobile application user base that utilizes BlackBerry smartphones. As our clients and other organizations move to the BlackBerry 10 platform, BigHand will immediately be able to offer them support this newest and highly anticipated mobile platform.”

Have you downloaded any enterprise apps that you’re particularly fond of? Have an interesting enterprise developer you want us to interview? Let us know by commenting below!

Name: William (Bill) Archer

Occupation: VP Sales – Telecommunications Market (emphasis on Mobile/Wireless)

Twitter Account: @W_Archer

1. Tell us a bit about yourself! (background, education, family, etc).

   I’m a proud Canadian, based in Vancouver. I travel frequently worldwide. I’ve lived in the United Kingdom for several years and really enjoy the ability to do what I do globally.

2. Why are you a #TeamBlackBerry fan?

I started my relationship with BlackBerry while living in the United Kingdom because I wanted a device (BlackBerry 7100) that could handle email. I didn’t want to be tied to my desk as I travel quite a bit. As a Canadian ex-pat, I also wanted to promote some of the best Canadian talent while working abroad. My relationship with BlackBerry really grew from there. Now it’s all about simply getting things done quickly and efficiently. “BlackBerry People Are Do-ers” is a reality that keeps me using the platform and recommending it. Since using my BlackBerry 7100 (which I still have), I’ve owned a BlackBerry Pearl 8100, BlackBerry Bold 9000, BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Torch 9800/9810, BlackBerry PlayBook 64 GB, and BlackBerry PlayBook LTE 32 GB.

3. What’s your favorite BlackBerry app?

I can’t pick just one. There are several apps I use regularly – mostly travel-related because of the amount of time I’m away from home. I really value BlackBerry Travel quite a bit. The built-in applications like Twitter are also helpful. In my opinion, foursquare has really evolved from a toy into something good to use daily. I also have OpenTable for quick reservations that I can share with clients when needed. World Clock, Xobni, XE and Roboform are also apps I use often. Oh – and “Dilbert” for good measure.

4. How do you use your BlackBerry smartphone and PlayBook tablet for work?

If it weren’t for my BlackBerry I would be stuck with my laptop and looking for a connection everywhere. The obvious benefits of a handheld device synchronized with my email, in addition to having all of my contact’s phone numbers and details, is priceless! I couple these smartphone benefits with my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet – the ability to quickly present and augment discussions with diagrams and backing materials on my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet are valuable tools.

5. What picture is your current BlackBerry wallpaper (and why)?

I recently installed BeWeather (really nice application!) and it changes with the weather to show me how much rain we’re getting in Vancouver. I look forward to the bright yellow sunshine avatar, actually. Before the BeWeather app, I had a simple dark background because I like simplicity as a design theme.

6. What’s your favourite BlackBerry smartphone model, and why?

To be honest it’s a toss between my BlackBerry Bold 9900 and my BlackBerry Torch 9810. The keyboard on the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is beautiful, but I want the large screen real estate of the BlackBerry Torch 9810. The slider aspect really makes it the best of both worlds. It’s one of the reasons I’m really curious about the full touch version of the BlackBerry 10 devices: If the typing experience is as good as Vivek Bhardwaj makes it seem, then perhaps I’ll finally convert to all-Touch (finally!).

7. If a friend were in the market for a new smartphone and/or tablet, what would you say to convince them to join the BlackBerry family?

There are a couple of things that come into play – although any device is a very personal thing! Your smartphone of choice will be with you more than anything else day in and day out. If you think about it – I would wager that most BlackBerry users have their phones near them more often than their eye glasses, significant other, and even their clothes… BlackBerry is for hyper-connected people that do things. People that multi-task like crazy and just want to get things done. Everything else is a distraction. My BlackBerry devices do everything I need them to do and their synchronization abilities are perfect for my lifestyle.

8. What are the “Top 5” things you keep in your purse/briefcase/backpack at all times?

My briefcase has a lot of strange stuff in it…I normally carry some currencies from where I travel, my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, a rapid-charger (for both my PlayBook tablet and my BlackBerry smartphone), my favourite pen and old-school paper pad (I like to doodle my presentations instead of ‘present’ them). Headphones for airplanes and my smartphone, too.

9. What are some of your favourite blogs and websites that you visit often?

There are three BlackBerry blogs I look to for information in order CrackBerry, BerryReview, and N4BB. On my BlackBerry devices CNN, BBC, Globe & Mail, National Post and CBC are all bookmarked. Twitter is an invaluable daily feed of news and information, too.

10. Any interesting facts people would be surprised to know about you?

I studied Music at University, not comp-sci or business. All this ‘high tech’ work I do is the other thing I did in parallel back then. However – I have kept up my music and do write and play still – as often as I can. I built a home studio last year with the ability to play and record.


]]> http://bizblog.blackberry.com/2013/02/blackberry-business-elite-february-2013/feed/ 0 sfrisina