Take a look below to find out about what we saw, and what is soon to be released on BlackBerry 10.

harmon.ie BlackBerry 10 Edition

harmon.ie for BlackBerry 10 enables secure mobile collaboration for BlackBerry 10 business users. This allows users to use full-featured SharePoint on-premise and Office 365 Apps across desktop and mobile. By providing fully functional, secure connectivity and offline document access, you can keep work moving from your BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

Gwava’s Retain™ for BlackBerry Unified Archiving

At BlackBerry Live this week, Gwava has announced the availability of its Retain Unified Archiving solution for BlackBerry 10 smartphones. Gwava’s Retain for BlackBerry provides unified message archiving, eDiscovery, and publishing for organizations looking for a mobile archiving solution for organizational or regulatory compliance.

This solution enables organizations to archive email and social messaging into one unified location. All messages are securely stored in a single database and can be easily accessed through the Retain web access archive viewer.

Skype

We’re happy to announce that Skype is available for the newly launched BlackBerry Q10 as well as BlackBerry Z10 smartphones. Skype is an excellent tool to use both for business communication as well as to stay in touch with family and friends.

While you’re on the go with your BlackBerry smartphone and the Skype app, you’ll enjoy the ability to have:

• Free face to face video and voice calls
• Instant messages
• low cost voice calls and text messages to landlines and mobiles over WiFi® or wireless network connections.

BoxTone Mobile Service Management

This week at BlackBerry Live BoxTone announced support for BlackBerry 10. BoxTone’s Mobile Service Management platform enables organizations to proactively monitor and support their end-to-end mobile environment. BoxTone delivers the control IT needs, supportability users demand and reliability the business requires for wide-scale, mission-critical mobile deployments.

The below applications were shown around BlackBerry Live, but have yet to be officially released. Keep your eye on BlackBerry World in the near future to get your hands on these quality apps.

HP ePrint

This week HP was showing off the Hp ePrint app for BlackBerry 10, giving you the ability to wirelessly print from your BlackBerry smartphone to any connected ePrint enabled printer. These print stations can be at your home, in the office or “on-the-go”. There are now 30,000 HP Public Print Locations at partners like FedEx Office, The UPS Store in addition to airports and hotels. This lets you easily print your digital content to your HP Printer via the Cloud or secure business network. This app will be available in BlackBerry World very shortly!

Reuters Eikon

Thomson Reuters Eikon is designed to provide a powerful and intuitive next-generation solution for you to consume real-time and historical data, connect with the financial markets community and execute financial markets transactions. In summer 2013 Thomson Reuters Eikon will be delivered on BlackBerry 10 and fully integrated into the core OS features for a smooth user experience. You will be able to set custom alerts for market data and automatically sync news with your desktop. There are plans for a new dashboard for BlackBerry that will make finding the news and quotes you’re looking for easier than ever.

We are truly excited about all of the releases and announcements at BlackBerry Live this week, and continue to work with partners to bring even more applications and functionality to the BlackBerry smartphones. These top-notch partner apps give you, the business user even more tools to stay productive throughout the day, so you can keep business moving while you are.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Apps to get you started

Cisco WebEx Meetings

With the Cisco WebEx app on BlackBerry 10 you’re able to schedule and join Cisco WebEx meetings, as well as invite and view attendees, chat, screen share, and more. Cisco WebEx has become a key business and collaboration tool, and on BlackBerry 10 it’s one of the key apps helping you connect with colleagues to get more done while on the go.

Box

Box has become known as one of the predominant cloud file storage and collaboration providers. On BlackBerry 10 smartphones Box is integrated into the file system on the device, making it simple for you to access and share your content stored in Box. It’s so easy to access Box files and folders on your BlackBerry 10 smartphone that it feels like they’re stored right there on your device, giving you the ability to quickly access and share important content anywhere you work.

Citrix Podio

Citrix Podio on BlackBerry 10 smartphones is built on HTML5, providing a powerful work collaboration platform that enables you to work the way you want to, where you want to, and using tools that perfectly fit your team’s projects and workflows.

Citrix Podio on Blackberry 10 brings collaboration and business processes together through workspaces and apps that are powerful, collaborative, and social alternatives to spreadsheets, documents and email. You can also develop your own custom apps with easy building blocks (no tech skills required) for managing projects. Over 200,000 organizations around the world already use Podio and we’re excited to bring the power of Podio to the BlackBerry community. Learn more at blog.podio.com

Ricoh HotSpot Printing Application

Ricoh’s print app on BlackBerry 10 smartphones enables you to print documents and presentations on HotSpot enabled printers with the simple click of a button, making it more convenient to print hard copies right from your BlackBerry 10 device. The HotSpot service is available in many public venues such as airport club lounges and hotels. It may also be hosted on a private cloud service for enterprise customers, enabling mobile printing throughout the corporate network.

SalesNOW CRM for BlackBerry 10

SalesNOW on BlackBerry 10 enables you to manage all of your sales data with full access to your critical service and customer information when and where you need it. SalesNOW is also integrated with core BlackBerry 10 features such as email, contacts, phone, and maps functionality, and also automatically synchronizes with the SalesNOW server to give you access to the latest data. This lets you keep up to date with your accounts, and also update them while you’re out of the office, as well as making it easier for you to connect with key contacts.

BMC – BMC Mobility for Incident Management, and BMC Approvals applications

BMC’s applications on BlackBerry 10 smartphones enable you to interact with key business systems – Incident Management as well as Approvals systems while on the go. On BMC Mobility for ITSM Incidents you are able to view incident detals, and interact with incident management tickets to stay up to date, as well as provide updates to incident management items. With BMC Mobility for Approvals, you are able to view and update approval items while away from your desk. Both apps wirelessly synch with the back-end BMC systems to keep information up to date. This enables you to improve productivity by not having to return to your workstation to update trouble tickets, or check the status of approvals.

There you have it; go forth and explore business apps! Be sure to come back here and share your favorites in the comments below.

When I’ve got questions, challenges, or thoughts about security, I’m lucky to be just a phone call away from Michael K. Brown, the VP of Security Product Management & Research at Research In Motion (RIM). Earlier this month, as we hopped around the globe hosting the BlackBerry® 10 Jam World Tour – Enterprise Edition events, a few questions came up about mobile applications for enterprise and concerns around security – so sure enough, I gave Mike a ring. Check out our chat below:

Hi Michael, thanks for joining me today! In your opinion, to what degree should security be a concern when developers work on creating business apps?

Security is key because it actually enables you to be confident in working with corporate data. When you know that you can rely upon the way data is sent to and from the mobile device and how the data is stored on it, you can let the application access more, process more, and be more powerful in its benefits for a business. So if you choose a platform that is taking care of many of the base security threats, then you’re free to build an even more powerful application.

Will BlackBerry® continue to lead in the area of mobile data security with the upcoming BlackBerry® 10 platform?

From the very beginning, security has been a pillar of how we design and build our enterprise solution, from the handhelds, to the operating system, to the applications. Over the past decade, this has evolved – from our first Mobile Device Management (MDM) controls to let administrators manage the new thing called “mobile”, to more advanced technologies like process separation, stack cookies, and ASLR. We’re very excited to keep pushing the envelope with BlackBerry 10 and do even more! BlackBerry® Balance™ technology is a great example of that continued emphasis on security, and creating a great user experience along with it.

How is the BlackBerry platform unique in helping enterprise developers create secure business applications?

We approach security as key aspect of the entire platform. This end-to-end view makes creating secure business applications that much easier. With BlackBerry transport encryption and MDS-CS, we give the developer an efficient, always-on, encrypted connection to the application back end in the enterprise. With data at rest encryption and strong cryptographic APIs, we give the developer native methods to protect data stored locally on the device. With the upcoming BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10 and BlackBerry App World™ for Work, developers know that the administrator can easily push an application to all appropriate users. In our developer documentation, we give developers tips on how to write secure code within the Native SDK. And with our emphasis on Security Certifications, the developer knows that they can focus on selling the virtues of their app to the customer, and not have to worry about convincing the customer on the security of the platform.

Do you see BYOD as a threat to the security of enterprise data? How can this be handled?

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) provides a great opportunity for an enterprise in that it helps push the benefits of mobility to its user base. The challenge is in enabling employee choice without compromising the security of corporate data and driving up support costs through complexity of administration. Through BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion and the upcoming BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, administrators can manage the complexity of the entire mobile deployment – BlackBerry smartphones, BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets, iOS®, and Android™ – through a single console. And with BlackBerry Balance technology, they can provide BlackBerry device users with a best of both worlds in a BYOD solution – strong separation of personal and corporate data but a unified experience for the employee on a single device.

In your involvement with security research, can you highlight any interesting and relevant trends that you’re seeing in terms of security and enterprise apps?

The joy of focusing on the field of security is that it is constantly changing and evolving. We have the merging of traditional desktop computer threats along with the new threats from the more uniquely mobile arena, such as location-based services and cellular radios. An interesting trend right now is around NFC usage. Most often NFC is considered as a credit or debit card replacement, but where it is also coming up is in Physical Access Control – for example, the work we have been doing with HID. Using my BlackBerry smartphone to open a door is hugely powerful, especially since that means you can remotely manage my access card!

Thanks again for the insights, Mike!

Do you have questions about security and business apps? Share in the comments below.

When IT departments want to solve business issues, they often evaluate all of the products available and find what solutions fit best for the particular problem that they are solving. With the introduction and availability of mobile applications to the general business community, the idea of evaluating the right tools at an in-depth level to solve problems often becomes a forgotten art. Unfortunately a lot of time gets wasted trying to use a hammer as a screwdriver with apps that appear functional, but don’t integrate with your infrastructure or lack on security and connectivity.

The BlackBerry® Enterprise solution contains tools geared toward the enterprise customer when it comes to enterprise application solutions, starting with straightforward connectivity behind the firewall. But it doesn’t stop there. Having the ability to push data to a mobile device offers up many opportunities for solving real business problems.

Take, for example, the idea that executives commonly need to be kept up to date on sales performance, inventory, or business intelligence. With the BlackBerry solution, it is very easy to push that out to your executives via a browser channel or a BlackBerry® WebWorks™ application. For example, you can build in notifications and an icon that shows when that new information is available for them, and once they click on the icon, it can change to show that it’s already been read until a new push is received. All of this can be done using BlackBerry developer tools that are readily available. As an added bonus, the information can be made available offline, such as when busy executives are flying. After all is said and done, you’ve got a fantastic example of a functional enterprise app without the hassle of creating a VPN connection and attempting to connect with company servers behind the firewall. Problem solved!

Tip: Check out sample code that allows you to push company data to devices.

Now let’s take that a step further and say you have a field service technician who needs to be able to respond in conformity with a specific Service Level Agreement (SLA). The BlackBerry push ability allows you to build in a confirmation that the technician received the notification, as well as acknowledgement back from the technician that the work order has been accepted. In this scenario you’re working towards a higher level of response for the level of service that your customers expect and demand. Again, the problem solved and response time, accuracy, and customer satisfaction can be improved.

We’ve designed all levels of the BlackBerry solution to help solve challenges like the examples mentioned above. The back end servers and management tools, the devices themselves, and the developer resources all come together to provide a straightforward opportunity to design and deploy enterprise apps.

What problems have you solved with BlackBerry enterprise apps? Share in the comments below.

One of my favorite parts of this year’s conference was the showcasing of upcoming apps as we approach the launch of BlackBerry 10. Let’s take a look at a few of the apps that are on their way:

Cisco WebEx Meetings

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Cisco is developing an application for BlackBerry 10 that will extend the famous Cisco WebEx collaboration technology to the platform, allowing you to collaborate and share content with colleagues. When connecting a BlackBerry 10 device to a monitor or projector via micro-HDMI output, this becomes fantastic technology for powering a collaborative mobile office.

Box

Cloud storage and enterprise collaboration are integrated right out of the box with BlackBerry 10. You’ll have the ability to share photos, documents, and media right up to your Box account from within the platform. Additionally, you can browse and manage your Box folder from within the File Manager application.

SAP Applications

The ability to access and interact with the latest data available is key when making important business decisions. SAP has been busy prototyping these applications, integrating with existing SAP systems in order to mobilize the workforce with the latest information. With the use of the latest development approaches, these work seamlessly on the BlackBerry 10 platform, and also on the BlackBerry PlayBook as well as BlackBerry smartphones. Check out the live demonstration of SAP applications on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet from one of the BlackBerry Jam events this past year.

Splashtop

Desktop virtualization has always been a favorite of mine, and Splashtop® does it in a way that works great, and is very easy to set up and use. They have been giving a peek of the app running on the Dev Alpha device using the BlackBerry 10 OS, and it looks great. With the power and connectivity of the BlackBerry 10 phones, Splashtop gives you your full desktop computer in your pocket. Check out our interview with the Splashtop team to learn more!

There are many more app announcements that have been made, and that will be coming over the next few months. Stay tuned here on the BlackBerry for Business blog to catch all of the latest!

What apps are you most excited about so far? Share in the comments below.

Note: As this list was pulled from three years of app downloads, not all are compatible with every model of BlackBerry® smartphone. Click through the links to view compatible devices in the BlackBerry App World storefront.

Business Card Reader

Trading business cards at a conference or networking event? Where do they end up? With Business Card Reader for BlackBerry smartphones, they’ll end up right in your contacts. This app utilizes ABBYY text recognition technology and your smartphone’s auto-focus camera to interpret the text and load it into your address book.

CamCard

CamCard similarly captures business card information, and stores it within the app inside a virtual business card library, which is fully searchable and sports a great interface that also retains the original image of the card for identification.

Splashtop Remote Desktop HD

Head out on the road and retain full access to your PC or Mac desktop via Splashtop Remote Desktop HD for BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets. Notably, this remote desktop app supports the streaming of video and audio from your PC or Mac, as well as full application and file access.

e-Mobile Today Professional for BlackBerry

Take control into your own hands with this app for BlackBerry smartphones that allows you to craft a personalized dashboard filled with shortcuts and useful information. View appointments tasks, contacts, application shortcuts, and more – all with customizable views.

Remote Desktop for BlackBerry PlayBook

Another fantastic remote desktop app for BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, Remote Desktop allows you to access your Windows-based PC from across the Internet without sacrificing functionality. There is no need to install third-party software or server applications, as this app utilizes functionality built into recent versions of Microsoft® Windows™ operating systems.

BuzzOff – Best call blocker. Block unwanted calls and do not allow caller to leave a voicemail

This app allows you to control how your phone handles calls from unknown or private numbers, as well as from 1-800 numbers. You can also set up blocking settings straight from the call log, and set up advanced settings such as time delays for hanging up or blocking a call. Check the log file for a list of successfully blocked calls.

Remote Print

Print documents straight from your BlackBerry smartphone via a lightweight application available for installation on your desktop PC. The desktop application acts as a print server, while the app on your BlackBerry smartphone allows you to print documents from the file browser, email messages, and more. The connection is made over Wi-Fi®, and a BlackBerry Enterprise Server connection is supported allowing you to print to office printers.

Wi-Fi File Transfer

This app allows you to transfer files between your Mac or PC and your BlackBerry smartphone via fast Wi-Fi connection. Using a browser on your PC or Mac, you’ll have the ability to access the file system on your smartphone (including the SD card) and transfer media, documents, or other files. Best of all, the system utilizes a Wi-Fi connection, which means fast speeds and no data charges.

Contacts Cleaner

For those who like to stay organized, there’s nothing worse than a messy address book. Contacts Cleaner fixes this issue automatically, allowing you to scrub your address book for duplicate contacts, reducing clutter and automatically merging contacts to provide a complete picture.

Auto Lock

Auto Lock automatically blocks keyboard input when your backlight brightness times out. This prevents you from accidentally launching an application or sending out a pocket call, and can ultimately help preserve battery life by preventing such situations. You can customize the Auto Lock functionality to set a specific timeout, and to allow certain types of apps to remain usable as exceptions. A “Slide to unlock” style interface appears when input is blocked by the app.

There we have it! If you haven’t had a chance to check out one or more of these apps, head over to BlackBerry App World now to load them onto your BlackBerry smartphone or BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. I’m sure that you have more ideas than what I’ve shared here – get down to that comment box and enlighten us!

We’re very excited to officially launch BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0, available as a software update to all existing and new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet users. The enhanced OS was made available in beta to BlackBerry developers at BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011, and we’ve since provided details on how the new features – such as the integrated email and PIM apps – allow you to communicate more effectively, integrate socially, connect to your BlackBerry® smartphone with incredible new functionality, and help to supercharge your productivity. Demonstrations at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show were met with as much excitement from the BlackBerry community as our own. Now, the wait is finally over. So, what does this mean for business users, decision-makers, IT professionals, and CIO’s?

Telling the whole story

You’ve likely seen your share of sneak peeks, specific feature demonstrations, screenshots, and video highlights – but how do all of these aspects tie together into a unified platform that works for your business? The answer: by standing on core functional values of productivity, collaboration, communication and security, as well as introducing brand new features to the market in a device that is designed to perform.

Saving costs, but increasing productivity and performance in your organization

Tablets entered the work space with excitement, but also with caution and a healthy dose of skepticism. Were these devices shiny new toys, outside of feasibility for those with a concern for the bottom line? But as we’ve seen over the past year and beyond, tablets represent a new form-factor within the ecosystem of corporate hardware provisioning and network assets. They’ve found their place in field services, sales groups who travel often, administrative work, and countless other industries and roles. I’ll back myself up here by referencing the BlackBerry Customer Success web site, which showcases the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in action for businesses like McCain Foods Limited, Edge Imaging, Sun Life Financial Inc., and more.

With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet has reached a level of functionality that can allow it to integrate more deeply within both enterprise and SMB environments. In fact, it’s no secret that the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet was designed to meet these needs and thrive as a tool that increases productivity and collaboration, integrates within your IT infrastructure, and provides rich media experiences.

Use cases from experience

I’m a blogger who is most passionate about the topics that I’m familiar with and products that I use on a regular basis. And, being a RIM employee I get to play with unreleased software, so let me share a few ways that BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 has improved my own daily work:

1. Workflow comes with me when I leave my desk

The options are vast, but I personally use a combination of Documents To Go®, which allows me to create/open/edit Microsoft® documents using my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, and Print To Go, which I use to instantly and securely to shoot documents from my PC to my tablet. With these powerful tools, I’m able to not only read and review documents that are sent my way, but also to make changes, apply comments, and even finalize them completely – all using my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

2. A powerhouse in the boardroom

Not me – my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Three examples here: taking notes, referencing documents, and presenting. If I’m tasked with recording the events and inclinations of a particular meeting, I can use either the native email, Microsoft® Word® via Documents To Go, or third-party apps. I also like to use my BlackBerry smartphone keyboard to type on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet using the new remote control capabilities in BlackBerry® Bridge™. For referencing documents, I haven’t found one yet that won’t pop open and allow for smooth interaction. When I’m presenting, all I need is my HDMI cable and BlackBerry Bridge to control my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet using my BlackBerry smartphone. It lets me navigate through Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentations. The icing on the cake is that the 7-inch form factor of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet allows me to travel light, while still expanding my functionality rather than limiting it.

3. Airports have become fun

Okay, maybe that’s taking it a little far…but I can say that there are two functional aspects of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 that have made the travel waiting a breeze. First, organizing and referencing my travel documents has never been easier. I always receive 3-5 confirmation documents leading up to a trip, and believe it or not, finding time to print these off physically and then remembering to bring them with me is a pain (does that make me busy or lazy?). Using the Print To Go app, where I’ve already sent all of these confirmations with a quick “File > Print” from my PC as they came in, I simply walk up to a check-in kiosk, reference the flight number, and I’m off – same goes for the hotel. Secondly, the games on BlackBerry PlayBook tablet are fantastic. Waiting at the gate no longer entails watch-checking and foot tapping. Instead, I’m completely engrossed in some of the incredible games, like Cut the Rope, Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, and others. I think I scared the kid next to me with Dead Space from Electronic Arts.

These are just a few examples; I’m constantly finding areas in my work and personal life where my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet running BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 allows for additional tasks, or replaces more time-consuming methods. A few of the features of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 include:

• Built-in email, calendar, and contacts; all integrated with social media
• Documents To Go and Print To Go
• BlackBerry App World™
• BlackBerry Video Store (initially be available in the United States – support for other countries is expected to be added later this year)
• Updates to BlackBerry Bridge app
• BlackBerry® Balance technology
• Enhancements to Video Chat

To learn more about the free software update for your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, head over to www.blackberry.com/playbook. I’d love to get your reactions once you’ve had a chance to upgrade – share in the comments below!