BlackBerry PlayBook first tablet certified for government use in Australia

The BlackBerry PlayBook was the first tablet to earn FIPS 140-2 certification in the US, then Russia started looking into using the tablet for its government officials. Now the PlayBook has been approved by the Defense Signals Directorate (DSD) of the Australian Government for use in government agencies, when using the BlackBerry Bridge application and connected to an approved BlackBerry smartphone.

“RIM continues to set the benchmark for government security and now with DSD approval the BlackBerry PlayBook is the first tablet to be certified for deployment in Australian government departments. This again demonstrates our leadership in the government sector and our commitment and investment in secure mobile technology,” said Scott Deacon, Manager Security Certifications, Asia Pacific BlackBerry Security, RIM.

The Australian government has strict security standards, and the PlayBook is the first tablet they have certified to secure information with a classification of restricted or protected, which represents the majority of the government’s day-to-day operational communications.

Source: cfoworld

via: cb

BIS 4.1 Feature Set Leaked – Rollout in September/October

Wow BIS is finally getting a significant feature bump with v4.1. The team at N4BB managed to score slides detailing all of the features coming in BIS 4.1 along with rollout dates. Some of the features are also BlackBerry OS 7.0 specific which should be launching around the same time. According to their sources BIS 4.1 will be rolling out to Asia Pacific on Sept 10th, Europe on Sept 23rd, and North America on October 8th.

 

I am really excited about the new features including my favorite which is email inbox priming. That is a feature that has been available on BES servers for awhile giving you access to your last chunk of emails. With BIS 4.1 it will preload the most recent 20 emails so you will have conversations on your device preloaded. There are loads of other goodies including better account management and message improvements for OS 7.0 so check them out in the slides!

via:bbreview

Develop for BB7 Webinar Today – EMEA & Asia Pacific Webinars Announced

Developers! In case you missed it somehow or forgot RIM will be holding a webinar today on “what you need to know to develop for BlackBerry 7.” That webinar is at 2PM EST today! Head on over to this link for details.

We forgot to mention in our previous post that RIM has announced the dates for their EMEA and Asia Pacific versions of the webinar that are more convenient for developers in those time zones. Here are the details:

 

 

EMEA:  Thursday July 7, 2011 at 2:00 pm BST

webcast.streamlogics.com/audience/index.asp?eventid=73027544

Asia Pacific:  Wednesday July 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm HKT

webcast.streamlogics.com/audience/index.asp?eventid=19724237

Let us know what you learn from the webinars!

via:bbreview

BlackBerry DevCon: Europe and Asia dates and locations announced!

Back during BlackBerry World RIM announced they would be expanding their BlackBerry Developer Conferences to new areas this year. Europe was included this time around, as was Asia after having hosted the first DevCon Asia in Indonesia back in January. The dates and locations at the time of the announcement hadn’t been worked out but now we have dates and a location for DevCon Europe and a location for DevCon Asia:

• DevCon Europe: Amsterdam, February 7 and 8, 2012.
• DevCon Asia: Bangkok, Thailand with specific dates to be announced shortly.

If you’re a BlackBerry developer and are planning on participating in either of the DevCon events scheduled, RIM has extended the call for papers until Friday July 15th for BlackBerry DEVCON Asia and Friday September 16th for DevCon Europe.

Learn more via the BlackBerry DevCon Website

via:cb

RIM hosts new webinar: What You Need to Know To Develop for BlackBerry 7

Research in Motion is hosting a new webcast tomorrow for those interested in developing for the upcoming BlackBerry 7 operating system. The 1 hour presentation will cover topics such as:

• How to quickly port your current BlackBerry® platform application to BlackBerry 7 and key considerations when designing your app for the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones
• BlackBerry 7 API Overview: Includes new hardware enabled features on BlackBerry 7 devices such as Magnetomer, Near Field Communications, Augmented Reality, OpenGL ES 2.0 as well as APIs that enhance the Super Apps experience

As always, the webcast will end with a Q&A session with a Research In Motion application development expert. Make sure if you’re interested in attending you get registered, and block out an hour in your calendar! Dates have been added for Europe and Asia as well, which you can check out below.

North America
Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Time: 2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST
Presenter: Paul Bernhardt, Application Development Consultant, Research In Motion Limited

Europe
Date: Thursday, July 7, 2011
Time: 2:00 pm BST
Registration: Sign up here for this webcast

Asia
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Time: 12:00 pm HKT
Registration: Sign up here for this webcast

Drome – a local Canadian search application, world domination soon?

 

The word ‘drome’ is an odd one – it’s one of those words that has many different meanings. It could refer to a place to race or run, or could refer to something that moves together. It’s also a name of an application by Taste My City. Like many Local Search Applications, Drome can handle looking for Movies, Nightlife venues, Coffee shops/Internet Cafes, Hotels, Points of Interest and Restaurants. Depending on the city, you can also receive coupons for many locations via email. Your location is determined by GPS location, cell site or by manual input. Drome offers a few extras, depending on which type of search you are performing. When looking at bars and/or restaurants some locations may have an accessible menu and additionally list forms of payment accepted. For all entries, they at least have a mapped location and a phone number to call. Looking through the movies section, you can check out trailers, show times, galleries, reviews, plot synopsis and more. Extra options include options to add entries to your calendar/address book, various search or filter options and access to a favourites list.

At this point, Drome is only available in specific Canadian cities; Greater Toronto & Southern Ontario, Greater Vancouver Area, Montreal & Laval, Calgary, Ottawa, Quebec City, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Halifax. Cities in the UK and US will hopefully be announced soon. According to their website, there are plans to expand to Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa and more. Drome still has some promise, but I still prefer Poynt as I can also see weather information, have the option to use Google Maps and have the ability to purchase tickets through the app. Of course, time will tell what Drome will bring to the table. If you want to check out Drome, you can get it for free from BlackBerry App World.

More information/download Drome for BlackBerry smartphones[qrcode pix=150]http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/44125?lang=en[/qrcode]

100 Billion Messages Isn’t Cool. You Know What’s Cool? A Trillion.

Sean Parker probably never said “a million dollars isn’t cool” but it’s sort of true.

There’s an interesting angle to the iMessage news and that’s the effect on the carriers and the SMS industry. One of the most compelling and disruptive elements of BlackBerry Messenger is that it’s success has cost the carrier a tremendous amount of money in text messaging fees because users are sending their messages over RIM’s servers and opting our of SMS plans. That’s not to say that the carriers don’t love BlackBerry because there’s obviously a new source of revenue being generated in data plans which they love, but they still must feel the effects of BBM. Last we heard, BlackBerry Messenger users sent 100 billion messages per month. What is going to happen to SMS when users are spread out across BBM, iMessage and other IM apps such as Live Profile. Is this the death of SMS in North America?

Americans sent 2.1 trillion messages in 2010 and the industry has generated 81 billion dollars globally as of 2006. A lot of SMS traffic happens in regions where smartphones aren’t as popular such as China and South East Asia, but these are also regions where BlackBerry has seen incredible growth. It’s only a matter of time until the other smartphones such as Windows Phone and Nokia get turned on to the idea of a BBM-style platform and the carriers and businesses that rely on SMS will have lost that revenue entirely. It’s going to start in North America and eventually the world, but with BBM and iMessage, we’re starting to see a significant dent in global SMS usage.

Will the carriers fight back or embrace it as more users get turned on to smartphones? Carriers could simply raise data costs to make up for lost revenue, or they could begin to sniff out BBM and iMessages in order to try and tax the user.

via:bbcool

Find BBM Contacts on Facebook With SearchBBM.com

 

PIN sharing is still going really strong. We can see a great example of it on our facebook page where every day users comment their PIN. It seems to be most popular in Asia and South America, where users may not have the same worries about privacy as in North America. SearchBBM is a new site that connects BBM through Facebook and potentially other social networks (we assume Twitter is on its way). So if you’re in the mood to find a new BBM friend, we suggest you check it out.

To give it a shot, head over to searchbbm.com.

via:bbcool

BlackBerry DevCon Americas registration now open

Registration for the BlackBerry Developer Conference (DevCon) in San Francisco is now open. The conference is taking place this year from October 18th to the 20th at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco. Early Bird registration is only $699, or $599 for qualifying alumni. Students can also receive speical pricing of $199 and faculty can get in for $399. Also upcoming is the first BlackBerry DevCon Europe as well as BlackBerry DevCon Asia. Hit the link below for more info. See you there!

More information/register BlackBerry DevCon Americas

via:cb

BlackBerry DevCon 2011 Registration Now Open – October 18th-20th

At the end of BlackBerry World last week RIM announced the dates for BlackBerry DevCon (Developer Conference) 2011 in San Francisco.

Registration is now open for DevCon and they have an early bird rate in effect for $699 along with a 4 nights for 3 paid nights special going on. Sadly this year won’t be as international since RIM announced DevCon Europe along with their previous DevCon Asia which was very successful.

You can register for DevCon 2011 Americas at this link. Let us know if you are going in the comments!

via:bbr