Check out the video below for a quick recap of the week and a list of links for you to dive deeper into all of the info:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Learn more about the news and announcements at BlackBerry Live 2013:

• harmon.ie Office 365 and SharePoint client launched for BlackBerry 10 smartphones
• Michael Hicks shared how governments can leverage existing investments while upgrading to BlackBerry 10 and BES 10
• We interviewed Michael K. Brown on how BlackBerry security is evolving
• Check out highlights of Government Day at BlackBerry Live 2013
• Learn more about the new BlackBerry Q5 smartphone
• Download the new BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 version 10.1
• Follow brands and communities with BBM Channels
• Enterprise Instant Messaging 3.0 launched for BlackBerry 10 smartphones
• We broadcasted LIVE from the social media studio with guests Jeff Holleran and Gregg Ostrowski
• Take a virtual tour of the BlackBerry Booth in the Showcase
• SAP brought new mobile finance apps to the BlackBerry 10 platform
• We rounded up business and productivity apps that are on the way to BlackBerry 10
• Learn how to update from BES 4, 5, or 10 to BES 10 version 10.1
• The winners of this year’s BlackBerry Achievement Awards were announced
• See how attendees reacted to all of the news in the keynote general session
• The Co-Founder and CEO of Harmon.ie shared a demo of the new SharePoint and Office 365 app for BlackBerry 10

Lastly, here’s a quick BlackBerry Live 2013 overview video from Donny over on the Inside BlackBerry Blog:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

We hope that you had as much fun as we did, and we can’t wait to connect with you to discuss all of these news and announcements on LinkedIn, Twitter, Spiceworks, and of course the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog. What was the highlight of your time at BlackBerry Live 2013, or of the news and announcements from the conference? Share in the comments below.

This year’s BlackBerry Live will give you our most mobile conference experience yet. We have some very exciting news: conference attendees will receive a BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, courtesy of Brightstar, our premier mobile sponsor!

Your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone will be a valuable tool throughout BlackBerry Live. The Mobile Conference Guide application has been designed to leverage features unique to BlackBerry 10, making it easy for you to:

• Build and edit your conference schedule in the Session Catalog while on the go
• Scan into breakout sessions using NFC functionality
• Interact with sponsors
• Complete conference surveys
• Much more

Quantities are limited, so register for BlackBerry Live today! To learn more about Brightstar, head over to www.brightstarcorp.com.

We’re at Infosecurity Europe 2013 this week, demonstrating exactly how we can bring harmony to your BYOD or corporate owned device strategy. Beyond these discussions, we’ve also got a very special guest in town: the BlackBerry Q10!

Infosecurity is Europe’s No. 1 Information Security Event and is being held at London’s Earl Court Exhibition Centre from Tuesday until Thursday evening this week. As well as the super exciting previews of the first BlackBerry 10 device with a physical keyboard, the BlackBerry Q10, you’ll be able to get hands on with the BlackBerry Z10! Our technical specialists will be on hand to discuss anything from Security, Enterprise Compliance, App Development or Government at Stand E30.

We’ll also be running an in-depth session on the first day of the event focused on Malware and Mobile Platforms. Mike K. Brown, our VP of Security Product Management and Research, will be speaking about “Protecting the User and Enabling Developers” at the Business Strategy Theatre from 4pm.

Registration is free on-site, so feel free to come by and join us at Infosecurity Europe! Attendees will hear about our mobile computing strategy and how we’re putting security at the core of our R&D. Did I mention that you’ll also have the chance to win a BlackBerry Q10 smartphone? There’s one up for grabs on each day of the event – find us at stand E30 for more information.

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Infosecurity Europe conference? Share in the comments below.

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are countless reasons for you to attend BlackBerry Live, and this year more than ever! But I know that many of you are looking to have your company send you as a representative, and that this takes a business case and solid reasoning. We’re here to help. Read on for tips on how to convince your boss to let you experience BlackBerry Live 2013!

1. The mobile and MDM landscape is more complex than ever. Learn about industry trends and how you can solve challenges – and what the benefits are of a mobile strategy.

Mobility can be leveraged by a business to increase productivity, automate processes, drive down risks and inaccuracies, increase efficiency by allowing employees to be connected, and open up the world of enterprise apps. Coming back with ideas, tools, and resources to increase the return on investment that your company has made in mobility, and to suggest new ideas, makes the trip well worth it. See what an attendee of last year’s conference had to say:

“Technology is what drives our business, we have a passion for it and BlackBerry World [BlackBerry Live] gives us a glimpse into that future. For us it’s a platform to build upon, to engage with like-minded people and test theories and ideas which in turn help us to shape our business strategy.”

2. Managing multiple platforms, smartphones, and tablets doesn’t need to be costly or insecure. Learn more about how to enable your IT department to confidently support what’s being brought into work.

Sure, “BYOD” is a buzzword being thrown around left and right. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a real challenge that businesses are facing – or an opportunity, depending on how you look at it. BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 provides secure and functional management of a wide range of mobile devices, and all from a single unified console. Heading to BlackBerry Live to get hands on with the solutions and hear from BlackBerry experts helps you to come back with insightful answers to solve your BYOD challenges, or to take advantage of the BYOD trend to enable your business’s productivity.

3. The sessions rock. Seriously. Learn more about solutions for your particular industry, find partnership opportunities, and get a glimpse into the future of mobile computing.

Every business wants to stay ahead of the curve as well as be both scalable and ready for challenges that are coming around the corner as we continue into 2013 and beyond. The BlackBerry Live sessions hold serious in-depth value and should be a major part of your proposal. Find opportunities to grow your business and see where mobility and your industry are headed. Check out the session tracks to call out specific areas that are valuable to your business or industry. The session catalog will be posted in detail shortly, and will be updated as we approach May 2013.

4. Need proof points? Here are some quotes and survey results from past attendees.

We’re constantly measuring and tweaking the BlackBerry Live conference, content, run-of-show, and so much more – all towards the goal of providing the most relevant and valuable experience possible for attendees. Here’s what we heard from last year’s conference:

“A great forum to meet and discuss [with] enterprise mobility professionals”

“Having access to senior and also technical people from RIM [BlackBerry] is a major reason I come to this event. No other platform does this as well.”

“BlackBerry World [BlackBerry Live] keeps us up to date and allows us to keep our customers informed.”

“I can use this event to better build my organization’s strategy.”

To add to the outstanding feedback that we received, over 91% of respondents noted that the session catalog covered topics that they wanted to hear about. The majority of attendees also stated that the conference increased their knowledge of BlackBerry products and services, rated the overall experience as “excellent”, and would attend again as well as recommend the conference to a colleague.

5. There’s a ton of buzz around BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. Find out what it’s all about, get hands-on experience, and see where BlackBerry is headed.

BlackBerry 10 is re-invented, re-engineered, and launching in market after market around the world. The feedback has been fantastic and we’re already seeing businesses leverage this new mobile computing platform in amazing ways. Find out what all of the buzz is about, get hands-on experience with the smartphones and tools, and learn about our vision for the future of mobile computing and enterprise mobility.

6. We’ve built a budget planner for you

On the BlackBerry Live web site you’ll find a budget planning tool that walks through your registration, hotel, training, airfare, transportation, and packages to help give you a clear look at your overall costs. Use this to bring specifics to your internal conversations as the investment that you’ll be making. The tool even creates a PDF that you can attach to an email – makes you look pretty good if you ask me!

7. And finally, here’s a sample email to start you off!

Hi (boss),

In looking for ways to help fine tune our mobile strategy, I’ve identified an opportunity to attend BlackBerry Live 2013 – the largest BlackBerry enterprise mobility conference of the year. The session tracks look relevant to our work and industry, there may be partnership opportunities, and it’s a chance to get ahead to look at where we’re headed in the future when it comes to enterprise mobility management. Here are a few ways that I think we’d see a return on the investment:

• We’ll get a head start on industry trends when it comes to mobility, and a look at the tools that can help us stay sharp, secure, and productive
• By networking, discussing, and meeting with my peers, I can gain insights into the challenges that others are facing and how they’re tackling them in their organizations
• We can better leverage our existing investments in BlackBerry solutions and look to identify new ways to increase productivity
• New partnership opportunities can help us to grow the business and identify efficiencies with our vendors

If we register before March 22nd, we’ll save 25% of the cost. Additional details can be found here. I’m more than happy to expand on the benefits or discuss further.

Get all of the details at www.blackberrylive.com. What are your tips to help others convince their boss to send them to BlackBerry Live 2013? What was the most valuable benefit of last year’s conference? Share in the comments below!

So far 2013 has been one serious year. We’ve launched BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, renamed our company from RIM to BlackBerry, launched the BlackBerry 10 platform, held BlackBerry Jam Europe 2013, and kicked off the BlackBerry Experience Forum events. Well, guess what? We’re not done yet!

There’s a fire and a passion here at BlackBerry that’s palpable. We’re on our feet and firing on all cylinders as we provide demonstrations of our powerful new mobile computing platform, present enterprise mobility management for the future of business, and begin to launch the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone in market after market around the world.

What has me excited at this point is that we’re well into planning for this year’s BlackBerry Live conference, and there’s no question that it’s going to be one that you won’t want to miss. Here’s just a taste of what we have in store:

BlackBerry Live is our largest conference of the year where BlackBerry community members like you – users, partners, business leaders, IT professionals, enterprise developers, and more – come together to experience the latest BlackBerry innovations. It will be a great opportunity to network with industry experts, to discuss mobile strategy, and, of course, to get some hands-on time with the new BlackBerry 10 devices.

We’ll be providing updates on the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog as we approach BlackBerry Live in May. Sneak peeks of sessions, speaker spotlights, how to convince your boss to send you, and a few more tidbits are on the way to keep the energy high as we approach one of our top events of the year.

What are you most looking forward to at BlackBerry Live 2013? Share in the comments below.

The time has come! The BlackBerry team is hitting the road to bring the power of BlackBerry 10 to cities across the globe. Many of our Canadian and American BlackBerry Experience Forum event locations are already at full capacity – a true testament to the enthusiasm surrounding the recent launch of the BlackBerry 10 platform. If you haven’t yet registered, what are you waiting for?

From Toronto to New York and Paris to Dubai, this travelling roadshow is the ideal opportunity to get up close and personal with the teams behind BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. Visit the BlackBerry Experience Forum website to view location availability and check out the registration details.

Why attend the BlackBerry Experience Forum?

Experience the power of BlackBerry 10 for yourself through hands-on demonstrations with the latest BlackBerry 10 devices and partner solutions. See the comprehensive BlackBerry business and productivity app portfolio, leading app management framework and discuss the specifics of your unique mobility needs with our team of experts. Aimed to connect with IT decision-makers, enterprise leaders, and enterprise developers – the BlackBerry Experience Forum has been created with our BlackBerry enterprise customers in mind. In addition to a keynote address hosted by the senior BlackBerry leadership team, we also have a series of breakout sessions that will dive into the details surrounding: device management, security, applications, unified communications and collaboration capabilities.

BlackBerry works to balance employee and corporate needs to keep your business moving. Join us at the BlackBerry Experience Forum and discover how.

Join the conversation about the BlackBerry Experience Forum on Twitter by using the hashtag #BEF13.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

As you might imagine, RIM employees are eager to participate in this world-class customer event. All of us have some reason to go – everything from “I want to follow up in person with customers who downloaded BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0” to “I’m presenting to a room of hundreds of people on how to use BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion to deploy an internal application strategy.” So, right around now, there’s an annual “who’s on the list” discussion.

Thankfully, I’ve made the cut once again, and I couldn’t be more thrilled! I’ll be part of the team hosting our annual BlackBerry World tweetup (hashtag: #BBTweetUp) and staffing the ever-popular Social Media Desk in the Solutions Showcase area. The team will be capturing executive announcements, partner developments and customer excitement throughout the event to share with the world on our various social channels.

Although I may or may not have had to provide the event team with a bribe of baked goods in order to attend BlackBerry World, your participation is much more straightforward. Just visit blackberryworld.com/registration – and if you’re a returning alumni or coming with a team, be sure to check out the alumni discount and “3 for 2” group package.

Beyond the simplicity of registration, BlackBerry World offers highly relevant educational content. Last year 96% of attendees surveyed said attending BlackBerry World was important to their organization, and 99% of attendees would recommend BlackBerry World to a colleague. Clearly participants find the content of great value.

This year, we are so excited to share our insights on the mobile industry and update you on the latest technology offerings from BlackBerry that we’re hosting a special program for our partners and customers in the public sector – Government Day at BlackBerry World. Scott Totzke, the Senior Vice President of our BlackBerry Security Group (and a driving force behind Government Day at BlackBerry World) wanted to extend his personal invitation to you. Have a look at his video message:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

So whether you’re one of the thousands of enterprise and small business customers attending BlackBerry world, or an IT leader from a government or public sector agency, BlackBerry World will have something for everyone. We look forward to seeing you in Orlando next week!