Earlier today we announced the 4G LTE™ BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, which will be available in Canada on August 9th and will become available in other countries and regions around the world in the coming months. With its ultra-fast 4G LTE wireless network support and 1.5 GHz dual core processor, this device delivers an improved performance experience. For those of you who work from home, travel frequently or who are constantly on the road and need wireless connectivity beyond Wi-Fi®, your PlayBook tablet has now arrived.

Experiencing the 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet

When you’re running from one meeting to the next or trying to catch a plane, you need all of your information to be consolidated in one place as it arrives in your inbox. You need to have this information be easy to digest, organize, and filter. This is where the unified inbox of BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0 provides serious benefit, with all of your emails, LinkedIn® messages, Facebook® notifications, and Twitter® mentions flowing simply and cleanly into the inbox.

Your flight information, hotel confirmation, and map to the conference center can be stored in the Print To Go® application, where you “printed” them from your PC to the PlayBook tablet as they were received. Information about who you’re meeting with, which may include people you may have never met before, is automatically culled for you from LinkedIn and stored in the Calendar application, giving you context and helping you be better prepared for your meetings.

Sure, hotels and airports generally have Wi-Fi®, but cabs, trains, city streets, and many restaurants are still gaps that need to be filled. For those with Wi-Fi enabled PlayBook tablets, the BlackBerry® Bridge™ app or the Mobile Hotspot feature with BlackBerry® 7.1 OS smartphones can help keep you connected. But with a 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet you’ll have broader coverage and faster wireless access on 4G LTE while on the go (when a 4G LTE network is available).

When you’re back in the hotel at the end of your day, take some time for yourself. You’ll find amazing games for the PlayBook tablet on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront. You also shouldn’t have to worry about the mix of corporate and personal data, and neither should your organization; BlackBerry® Balance™ technology helps keep those data stores nicely separated within your PlayBook tablet.

Solving the Challenges of Mobile Device Management for Your Organization

You may have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy within your organization, perhaps mixed with a few corporately-provisioned smartphones, and even a few special cases within your executive staff. There is little black and white and many shades of gray when it comes to the mobile landscape within many organizations today, both large and small. BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion is our solution to making sense of it all, designed to protect your data, help meet priorities of both employees and IT departments, and ultimately help to lower your total cost of ownership.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion is designed to allow your organization to manage BlackBerry®, iOS®, and Android™ smartphones and tablets from a single unified interface, leveraging existing BlackBerry technology and new innovations to provide an all-in-one solution from a trusted and experienced provider that’s been delivering Mobile Device Management solutions to enterprise and government customers for more than a decade.

Combined with the BlackBerry® Device Service component of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, your 4G LTE PlayBook tablet can be securely connected and fully integrated with common corporate mail servers like Microsoft® Exchange®, Lotus® Domino, or Novell® GroupWise®, helping to keep emails, contacts, and calendar appointments synchronized every step of the way so that you won’t miss a beat.

The Experience Doesn’t Stop Here

In future blog posts, we’ll be diving deeper into a fully optimized mobile office experience. Add in a BlackBerry® Mini Keyboard and the Citrix® Receiver for BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, for example, and you’ve got a serious powerhouse of productivity and functionality that can be far easier on the bottom-line (and easier to carry), than laptops or other on-the-go technology. The 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook will be pre-loaded with OS 2.0.1, which is also now available for Wi-Fi PlayBook owners as a maintenance update.

The 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is currently available in Canada from Bell, Rogers and TELUS. Get all of the details in our press release, and learn more on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet web site. Data plans are sold separately.

Do you travel often for business? How would you use a 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet? Share in the comments below.

* LTE connectivity is currently only available from a limited number of carriers in specific countries. Where LTE is not available, the 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet can automatically adjust to connect on HSPA+.

The BlackBerry® Mini Keyboard with convertible case is here! This is an accessory that can add a huge amount of value to your work and productivity. By leveraging the keyboard along with the convertible case, you get the additional screen space (rather than using the on-screen keyboard), and a stylish case that doubles as a stand for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. Check out the video below for an in-depth demo of the BlackBerry Mini Keyboard as well as multiple use cases via the Citrix® Receiver for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Multi-touch Control

BlackBerry Mini Keyboard comes equipped with a touchpad to allow you to navigate your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Tap the touchpad to simulate a mouse click, tap with two fingers to right-click, and scroll vertically using a two-finger up or down swipe. These gestures make it a breeze to get up and running and begin interacting with the device as well as apps like the Citrix Receiver.

Ultimate Portability

The portability of the BlackBerry Mini Keyboard with the convertible case provides a mobile computer solution that’s easy to take with you. An added benefit is the screen real estate available to you when using the BlackBerry Mini Keyboard with your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Security and Power

BlackBerry Mini Keyboard is designed to connect via Bluetooth® to your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, and features 128-bit encryption to help keep the connection secure. You can charge your BlackBerry Mini Keyboard using your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet charger to keep things simple and remove any need for extra wires and equipment. But that’s not even the best part – the BlackBerry Mini Keyboard can last up to 30 days on a single charge depending on your usage!

The BlackBerry Mini Keyboard is now available at ShopBlackBerry.com for select locations worldwide, and for pre-order in Canada exclusively at The Source. Citrix Receiver for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is available from the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

How will the BlackBerry Mini Keyboard change your productivity? Share in the comments below.