The time has come to cast your ballots for the 2013 BlackBerry Achievement Awards! Using BlackBerry technology to help power innovation, the awards celebrate ideas coming to life. Everyone is encouraged to vote, so visit the website before April 15^th at 5pm ET to help us determine this year’s winners.

A special category that is near and dear to our hearts is the App of the Year award. This year, Cine Hoyts Argentina, Cooklet, and PriceCheck Pty Ltd have been nominated as finalists. Make sure you check them out before voting for your favorites.

The full list of 2013 nominees is as follows:

App of the Year:

1. Cine Hoyts
2. Cooklet
3. PriceCheck Mobile

Putting Customers First:

1. ING DIRECT Canada
2. LoyaltyMatch Inc.
3. MMMOOO

Mobile Innovation of the Year:

1. DIRECTV Latin America
2. Mippin (Refresh Ltd.)
3. Waytag

Making the World a Better Place:

1. e-Cycle Solutions
2. Sussex Police
3. University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB)

Entrepreneur of the Year

1. EducationApps Limited
2. Nobex Technologies
3. SkyPark Café

This year’s winners will be announced at BlackBerry Live in Orlando, Florida. The award recipients will receive a series of incentives for their participation. Prizes for first place include: travel and accommodations to BlackBerry Live 2013, conference passes, extensive BlackBerry training, BlackBerry 10 smartphones and more.

For more on the BlackBerry Achievement Awards and BlackBerry Live, make sure you visit our landing pages at http://www.blackberrylive.com/special-programs/achievement-awards/about and http://www.blackberrylive.com/ respectively.

Do you have a nominee that you’re rooting for? Let us know who your favorites are in the comments below!

So far we’ve enjoyed a truly exciting start to 2013, which has included the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and BlackBerry 10 launches, the BlackBerry Experience Forum events, and partnerships with businesses that are upgrading to BlackBerry 10. We can’t wait to bring this excitement with us to this year’s BlackBerry Live conference kicking off in Orlando, Florida on May 14, which is less than 8 weeks from today! (Can you believe it?)

To help you save on registration fees, we’re offering an Early Bird Rate which includes $150 USD in savings on a Full Conference Pass. This pass gives access to both BlackBerry Live and BlackBerry Jam Americas and includes:

• BlackBerry Live 2013 Keynotes
• BlackBerry Jam Americas Keynotes
• Breakout Sessions and Hands-on Labs
• Admission to the Monday evening Welcome Reception in the sponsor showcase
• Admission to the BlackBerry Appreciation Event
• Admission to the sponsor showcase during open hours, Tuesday – Thursday
• Breakfast, breaks and lunch, Tuesday – Thursday
• Access to the Jam Space in the conference area
• Complimentary access to Wi-Fi internet in the conference center
• Access to BlackBerry Live On-Demand, the online portal for conference content, until the start of the 2014 conference
• Registration gift upon check-in onsite

You’ll want to act fast to take advantage of this offer before it expires on Friday, March 22. In addition, if you’ve attended some of our past BlackBerry events you may be eligible to save an additional $150 USD through the Alumni Discount.

We’re also pleased to announce that a session catalog preview is now available! Start preparing your trip by using the BlackBerry Live Budget Planner, submit your nominations for the BlackBerry Achievement Awards, and convince your boss to let you experience BlackBerry Live 2013!

Did you attend last year’s conference? What tips or advice would you share with a first-time BlackBerry Live attendee? Share in the comments below.

This year’s BlackBerry Live conference is going to be a very exciting event for us here at BlackBerry, our attendees, partners, carriers, and customers. We’re already well underway with the planning, and the timing couldn’t be better on the heels of our launch of BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

With the name change of BlackBerry App World to BlackBerry World – since much more than apps will be available to you – we’ve decided to change the name of our BlackBerry World conference to “BlackBerry Live”. We love the new name, and it comes with a hugely positive outlook and a very exciting year for BlackBerry technology.

What can you expect at this year’s BlackBerry Live conference?

BlackBerry Live is our way of showing that we’re just as enthusiastic about your success as you’ve been about ours. This year’s event is all about the latest on BlackBerry 10, deep insights into the technology, ideas for mobile strategies, and inspiration for practical business solutions. The BlackBerry Live conference will also include:

• Road-test the game changing BlackBerry 10 platform to see why everyone is so excited
• Get your toughest technical and business questions answered
• Meet the BlackBerry leaders behind BlackBerry 10
• Accelerate your mobile decision-making with expert advice and services
• Form business relationships to rely on down the road
• Hear what’s next for BlackBerry
• Participate in the mobile ecosystem and help shape the future of BlackBerry

Registration will be open soon, and stay tuned for further details and sneak peeks of what to expect here on the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog. We hope to see you there in May!

Since the beginning of BlackBerry®, the enterprise has been a crucial area of focus for the core business of Research In Motion® (RIM®). This has continued throughout the years and with the ever-growing demand of mobile applications, we remain committed to the success of the enterprise developer. The application space is heavily directed by the consumer and end-user demand, yet they often fall short to the needs of the enterprise. RIM is in a position where it can meet both needs by being a “behind the firewall” solution and by maintaining a cloud-friendly approach. Rest assured we are committed to designing and producing great products for the enterprise and also providing the right platform to help transform your business for the better with mobile solutions.

Why should businesses develop for the BlackBerry platform?

The BlackBerry platform has a heritage of strengths and opportunities for enterprise applications. As we approach the launch of BlackBerry® 10, the opportunities to drive communication, efficiency, and to mobilize your workforce with enterprise applications are rapidly growing. Here are a few strengths of the BlackBerry platform for enterprise developers:

• The development platform is standards-based
• We provide an enterprise mobility management solution to complete the full picture of employee devices, corporate data, and enterprise apps
• Worldwide leader in mobile security
• Mailbox integration
• Push technology

The best part about BlackBerry in the enterprise is that is solves many of the challenges presented during the application development cycle. First and foremost, the problem of connectivity is taken care of as BlackBerry is the only “behind the firewall” solution. Additionally the development platform has been significantly improved approaching BlackBerry 10, and we support a standards-based strategy leveraging tools like HTML5, C++, and Eclipse.

Also included is a full set of management tools, security and APIs to allow you to take full advantage of BlackBerry smartphones. Tied together with the ability to push content to your users, this makes your possibilities for the functionality of enterprise apps endless. Imagine, for example, building your application to tie right into the mailbox of a BlackBerry smartphone, providing intuitive access to crucial information for executives and employees.

What is the Enterprise Developer Lab at BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012?

For the first time during our BlackBerry® Jam events, we have created a lab for enterprise developers to bring their applications in and get consultation on how to improve, and more importantly, how to develop for BlackBerry 10. We are in the middle of a transition to this new platform, and we want to ensure that you fully understand the power that is at your fingertips as well as help you bring existing apps to BlackBerry 10. I have heard from several customers that it would be ideal to have someone available to guide them through the development process in order to take their app from Java® to BlackBerry 10; what better way to start by having a lab for enterprise developers to meet with the experts who can help get you started? Essentially you are getting a free consultation on building and customizing your application for your company on a brand-new, powerful mobile computing platform. We want to make you look like a rock star!

Why are we launching the Enterprise Developer Lab?

We’ve decided to launch the Enterprise Developer Lab as a way of getting closer to enterprise developers and helping to ensure their success. With the turbulent environment of the mobile space, we want to make sure that you have a chance to learn and try new things with assistance. We also recognize that some of these discussions are private to your organization, so one-on-one interaction is required to not let your company secrets out in the open. We believe in partnership, and building this lab as part of our BlackBerry Jam Americas conference is a great way for us to work together.

We look forward to your success while you develop the enterprise grade applications to help increase productivity and change the way that your business operates.

Come Jam with Us!

San Jose, California from September 25-27
Follow #BBJam and @BlackBerryDev on Twitter®, as well as the Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog

BlackBerry® Jam Americas 2012 is quickly approaching, and coming with it are opportunities for enterprise app developers. There are some incredible business apps available for both BlackBerry® 7 smartphones as well as BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets – but some real excitement is on the way with BlackBerry® 10.

I run a team that is focused directly on the Enterprise Developer – we understand your challenges around security, management, and the need to support many different devices. We work to help you leverage the engagement elements of the BlackBerry UI to make apps that are not only appealing to the end user but also fully connected to the backend to access corporate data. My team is here to guide you through the process of taking your Java applications and porting them over with standards-based programming languages like HTML5 and C++. We work to ensure that you are able to design a highly successful application for your Enterprise. BlackBerry Jam Americas is a great event for you to attend in order to get the specialized attention that you require from my team and to meet up with fellow peers. We are eager to teach you the best practices learned from the many engagements with our Enterprise customers.

Developing for BlackBerry has never been easier with tools, community support, and plenty of options available. Access to corporate data, rich functionality, and a beautifully designed interface can come together to provide your business with fantastic opportunities to design custom applications, which can serve to mobilize processes and increase productivity. For an example, check out how IA Clarington Investments designed a custom CRM app to increase and mobilize sales productivity.

Beyond business apps themselves, the application management aspect is also critically important for enterprises. BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion, and the upcoming BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10, provides functionality to push apps to employee devices, provide optional apps for employees to choose from, and manage policies related to mobile apps.

Sessions that you won’t want to miss

Check out the following developer sessions being offered at BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012 – these have been hand-picked as relevant and engaging for enterprise developers in order to equip them with the tools, knowledge, and support to drive value for your organization.

• HTML5 Web Apps for Enterprise Supporting BlackBerry 6 and Beyond
• Porting your Java Apps to BlackBerry 10
• Building an App for Enterprise? That’s Only Half the Battle!

Come Jam with Us!

BlackBerry Jam Americas will be a fantastic opportunity to connect with other developers, explore opportunities, get more sneak peeks at BlackBerry 10, and get prepared to design incredible mobile apps. Check out the details below:

BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012
San Jose, California from September 25-27
Follow #BBJam and @BlackBerryDev on Twitter®, as well as the Inside BlackBerry Developer Blog

Enterprise Developer Lab

As an added value for enterprise developers, we’ve set up an Enterprise Developer Lab where you can bring your laptop and application for one of our Wireless Application Architects to spend one-on-one time with you. You’ll leave with a clear understanding of how to make your app ready for the launch of BlackBerry 10. And you never know, you might just get to see it up and running on a BlackBerry 10 device right at the event! Just stop by the Enterprise Developer Lab and we’ll be happy to help you out.

Further Resources

• Why Attend BlackBerry Jam?
• Browse the Session Catalog
• Try out the Budget Planner

Will you be attending BlackBerry Jam Americas as an enterprise app developer? What are you most looking forward to? Share in the comments below.