When evaluating solutions to enable your business with mobile applications that go far beyond email, calendar, and PIM, the best practice is to ensure you are making the most of what’s available. I’ve worked in this post to establish a benchmark of how BlackBerry solutions can enable business collaboration and enterprise applications with four key elements.

Connectivity

Although this sounds pretty basic, it’s really the core of what’s needed to get things done. When leveraging the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution, this aspect is built in from the ground up and really cannot be any easier. With a service called MDS-CS, you have that built-in “VPN-Like” connection to allow you easy access to the secure data stored behind the firewall. This is a key differentiator, as without this out-of-the-box connectivity behind the firewall, complex and potentially costly solutions would need to be created in order to achieve secure access to corporate data.

Push

Many of us are already familiar with the term “Push”. As a brief primer, push is a service that sends data to a device without the device having to send a request for that data. This is why you don’t have to manually check your email – new messages simply appear the moment that they arrive. It’s a great protocol for delivering information in real time and keeping you connected. But the story doesn’t end here – let’s look at what can be accomplished with Push technology in a business setting.

First and foremost, you have the ability to push data to an app and even notify the end user when something has arrived. Secondly, you can push that information directly to the BlackBerry Hub in BlackBerry 10. Consider how a business user works and the fact that they’re constantly in their inbox. When they wake up in the morning, they go to their inbox; before they go to bed, they are in their inbox. It follows, then, that your business applications should also have a presence here. For example, let’s say that you want to send your CEO the daily sales reports or business intelligence data. Put it right where they’ll be: the inbox! With the invocation framework introduced in BlackBerry 10 you can have them tap on the notification in their inbox and thereby invoke your app.

Secondly, Push also solves the issue that apps need to work offline. Executives often use their BlackBerry smartphones on flights and trips all around the world. Many “send” messages while in transit, and when they land their messages are sent without them even having to lift a finger. Your applications can work the same way; once you build into the workflow a system that can push down the requests to their devices, the requests will be waiting for them until your users have the downtime to go through and take action. They will absolutely love you if you make them more productive on the airplane, and especially if you design it so they do not need to go back to their PC to approve or interact with the information.

Management

Beyond building your enterprise app, it’s important to consider its deployment within your organization. With BlackBerry 10 we’ve created the App World for Work, which gives you the ability to host your confidential application behind the firewall, accessible only to employees within your business. This is enabled as soon as the device is activated against BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, when the BlackBerry Balance feature comes alive during device activation. You can then make it available through App World for Work and the employees can download it, or you can make it a mandatory application which will then automatically be pushed to employee devices. Employees also have the ability to manage available upgrades within App World for Work to ensure that the latest maintenance releases and enhancements are available.

If you’re building applications which you’re looking to sell to enterprise customers, you can either provide them the application to host in their environment or you can submit your application to BlackBerry App World and simply recommend that your customers flag the application for work. Administrators can select publicly available apps from BlackBerry App World, which makes the application appear in App World for Work as a recommended download for employees, manageable like any other internal applications.

Standards-based Development

Let’s face it, when building applications for mobile devices there are many different tools and languages available, and it can be daunting to make a selection. Even some of the MDM providers who try to enable enterprise applications require you to learn their tools in order to build, manage, and secure mobile applications. With the security elements already built into the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution, all that is left to do is build the app. We’ve made it easier than ever by supporting standards-based development. First with HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, you can write and in many cases reuse samples of code which can then be compiled with our BlackBerry WebWorks tool to create a BlackBerry app. Aside from being simple to build, the beauty of the BlackBerry WebWorks development solution is that it supports BlackBerry 6 and BlackBerry 7 OS, BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, and the upcoming BlackBerry 10 platform. You can also go really deep to create customized extensions that leverage the core of the BlackBerry OS and hardware. We’ve got loads of samples for you to check out on http://developer.blackberry.com/

If you go a step further and would like to develop using our Native Software Development Kit, the core of the language is C++. Combined with our Cascades tool, you can build some serious applications that not only increase productivity at your company, but have a beautiful interface.

When you’re evaluating solutions to solve your business problems, take a look at Connectivity, Push, Management, and Standards-based Development to see how they can help you in your quest for designing and implementing functional and intuitive business apps. The Enterprise Partnerships team here at RIM is ready to help!

This month, 36-year-old Neall Hards of Ottawa will compete in his first ‘World’s Toughest Mudder’ challenge, a grueling 24-hour course that he has been training for over the past two years.

“The course is designed by British Special Forces and is designed to drain every last bit of drive and desire you have in your mind,” said the father of three. “It’s dark, it’s cold and you’re alone for hours at a time.”

Hards has been a BlackBerry® smartphone user since 1999. From a business perspective, he has long benefited from features like mobile email access, calendar integration and enterprise security.

But it wasn’t until the spring of 2011 that the longtime runner started to use his BlackBerry smartphone to help measure his training progress. Hards purchased the runtastic PRO application through the BlackBerry App World™ storefront, which uses his BlackBerry smartphone’s GPS functionality to track his running distances, kilometer paces and time averages.

“The runtastic app on my BlackBerry smartphone acts as a coach and as a running mate,” said Hards. “Whether it tells me that I’m running at a great pace or that I’m lagging, the constant flow of information motivates me to push even harder.”

Whether Hards is training or competing, his family and friends can track his progress on his online runtastic profile and send cheers of encouragement directly to his BlackBerry smartphone in near real-time.

Hards prefers his BlackBerry smartphone to other training and measurement devices because it allows him to give his undivided attention to the course ahead of him. It has also proved to be remarkably durable, despite exposure to extreme environments.

“All I need is a waterproof bag and my backpack,” said Hards. “My BlackBerry smartphone swims with me, rolls around with me and gets muddy with me, and I’ve never had any issues.”

As a family man, business professional and race competitor, Hards uses his BlackBerry smartphone throughout the day. Whether using BBM™ to connect with fellow Tough Mudder participants, syncing calendars with his 15-year-old daughter or using the GPS feature to find his son’s football games, Hards appreciates the full functionality that his BlackBerry device offers.

“There isn’t a day that goes by, or an hour that goes by, where I don’t pick up my BlackBerry smartphone and use it for something,” said Hards. “I just can’t put it down.”

Do you use BlackBerry smartphone apps for personal training and fitness? We’d love to hear about it in the comments section below!

In this final post in the series, I’m going to walk through a few more advanced tips for managing your mail and reducing headaches that come with a constant inflow of messages.

Exploring Email Account Options

Today let’s dig deeper by discussing a few more advanced tips, beginning with exploring the email account options on your device. You likely walked through the mail setup process when you first got ahold of your device, but let’s take a look at some of the more in-depth features that can make your communication even more of a breeze. On your BlackBerry® 7 or BlackBerry 6 smartphone, hit the “Setup” icon, or just type it into universal search to find it. You’ll see a screen like this:

When you head into “Email Accounts”, you’ll see two options: one for “Internet Mail Account” and the other for “Enterprise Account”. If you have an enterprise account setup, it’s likely managed by your IT department and requests for modification would likely need to go through them. In the event that you do not see the “Enterprise Account” option, please contact your wireless service for assistance.

Let’s look at the Internet mail account area – head in and then click on the account that you have set up (or set up a new one first!). There are a few things of note here that can help you out with email management:

1. General Options

Make sure that you have the “Your name” section filled out – this will display on recipient devices when you send a message. Additionally, you can modify your signature in this area. Opinions on this are mixed – some like to hide the fact that they’re using a mobile device, others like to include a “Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone” to make others aware when they’re on the road.

2. Delivery Options

Fun stuff in here – you can choose a “reply to” email address if you don’t want anything coming back to this particular account. This is useful if you’re changing email addresses; apply this setting to the old account to force everyone to slowly move over, even during a back-and-forth email conversation. Second is “Auto BCC”, which can send a copy over to an address of your choosing.

3. Synchronization Options

Depending on what features are supported by your mail provider, this area looks simple enough with the checkboxes for Calendar, Contacts, and Deleted Items, but they have big implications. Mail is synchronized by default, since after all, we are dealing with an email account that’s been set up. Calendar is useful to toggle if you only use the calendar of one email account – you can turn the others off so that they aren’t synchronized with your BlackBerry device. However, color-coding different calendars can help with that! Contacts and Deleted Items follow suit, allowing you to selectively synchronize specific components of your mail account.

The above options can help you to manually configure your mail accounts to the perfect settings that complement your style. You may have 3, 4, or even 10 email accounts, but use them in different ways and require unique components to be activated or deactivated on your BlackBerry smartphones. The email account options help you to get there.

The Unsubscribe Sweep

This was mentioned in passing within the last post in the series, but it deserves to be called out more clearly. We’re constantly interacting with digital services; signing up for new accounts, booking a hotel, or buying something online. Often during these travels we inadvertently get our email addresses thrown onto lists for “special offers” and the like. Unsubscribing from these can be arguably the single easiest thing you can do to lighten the email load on your inbox, with the biggest impact.

When I woke up this morning and checked my email, I had twelve messages that I had received during the night. Only three of them legitimately needed my attention, the others were from newsletters, notifications from social networks, and spam messages. I didn’t unsubscribe from them at that moment because it was 6:30 in the morning. No, I took the lazy route and did the “mark all as read” trick. It’s true; we don’t always have the time to do the unsubscribe sweep right then and there, so that’s why I’ve scheduled a recurring reminder in my calendar to give me a bump once a month to clean it all out at some point during that day. The results are fantastic: a huge reduction in the number of emails that I receive.

Tip: If you have social networking apps like Twitter® or Facebook® installed on your BlackBerry smartphone, then you likely don’t need the email notifications from these services – the apps will provide you with their own notifications when activity takes place. To learn more about setting up notifications for these apps, press the Menu key and select the Help option when using them.

Set Custom Notifications for Different Email Accounts

This is a great trick that is very under-utilized, in my opinion. We’ve got fantastic sound profile options with our BlackBerry smartphones with everything from Loud to Vibrate to Phone Calls Only. But, did you know that you can set up custom sounds for different email accounts? This is fantastic for those who have work accounts and personal accounts on the same device. When you’re at work, you can safely postpone personal emails without even looking at your device. Similarly, when you’re at home or spending time with family, you can leave those work emails until the morning.

To set up custom notifications for different email accounts, click on the little speaker at the top left of your home screen and then hit the button that reads “Change Sounds and Alerts”. This is where the magic happens: you can set up ring tones, modify sound profiles, remove profiles, and even set specific sounds for certain contacts. If you’re already using the sound profile that you want to modify for email account notifications, hit “Sounds for Selected Profile”. Otherwise, you can head into “Profile Management” and choose the profile that you want to modify.

You should see a screen that looks something like this (I’ve scrolled down to “Messages – Notifiers”):

If you choose one of these options, you’ll be able to set the notification tone, the volume, vibration, toggle notifications during calls, and toggle the LED light. With third party apps like BeBuzz Free – LED Light Colors you can even set a custom color (There are lots to choose from! I tried purple). Once you’ve got it where you want it, hit the “Try it” button to test it out, and feel free to tweak your settings until you’re comfortable. Beyond setting custom notifications for email accounts, try setting one for your boss, or your boss’s boss! This is an advanced warning system of sorts that gives you a heads up on what has just come in, before you even pick up your smartphone.

To learn more, head over to the BlackBerry Help Blog to discover how to set up ringtones, notifications, and alerts.

In Summary

Investigating your email account options in the Setup application is worth the time to make sure that you’re synchronizing properly and have all of your details in place – with certain tools especially useful if you’ve recently changing email accounts. Schedule reminders for an unsubscribe sweep to take a load off of your inbox with just a few minutes of effort. Lastly, setup custom notifications to give you advance warning of what’s hitting your inbox, and from whom. With these tips applied, along with those from Part 1 and Part 2 of the series, you’ll be blasting through your inbox with minimal headaches and saving time each day.

Have any more tips for mobile email management that weren’t covered in the series? Share in the comments below!

Most of us are using email the wrong way. And a lot of the time, we shouldn’t even be using email in the first place to get our message across. In my last blog post on owning your inbox, I walked through the emerging modes of communication that can be more appropriate than email and cause less stress, such as instant messaging, BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), third-party apps, or even simply using the phone. Reducing email pile-up by using one of the many alternative methods of communication is a great step towards using technology effectively. The results are reduced stress, increased speed of communication and response, a more organized approach, and a lighter load on the mail servers.

This time, I’m going to focus on email itself. Let’s face it: Email is inescapable even if we do use other modes of communication. What’s important is using it effectively to handle what’s being thrown at you. Judging by a recent Twitter® poll from @BlackBerry4Biz, some of you deal with a lot of email in a day. Let’s look at ways that you can manage it more effectively using your BlackBerry® smartphone.

Use accurate subjects to utilize and improve search

An email with the subject “Hey” or “Question…” is useful for about as long as it takes for you or the recipient to read it. It ends there, and often becomes another item to scroll past in your seemingly never-ending list of emails sitting in your inbox. But if you use accurate and descriptive subject lines for your email, your inbox becomes beautifully searchable. Some even have their own system for categorizing emails within the subject line.

For example, instead of sending an email with a subject of “expenses”, I could use “BlackBerry World 2012 Expense Report”. Later on, if I need to gather together all of my activity around BlackBerry World™, I can search for the term “BlackBerry World 2012”, or if I’m looking for expense reports, all I need to do is search for “expense report”. If I’ve been consistent in my title conventions, all of my past event activity is accessible. Using a date in some form is also a key tip here.

To search for an email in the inbox of your BlackBerry smartphone, just press the “S” key from the inbox as a shortcut for bringing up the search box. I use this constantly.

Organize your mail into conversations

I know this one isn’t for everyone, and I’ve even changed my mind a few times on this one, but it’s without question worth a try. Similar to recent versions of Microsoft® Outlook® or Google® Gmail, your BlackBerry smartphone can organize mail into conversations based on a thread with the same subject line. If you look away for a few minutes and suddenly there are eight replies that have come in, it only takes up one line on your screen. This setting alone can significantly reduce the amount of scrolling and picking through email that you may undertake on any given day.

To activate or toggle this feature, open up the Messages application on your BlackBerry smartphone, hit the menu key, find “Options”, choose “Message Display and Actions”, and then change “Display Style” from “Single Messages” to “Group by Subject”. Like I said, opinions vary, so figure out which one is best for you.

Use follow-up flags and task synchronization

There are many instances when I don’t have time to read each email and follow through with any action, but I can skim them and understand what will need action at a later point. This is where “flagging for follow up” comes in, and it’s arguably my favorite feature of the BlackBerry device inbox. On your BlackBerry smartphone, head into your inbox, highlight or open a message, hit the menu key, and choose “Flag for Follow Up”. A small red flag is displayed on the message, and if you’re set up with a corporate email account and use Microsoft Outlook like I do, the message will also appear in your “Flagged for Follow Up” area and in the Outlook tasks section. The next morning or whenever I have a chance, I can review the emails that need my attention.

Use a folder or filing system

Mail folders can be used to sort your messages either manually or with rules set up in your mail client. A common system is to have folders labeled as Action, Hold, and Archive. If you’re really on the ball with a system like this, you can keep your inbox completely clean. Mail folders can also be accessed from your BlackBerry smartphone or BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. On your smartphone, head into the Messages app, hit the menu key, and choose “View Folder”. Here you can expand or collapse folders as well as perform searches. BlackBerry Messenger folders for BBM groups are also visible here, as well as text messages, call logs, social accounts, and more. It’s a great place to have a handle on for accessing logs, messages, and attachments from all of your communication.

The “two-minute rule”

I learned of this rule while doing some research for this post, and it’s a great one that I’m going to start following. The rule basically states that if you can complete an action associated with an email in two minutes or less, you should do it right then and there. Otherwise, if you flag it and do it later, you’ve spent more time already on that task than you should have. This is a key concept for dealing with email – if you can get an action item off of your list immediately, take care of it and move on. Learn more about the two-minute rule in a Q&A with David Allen on success.com.

Control the flow of email into your inbox

Yes, it is possible. When you see unimportant email come in, such as certain newsletters or even spam, take a few moments to find that unsubscribe link and get yourself off of the list. And instead of replying to an email by instinct, try using other methods like picking up the phone and giving someone a ring – the reality is that when you respond to email, you’re more than likely to get a response back.

Hopefully this helps you get a handle on that raging inbox. What tips have I missed? Share in the comments below.

Over our social media conversations with #TeamBlackBerry, we’ve heard many great stories about how BlackBerry smartphones have pulled through in daring circumstances. Beyond the inherent durability and quality of materials used in designing BlackBerry smartphones, there are protective cases designed to further ruggedize your smartphone. This doesn’t just protect your smartphone; it protects your investment and can reduce long-term costs.

Enter my friends at OtterBox! We’ve worked with the OtterBox team for many years, and we were able to catch up with them to explore how the work that they do extends beyond a simple case for your phone, and goes deep into providing core benefits for major industries. OtterBox cases can work to drive down the Total Cost of Ownership I mentioned above. Check out the video below for the full scoop:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Do you work in an industry that demands a ruggedized smartphone? Have any stories about your BlackBerry smartphone surviving the odds to fight another day? Share in the comments below!

RIM assumes no responsibility and shall not be liable for any type of damages related to this material or its use, or performance, or non-performance of any product or service provided by OtterBox®

It’s well known that BlackBerry® smartphones are some of the most approved and accredited devices in the market — and you may have seen news reports and social content about BlackBerry smartphones earning approvals from various governments and international certification bodies. I work as part of the BlackBerry Security Certifications team, and in this blog post I’ll provide some insights into the team that is responsible for achieving these security approvals and certifications.

The Security Certifications team is a global group with multiple presences in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. With varied personal interests, our team members are even more diverse than our geographical locations. Having such a varied team allows us to leverage our unique strengths and draw from each others varied knowledge, interactions, and experiences. This helps us to stay current in the security and information assurance industries. Talk to us about an intriguing piece of technology and we will likely be able to tell you what security certifications apply to it!

So, what exactly do we do? We facilitate communication between technology-approving organizations and the BlackBerry product teams — and of course, we work on earning new product approvals and accreditations! For us, security is a way of life and not just an item on the checklist. I look forward to describing these certifications in detail over the coming months, but here is an overview of some of what we have achieved to date (a more detailed list can be found here):

• CESG Approval – CESG Approval allows private sector company products to be used by the United Kingdom government and other organizations, when correctly configured.
• Common Criteria Evaluation Scheme – Common Criteria (ISO 15408) is a multinational security certification program that is recognized in 26 countries world wide.
• Government Approvals – Various BlackBerry products have been independently evaluated and verified for in-country specific needs by NATO, as well as the governments of New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, Austria, Turkey, and others.
• Near Field Communication (NFC) Certifications – Some of the latest BlackBerry devices are the first mobile devices to achieve UICC (SIM card) certification for both MasterCard® and VISA®. Using NFC technology, these devices are now approved to be used like credit cards that are capable of using either MasterCard PayPass® or VISA payWave® payment terminals.
• NIST FIPS 140-2 – The FIPS 140-2 is part of the Cryptographic Module Validation Program National Institute of Standards and Technology (for US government) and the Communications Security Establishment (for Canadian government).

This is just a snapshot of the wide range of work that our team performs and the certifications that have been achieved by BlackBerry solutions. By adding new approvals all the time, we continue to lead the industry in enterprise mobile security.

What approvals and certifications do you require in order to bring BlackBerry devices into your business? Share in the comments below.

[Image © Copyright Albert Bridge and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License)

It’s clear that those who use BlackBerry® smartphones and BlackBerry® PlayBook tablets like to get things done. As RIM CEO Thorsten Heins shared during the BlackBerry World™ 2012 keynote, “BlackBerry is about saving time, and it’s about success.” We’re people who like to think ahead and enjoy feeling prepared – whether it’s with the right information heading into a meeting or, as I’m discussing today, being ready for the unexpected.

Fire departments, regional police, and community programs have long proposed the idea of having an emergency plan for your family and home. In business, we have the concept of business continuity to stay cool and collected in the face of any number of unfortunate incidents. Your BlackBerry smartphone – and a ton of fantastic apps – can help accomplish these goals both at home and at work. Let’s take a look at how you can stay prepared for emergencies.

Connectivity

I once had a member of government speak to me on Twitter® about how he was able to use his BlackBerry device to coordinate emergency efforts during mass flooding. There are countless other examples of this, such as right here in Ontario when the city of Thunder Bay declared a state of emergency – BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) and social networks were used to help coordinate and help those without food, water, or shelter. The connectivity of BlackBerry smartphones helps to keep you in touch with those who matter — not just when you’re having fun, but also when things go sideways and having a connection is critical.

Plans and Checklists

Planning ahead is the real key to being prepared for emergencies. Since you carry your smartphone with you most places that you go, what better place to contain that plan for quick reference? You can work through the many guides and templates to create your own emergency plan and then store it for access via Documents To Go® or Adobe® PDF Reader, or you can leverage the many emergency-focused apps available in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront. For example:

• Federal Emergency Management Agency app
• Business Emergency Checklist
• In Case of Emergency (ICE) Emergency Medical Info and Contacts
• Emergency Information (by AppsForBB.com)
• Emergency Information (by Vimukti Technologies Pvt Ltd)

Business Continuity

Business continuity helps your organization ensure that critical functions can continue in the face of disasters, emergencies, or unexpected shifts due to uncontrollable circumstances. If your organization hasn’t yet considered implementing a plan for this, don’t delay any further. The Business Continuity Institute states in their 2012 Q2 magazine that in a survey of industrial industries, “only 53% of respondents were confident that they could recover quickly in the event of a disaster.” (2012 Acronis Disaster Recovery Index)

Mobility should be a key aspect of this type of planning, as rapid and secure communication is critical to successful execution. If you have a business continuity plan, it shouldn’t be in a binder in the bottom drawer, but accessible from wherever you are. The plan can be stored on your intranet, as local documents on your BlackBerry smartphone or BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, or can even manifest as a custom app deployed by your business.

Many business continuity plans contain emergency contacts that need to be immediately notified of the situation. Consider labeling these in your BlackBerry smartphone’s address book, or even creating a BBM group for mass communication even in the event of your mail server kicking the bucket.

Protect your infrastructure

Lastly, it’s important that your technology, and the investments that you’ve put into it, stays in secure working order. Backing up data off-site is one of many best practices for ensuring the integrity of your digital assets. BlackBerry Technical Support Services can also help if you’re an enterprise using BlackBerry Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions. This can include relationship-based support with regular visits by a technical resource.

I’ve only discussed the tip of the iceberg here in terms of how you can stay prepared for emergencies both at home and at work. What are your ideas? How does your smartphone factor into your plan to face the unexpected?

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

What is Near Field Communication?

NFC is a very short range (within a few centimeters) communications technology that allows a data connection to be created between two devices. Basically, it allows you to tap one device against another to create a connection between them to exchange data. NFC can also be used to bootstrap a Bluetooth® or Wi-Fi® connection, allowing you to continue to stay connected even when you pull your device away.

How will NFC affect business?

As Geoff discussed in the video, Near Field Communication has the capacity to change the landscape of business with things like information sharing, mobile payments or gaining access to a building. The use cases extend both internally to organizations as well as externally as part of the customer experience. Let’s look at a few of these ideas in further detail.

Sharing information at an end-user level

BlackBerry® Tag, which is available with the BlackBerry® 7.1 OS in NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones, offers a new way to share information at an individual level. Almost any type of media can be shared with a single tap to another NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphone. Consider sharing contact information in this manner at a conference, passing around a document for review on the go, or providing a customer with a PDF product brochure just by tapping their smartphone. The ability to share while mobile is being significantly enhanced with NFC and apps like BlackBerry Tag, and businesses can experience a clear benefit as a result.

The mobile payment ecosystem

The concept of a digital wallet garners much press and discussion in the market. I think we can all agree that centralizing activity on your mobile phone so that you can leave your wallet at home is an exciting concept; many of us already own credit cards that we can pay with by tapping on a point of sale terminal. But I’m intentionally referring to this as an “ecosystem”, as it’s just that: building mobile payments requires collaboration between banks, merchants, carriers, point of sale technology producers, and several other service providers.

The good news is that much work has already been done to lay the groundwork for mobile payments with BlackBerry devices. In fact, mobile payments using NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones is already being done in several parts of the world. BlackBerry smartphones were the first to be certified for mobile payments by Visa and MasterCard. And we’ve been working with Turkcell in Turkey, the ISIS group in the U.S., Rogers in Canada, and many others worldwide to make mobile payments with BlackBerry smartphones a reality.

While security may be a concern held more by organizations than end users at this point in time, once you put your money where your phone is, it becomes a concern for everyone. And given our heritage in security, we continue to work closely with our partners around the world to help alleviate many of those concerns.

Physical and logical access

You may be able to leave your security badge and parking pass at home in the near future. NFC enables physical access, such as tapping your phone to gain entry into your office building, as well as logical access, such as tapping your computer to unlock it. These use cases will bring speed and convenience, not to mention cutting the cost of producing multiple access devices, and allowing you to digitally manage these assets. To that end, RIM has been working with companies like HID Global and Iris ID Systems Inc. to allow the use of NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones with their access systems.

What does the future hold?

As these ecosystems develop and the use cases continue to expand into the daily activities of organizations and employees in a wide range of industries, it will be very exciting to see what comes next. We’re constantly working to enable application developers and many other stakeholders in NFC technology to integrate and succeed. RIM remains committed to Near Field Communication moving forward, including the upcoming BlackBerry® 10 platform.

What are your questions about NFC? How could you see NFC technology making your life at work easier and more convenient? Share in the comments below.

The annual Regulatory Compliance Conference for the American Bankers Association (ABA) took place in Orlando this past week (June 10-14, 2012), and we were pleased to attend and support the financial services community. Eric Nicolaisen, Charles Wong and myself were there exhibiting BlackBerry® solutions that address the regulatory compliance needs for mobility. The ABA was founded in 1875, and represents all banks (foreign, national, state, and local) that operate in the United States. Their primary activity is lobbying for policy and political presence in Washington, DC.

The key buzzwords at the Conference were Dodd-Frank, FINRA, and SOX, which address issues such as consumer protection & advocacy, archiving of oral & written communications, and auditing. Recent success stories around call recording and BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System were prominently featured, and invoked further discussions around BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion, BlackBerry® Balance™, and solutions to assist in facing the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend as banks are slowly allowing their employees to connect their personal devices to corporate messaging and applications.

Case studies that were showcased included Nomura (2012 Wireless Achievement Award Winner at BlackBerry World™) and Bank Am Bellevue. These EMEA-based banks had to comply with the UK’s FSA 10/17 Policy for Call Recording, and in each case, these banks achieve regulatory compliance. The case studies were relevant to all banks that operate in the UK and are engaged in activities that are regulated by FSA Policy 10/17, in addition to recent policies on archiving written & oral communications in Dodd-Frank. (Case studies are also posted at www.blackberry.com/mvs if you wish to read further on this)

BlackBerry’s presence at the conference was undoubtedly strong; many individuals were stopping us in the exhibit hall or even the elevators to share their passion for their BlackBerry devices. We were particularly excited to make attendees aware of the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet running OS 2.0. After demonstrating the features and capabilities, their first impressions were fantastic, especially for the winner of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet that was drawn for a prize. Special congratulations go out to Mary Clouthier, VP of Enterprise Compliance at Fifth Third Bank, a major bank based in the midwest. To say she was happy about winning would be an understatement – she immediately asked where she could purchase a HDMI cable and BlackBerry® Mini Keyboard.

If you’ve come out of the conference hungry for more, check out details on BlackBerry solutions for the financial services industry, read more case studies, and don’t miss the CIO’s Guide to Call Recording with BlackBerry smartphones.

What regulations does your industry need to comply with? How have mobile solutions helped enable compliance? Share in the comments below.

The good news is that there are a ton of apps to help you accomplish tasks in each of those categories. We put our heads together and rounded up our “staff picks” for the top 10 BlackBerry® smartphone apps that you can use at networking events. This list is by no means exhaustive, so head over to the gold mine that is the BlackBerry App World™ storefront and start exploring! Mention any of your favorites not on the list in the comments below.

On to the list!

Concur – Expense and Travel Management
Track your expenses and mileage while on the road

Taxi fares, lunches, hotels… It’s important to keep track of your expenses while traveling and attending events. It’s also important to accomplish this in a way that helps make it easy, keeps it organized, is rapidly accessible, and super convenient. This pretty much sums up Concur, an app built to manage not only expenses, but also mileage.

Minute Saver
Save on roaming charges by tracking your minutes

On the note of keeping a handle on your expenses, the Minute Saver app for BlackBerry smartphones will notify you once your call has reached a certain time limit, which helps you to save on roaming charges. The app options allow you to customize the notifications to meet your needs, even differentiating between incoming and outgoing calls.

Poynt
Get familiar in a new city

In the evenings, you may find yourself looking for a place to grab a bite, see a movie, find some shopping place to dive into, or get some good deals in any of those categories. I still return to Poynt as my go-to tool for finding my way in a new city. If you rented a car for your trip to a conference, Poynt also offers fuel price information near your location for the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Wikitude
Discover the world around you

This app allows you to discover your surroundings on the cutting edge of technology with augmented reality. Find events, articles, localized tweets, Wikipedia articles, and more. You can even create your own personalized virtual world, and contribute to what’s already available. This is a great way to find points of interest, BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) contacts, information about what you’re looking at, and a whole lot more. Many modern events even utilize Wikitude within the conference itself, so be sure to give it a try!

Dropbox
Keep important documents accessible

Before heading out to an event, I like to synchronize important documents that I may want to reference or share to a cloud storage account like Dropbox. This way, I have synchronized access while on the go, and I can also upload photos from my smartphone to the account. The best part? Downloading Dropbox for your BlackBerry smartphone provides you with 2GB of free storage!

Transit apps
Navigate transit routes like a pro

The above link will push you over to BlackBerry App World with the search term “Transit” already plugged in. There are transit-based apps for many major cities around the world, allowing you to get a handle on the routes and schedules for where you’re at. With one of these apps at your side, you can discover how to quickly and cheaply navigate a city, while timing it just right to help you never be late for an appointment.

Card2Contact
Convert business cards to BlackBerry smartphone contacts

This is a solution for converting business card contact information into a BlackBerry smartphone contact entry. Simply open this app, snap a picture of the business card, and the details are transcribed. Purchase credits to utilize the Manual Transcription Team that helps to verify the information. Check the BlackBerry App World download page for this app regularly; there are often great promotions available!

Evernote
Tag and bag all of the snippets and ideas that you come across

This is one of my all-time favorite apps and, in my opinion, a must-have for heading out into the world with your BlackBerry smartphone. I’m constantly finding interesting bits of information, whether it’s something that I see while browsing, or something I snap a picture of using my BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone. Evernote keeps me sane by allowing me to tag, organize, and synchronize all of this information – allowing me to keep track of it all. The applications for this app extend far into both business and personal use cases.

ItsMe! – share your contact info with NFC
A simple tap and you’re connected

The use cases for NFC technology are plentiful at networking events. With this new app, you choose a contact entry that represents your information, then launch the app, and simply tap your NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphone with another NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphone to allow an individual to accept your contact information into their address book. It’s clean, it’s simple, and it’s fast.

Tungle.me for BlackBerry
Schedule appointments across organizations, calendar systems, and time zones

Tungle.me helps you to share your calendar and send meeting invitations without the mess of phone calls, emails, and double bookings. Your Tungle.me account can synchronize with popular online calendar systems including BlackBerry, Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal, Entourage for Mac, Lotus Notes, Yahoo! and Windows Live. My favorite feature of this app is how it allows you to connect with others from different organizations even though you may not be using the same platform.

BONUS: 5 Useful BlackBerry shortcuts to use at events
More on the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog!

1. Press and hold the “Q” button on your keyboard to toggle between your current sound profile and vibrate. Great for quickly silencing your phone while attending a meeting or having a coffee with a colleague.
2. Looking for information in a specific email or from a particular contact? While in the Messages app, press the “S” key on your keyboard to open up the search dialogue.
3. Trying to move fast? When selecting a menu item after pressing the Menu key, you can simply begin typing the first letter of the menu item that you want, and quickly jump to its location.
4. When typing in a message or BBM chat, enter the word (without quotes) “mypin” or “mynumber”; they’ll automatically be swapped for what they describe!
5. Made a few more BBM friends at the conference? Organize them into groups, and then use the spacebar to navigate between them in the BBM app.

What are your favorite apps, shortcuts, or techniques to utilize mobile technology at conferences or networking events? Share yours in the comments below.