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+.

Morgan Parker of RIM Product Marketing and Jon Wong, Sr. Product Manager, walked us through a scenario of checking sales data using SAP® BusinessObjects Dashboards on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet mounted on the dash of the Porsche, a well as leveraging the Citrix® Receiver to access a virtual Microsoft® Windows desktop. Check out the video below for the full scoop!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

What BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet apps would you use in a car like this? Share your ideas in the comments below.

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.

In case you missed them when they were first published, check out our top 5 staff-picked blog posts from 2011 below:

• The Launch of Microsoft® Office® 365: A Cloud-based Solution for BlackBerry
• The Top Five Features of BlackBerry® 7 for Business Users
• The Introduction of BlackBerry® Mobile Conferencing
• BlackBerry® PlayBook™ for Business (Video)
• The Citrix® Receiver (Beta) for BlackBerry PlayBook

We were delighted to see these five posts in particular take off with views, conversation, and sharing over social media. Beyond individual blog posts, don’t forget to check out a few of the ongoing series that we also launched including Paul’s Challenge: BlackBerry PlayBook Edition (introduction, setting up a mobile office, presenting, and collaboration) as well as Marcy’s SMB Cloud Series on cloud storage, the mobile web, and accounting.

Don’t forget that we also launched a new BlackBerry for Business channel on SlideShare™, which has been a fantastic way to share slide decks and PDF’s on a wide variety of topics. Here are a few examples of popular presentations:

• Top 5 Reasons to Upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0
• Introducing New BlackBerry® 7 OS Smartphones
• The BlackBerry for Business Story

If I’m mentioning SlideShare here, then I can’t forget to bring in the rest of the family: @BlackBerry4Biz on Twitter®, and our BlackBerry for Business discussion group on LinkedIn®.

At this point, we’ll be slowly shutting down a few aspects of the Inside BlackBerry for Business social media operation and leaving the office to spend some time with our families and loved ones over the holidays. We hope that you have a fantastic few weeks and a well-deserved break. We can already feel the energy and excitement building up for a huge year in 2012 – join us in kicking it off here on the Biz Blog in January.

Happy Holidays from the Research In Motion® (RIM®) Business Social Media team!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

This week at BlackBerry® DevCon Americas 2011 I had the chance to meet with Chris Fleck, VP of Mobile Solutions for Citrix, to chat about the Citrix® Receiver™ for BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. Chris, who spoke during the general session keynote, provided insights on how businesses are using the Citrix Receiver, the philosophy behind its development, and what the future holds in terms of engaging in mobile business on a tablet platform.

For a detailed overview of key features, watch this Citrix Receiver for BlackBerry PlayBook Demo (Tech Preview) on SlideShare

Does your business host app or desktop environments? Does it use an internal solution, or the cloud? Share in the comments!

Good news for business: The Citrix® Receiver for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet (Citrix Receiver) is now available for beta testing. Download it today from the Test Center on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

The Citrix Receiver is enterprise virtualization software that allows users to access virtual desktops (such as Citrix® XenDesktop) on servers running Microsoft® Windows, plus enterprise applications hosted within your organization to allow standalone app virtualization. With the Citrix Receiver, users can open: (1) any Windows software that’s installed on the server you’re accessing; (2) Software as a Service (SaaS), or (3) a web app.( I’m personally looking forward to using the Microsoft® Office® suite and Microsoft® Outlook® via the Citrix Receiver, as well as the Adobe® Creative Suite® of products.) Check out more important features below:

1. Multitasking

The Citrix Receiver for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet provides the functionality to multitask between virtualized applications and desktops, as well as between multiple desktops themselves – all from within the app. From a user perspective, this is similar to the multi-tab browsing experience on the BlackBerry PlayBook browser. Users will be able to work like they do on a desktop or laptop with multiple applications running simultaneously, but do so remotely from the BlackBerry tablet.

2. Single “Sign On” Access

When accessing Windows, web and SaaS apps, users won’t need to login multiple times to gain access. Instead, there’s a single “sign on” access point during the launch of the app that provides full access to virtual apps and desktops.

3. IT-Controlled Built In Enterprise App Hosting

When implemented, the IT department can host an app server (such as Citrix® XenApp) and allow end users to select apps to use via the Citrix Receiver from this server; much like they would select apps from the BlackBerry App World. This self-service access to enterprise apps gives users even more flexibility when working with the Citrix Receiver.

4. Peripheral Integration in High Definition

Does your staff often use a “hoteling” station or home office? If so, it’s simple to pair a PlayBook with a Bluetooth® keyboard and mouse and connect an HD monitor via HDMI cable, and they’ll have full access to your remote desktop and apps. When it’s time to leave, the peripherals stay behind while the PlayBook slips into a coat pocket or purse. This gives your mobile workforce improved portability, boot-up time, and battery life compared with a laptop-based solution – with minimal compromise on functionality.

Availability

The beta release of the Citrix Receiver is available for download now on the BlackBerry App World Test Center. For more information, check out the Citrix Blog post on the new Receiver.

We’d love to hear how your business will use the Citrix Receiver for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Drop us a comment below.