Mysterious Samsung Actually the Galaxy S?
April 22nd, 2010 | 
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I’m just going to get this out of the way, this is a rumor. Now, I’m not one to follow what analysts say, but this one might be right (shocker!). According to analyst Mark McKechnie the Samsung Galaxy S could be seen on all major U.S. carriers this year. Interestingly, he says that AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint will have it by June, with Verizon to follow later in the year. Now, it isn’t often that a powerful phone, like the Galaxy S, finds its way to all four major carriers, but this could be an exception. When asked why he thinks this, McKechnie said he “based the prediction on ‘industry checks’ that include, but are not limited to, conversations with employees at operator stores.” I’ve heard that story before, so once again, take this with a grain of salt. I am still hoping for a pleasant surprise with this Samsung. Leave your thoughts in the comments!
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Mysterious Samsung Actually the Galaxy S?
I’m just going to get this out of the way, this is a rumor. Now, I’m not one to follow what analysts say, but this one might be right (shocker!). According to analyst Mark McKechnie the Samsung Galaxy S could be seen on all major U.S. carriers this year. Interestingly, he says that AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint will have it by June, with Verizon to follow later in the year. Now, it isn’t often that a powerful phone, like the Galaxy S, finds its way to all four major carriers, but this could be an exception. When asked why he thinks this, McKechnie said he “based the prediction on ‘industry checks’ that include, but are not limited to, conversations with employees at operator stores.” I’ve heard that story before, so once again, take this with a grain of salt. I am still hoping for a pleasant surprise with this Samsung. Leave your thoughts in the comments!
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WES 2010 Session Picks: Administration Track
WES 2010 is now less than a week away, bringing with it a bunch of exciting sessions covering a wide range of tracks for both first time attendees and the WES veteran. While we highly recommend you check out the Session Catalog yourself, we also thought it would be a good idea to get some RIM experts’ opinions on sessions you don’t want to miss. We asked Jeffrey from the WES Content Team about his three recommended sessions for the Mobile Architecture for Today’s BlackBerry Administrator track.
The Latest Features of the BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution
Kick start your WES experience with an update on the latest enhancements to the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution. Jeff Holleran will be your guide and will demonstrate some of the key features. A perennial favorite for IT Administrators… you don’t want to miss it!
Customers Talk: Upgrading to BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0
Day 2 — the conference is in full swing. This session is a fantastic opportunity to meet other attendees and learn from their experiences. Our panel will share best practices, deployment strategies and how to go about upgrading your environment.
The Future of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution
Finish your conference with a view to what’s coming next. If your planning tomorrow’s mobility infrastructure and need a little more guidance, you’ll most certainly benefit from some new insights from senior management in our R&D organization.
Post a comment and let us know which sessions you’re excited for. We hope to see you there!
WES 2010 Session Picks: Business Track
WES 2010 is now less than a week away, bringing with it a bunch of exciting sessions covering a wide range of tracks for both first time attendees and the WES veteran. While we highly recommend you check out the Session Catalog yourself, we also thought it would be a good idea to get some RIM experts’ opinions on sessions you don’t want to miss. We asked Paul from the WES Content Team about his three recommended sessions for the Mobility as a Business Driver track.
Industry Analyst Panel: The Year Ahead for Mobility
Industry analyst commentary is always a great draw at WES. This year we’ve got IDC, CCS, and Yankee analysts “holding court” on the hottest topics in enterprise mobility during this panel session. What’s coming in the year ahead? Don’t miss this or you might miss the next big thing in mobile.
Customer Spotlight: UPS on the BlackBerry Solution
What can Brown do with the BlackBerry® solution? Check out this session to learn how UPS leverages the BlackBerry solution for worldwide business requirements. Also, UPS VP of Customer Technology Marketing, Jordan Colletta will highlight the new app UPS built for BlackBerry targeting customers – UPS Mobile available on BlackBerry App World™.
Get Smart with BlackBerry Smartphones
Another popular session every year at WES! Learn the latest features and capabilities of this newest generation of BlackBerry smartphones from. Everything from Wi-Fi®, GPS, and other useful accessories will be covered as well as what’s “under the hood” on the BlackBerry® platform to assess how your business can benefit.
Post a comment and let us know which sessions you’re excited for. We hope to see you there!
WES 2010: BlackBerry Certification and Hands-on Labs
As WES 2010 draws closer, it’s time to think about how to best spend your time at the show. In our previous post, we gave attendees an important WES 2010 checklist, but if you’re an IT administrator attending WES 2010, we heartily recommend becoming BlackBerry® Certified or participating in the Hands-on Labs!
This year, WES 2010 is offering three different certification streams: Plan and Design, Manage and Monitor, and Support and Troubleshoot. Each exam is available to full and executive conference registrants at WES 2010 for $75 USD, a 50% discount from the regular price! To find out more about becoming BlackBerry Certified, please go to the WES 2010 Certification page. Note that spots are limited, so sign up early to avoid disappointment.
The WES 2010 Hands-on Labs teach you the latest information about the BlackBerry® solution software by allowing you to work through exercises and problem solving scenarios at your own pace. A $249 USD Hands-on Labs pass offers the full conference and executive conference registrants the opportunity to learn about Installing and upgrading the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, Role Based Administration, Security, Monitoring and more! For more information please visit the WES 2010 Hands-on Labs page. Registration is also subject to availability, so sign up now!
Ready to sign up? You can register for BlackBerry Certification or the Hands-on Labs while registering for WES 2010. If you’ve already registered for WES 2010, you can easily add the Hands-on Labs and BlackBerry Certification to your account by logging into http://www.attendwes.com with your username and password.
Inside BlackBerry WES 2010 Checklist!
With WES 2010 just more than a week away, the general excitement amongst the Inside BlackBerry® blog team is growing rapidly. It also means we have a lot to tell you about to ensure you’re prepared for three days of BlackBerry fun in the sun in Orlando, Florida. Here’s your WES 2010 checklist:
WES 2010 Basics
- Registration: If you haven’t registered yet, DO SO NOW! Click this WES 2010 registration link and use the code DE4SMD. First things first!
- My Scheduler Tool: The My Scheduler tool is designed to make it easy for you to select and keep track of WES 2010 sessions you’d like to attend. One of the best ways to stay organized at the show.
- BlackBerry WES Mobile Guide: The BlackBerry WES Mobile Guide application brings WES 2010 to your BlackBerry smartphone. It syncs with your My Scheduler conference calendar, provides the full list of sessions and speakers, automatically updates you of schedule changes and more. Download it now!
Four WES 2010 Events You Don’t Want to Miss
- WES 2010 Welcome Reception: Kick off the conference and make new friends at the WES 2010 welcome reception, from 6:00pm-8:00pm on Monday April 26th in the Solutions Showcase.
- WES 2010 Day One General Session: RIM President and Co-CEO, Mike Lazaridis opens the Day One General Session, sharing the stage with other key RIM executives and partners. Tuesday April 27th, Cypress 3 Ballroom from 8:30am-10:30am – don’t miss it!
- WES 2010 Day Two General Session: The second general session of WES 2010 kicks off with the Wireless Leadership Awards, hosted by RIM Vice President of Platform Product Management, Alan Panezic. Two partner keynotes are next, followed by the “Tomorrow’s Users Panel” featuring Ben Silverman and will.i.am!
- WES 2010 Party: Food, friends and merriment featuring musical performances by Bedouin Soundclash, Joss Stone and will.i.am. Read our WES 2010 Party post for more information.
Getting Social at WES 2010
- WES 2010 Social Page: The WES 2010 Social Networks Page is your one page stop to stay up to date on the hard work of the RIM Social Team during the show. You’ll find Inside BlackBerry blog posts, Flickr™ images, tweets and Facebook® messages, all on one pretty page. Go to http://www.attendwes.com/social-networks right now and check it out!
- Inside BlackBerry Social Team Booth: Yes, we have our own booth this year! Come see us in the in Cypress hallway, say hi, watch us furiously try to bring as much of WES 2010 to our friends on the Internet, and maybe even walk away with some schwag. How awesome is that?
- Inside BlackBerry WES Tweetup: Not as awesome as our very own WES 2010 Tweetup! That’s right, Wednesday April 28th from 5:00pm to 6:30pm, we’ll be hosting a little get together (food, drinks, music!) for all the social-minded WES 2010 attendees. Visit our Inside BlackBerry WES Tweetup page for more information.
- Keynote Live Chat: We’ll be hosting a live chat during both general session keynotes for those not attending WES 2010 or those attending that want to be part of the fun. Join in, ask questions and participate in the ongoing conversation with fellow BlackBerry smartphone users. We want to hear from you!
Keep your browser pointed towards Inside BlackBerry in the coming days for more WES 2010 coverage! Make sure to also post a comment and let us know what you’re excited for at WES 2010.
WES 2010 Party Entertainment Revealed
Every year the Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) party brings something new and fun to conference attendees and this year is no exception. I’m pretty excited to announce that the WES 2010 party will feature some fantastic musical performances by artists Bedouin Soundclash and Joss Stone. In addition, Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am will once again man the decks as the special guest DJ!
WES attendees will be able to enjoy the entertainment on Tuesday, April 27 in the Cypress 3 room. The party starts at 7:00 pm and shuttles will run to and from the party until 12:00 am.
Excited to attend WES 2010 in Orlando? I am too! Have you registered? Also, make sure to register with the promo code DE4SMD to save an additional $300.
We’ll see you there!
BlackBerry Beta Zone: Useful Features
Recently Inside BlackBerry gave you a firsthand look at the new BlackBerry® Beta Zone, covering the basics of sign up and beta program registration. Today, I’d like to dive deeper into the BlackBerry Beta Zone feature list, to make sure you get the most of your experience as a BlackBerry Beta Zone member.
Let’s get started!
Nominating an Organization for Enterprise Beta Programs
In our last post, we focused on BlackBerry Beta Zone from the perspective of the average BlackBerry smartphone user, and what was needed for them to participate in beta programs. However, as you may know, Research In Motion (RIM) also makes enterprise-focused products, and many of these products will find their way into BlackBerry Beta Zone as well. If you’re part of a team looking to beta test enterprise-focused BlackBerry software (for example, BlackBerry® Enterprise Server v5.0.2) you must first nominate your organization for beta programs.
The easiest way to nominate an organization is by clicking the relevant link in the right-hand column of the BlackBerry Beta Zone Members Area (for non members, there is also a link on http://www.blackberry.com/beta). This link will take you to the organization nomination form, where you’ll have to fill out basic information about your organization, as well as the types of IT platforms employed within. The latter information is very important, as it dictates which beta programs will be applicable to your organization!
Feedback, FAQs and Surveys – oh my!
There’s more to BlackBerry Beta Zone than enrolling in beta programs! Half of the experience lies in providing useful feedback to the BlackBerry development teams, as well as engaging with BlackBerry Beta Zone members on the products you’re testing. Here’s a quick rundown of the various feedback outlets contained within BlackBerry Beta Zone.
Discussion Boards: The discussion boards are the heart of BlackBerry Beta Zone conversation. It’s the number one place to ask questions and talk shop with other BlackBerry Beta Zone members. Currently, the general boards available are ‘Welcome to New Members’ and ‘Rants and Raves’, with a board for each beta program – which is the one and only place to discuss these pre-release products. Discussing a beta program outside of BlackBerry Beta Zone violates the terms and conditions of the site. So keep the chatter inside BlackBerry Beta Zone!
Surveys: BlackBerry Beta Zone Members represent an important segment of the voice of the BlackBerry smartphone community. The BlackBerry Beta Zone team will have various questions for the community, and surveys are the quickest and most targeted way to obtain answers. So if you are already a BlackBerry Beta Zone Member, go fill out the current BlackBerry Beta Zone survey right now, and make sure to be as honest as possible. All individual responses will of course remain anonymous.
General Feedback Form: If you have feedback that can’t be articulated in a survey, and is too long or not appropriate for the discussion boards, the general feedback form, found in the right-hand column of the BlackBerry Beta Zone members area, is your best option. The feedback form itself is one big text field, so don’t hold back your ideas (but please do be polite!). However, before you fire off random questions into the feedback form, please take the opportunity to scan the BlackBerry Beta Zone FAQ, which contains more information than we could ever cover here.
Now that you’ve got the rundown on BlackBerry Beta Zone, here’s your to-do list: take some time to think of organizations to nominate for enterprise beta programs, check out the new beta release of BlackBerry Messenger v5.0.1.5, and stay tuned for more great software to test in the coming weeks!
Introducing the New BlackBerry Beta Zone!
I’m very happy to introduce to you today to BlackBerry® Beta Zone. Research In Motion (RIM) has had a beta site for invite-only beta programs for some time now, but as of today BlackBerry Beta Zone is open to the general populace.
BlackBerry Beta Zone is designed to allow BlackBerry smartphone users to engage early and often with upcoming RIM products and services. BlackBerry Beta Zone will sit side by side with the BlackBerry App World™ Test Center as part of RIM’s continuous effort to work with our dedicated BlackBerry community to bring the best products to market and evolve existing products.
There’s a lot to talk about today, so let’s get started walking through the brand new BlackBerry Beta Zone.
BlackBerry Beta Zone vs. BlackBerry App World Test Center
Those familiar with the BlackBerry App World Test Center may be wondering how the new BlackBerry Beta Zone will fit in. It’s important to note that while the BlackBerry App World Test Center features third party BlackBerry smartphone applications, BlackBerry Beta Zone will be solely for RIM products. In addition, certain products will be placed into the BlackBerry Beta Zone much earlier in the development cycle. As the application moves closer towards final release, it may be placed in the BlackBerry App World Test Center.
If you’d like to test the some of newest products currently in development within RIM, sign up for BlackBerry Beta Zone. If you’d like to peruse the latest BlackBerry applications that are almost ready for primetime, visit the BlackBerry App World Test Center. Better yet, do both!
BlackBerry Beta Zone Getting Started
The first thing to do if you’re interested is sign up! Head on over to http://www.blackberry.com/beta to register and fill out the required information to become a BlackBerry Beta Zone member (note: at this time BlackBerry Beta Zone is only available to residents of Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. We’re working to extend the BlackBerry Beta Zone community across the globe so watch for the site to open to more countries in the coming months.).
After filling out the registration information and agreeing to the Terms and Conditions (make sure to read carefully, as important information is contained within!), you will receive an email with a validation link. Click the link to confirm your registration and you’re now a BlackBerry Beta Zone Member! Remember there are beta programs that will be tied to specific devices or carriers, so you may not be eligible to participate in every beta offered.
Your BlackBerry Beta Zone Profile
Now that you’re registered, you’ll have full access to the BlackBerry Beta Zone Members Area (see below for more info) and can start applying to be part of the beta programs that interest you. Before entering the Members Area, make sure to update your BlackBerry Beta Zone Profile first! While this information is entirely optional—you can answer all, some or none of the questions in each of the profile—it does help us match you with future programs. Failing to keep your profile information up to date means you might miss out on an important beta program invite! The current profile segments are: Contact, BlackBerry Smartphone, Technology, Work, Time, Languages, Lifestyle and Demographic Info.
BlackBerry Beta Zone Members Area
Now that you’ve filled out your profile, you’re ready to take advantage of BlackBerry Beta Zone’s Members Area. There’s a lot of information in the Members Area and some great features to take advantage of – polling, the discussion boards, surveys… etc. – that we’ll cover in upcoming posts. For now, I want to highlight the most important part of the Members Area: the beta programs widget!
The beta programs widget displays all beta programs you’re currently participating in, all programs you’ve been invited to participate in (see, filling out your profile information is important!), and any other beta programs you may be eligible for. Below is a list of the beta programs that will be available at launch. We’ll be covering these more in-depth in a future post.
- BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 maintenance release for the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8520 and BlackBerry® Curve™ 8530 smartphones. This program will be open to members who live in Canada and will be capped at 1000 participants.
- BlackBerry® Messenger 5.0.1. This program will be open to all members.
- BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0.2. This program will be limited to invited organizations only. Stay tuned for more information in future posts on recommending organizations for beta program invites.
- BlackBerry® Beta Zone. This program will be open to any members. This program will be about the BlackBerry Beta Zone itself. It will not include any product software.
Signing up for BlackBerry Beta Zone Programs
Once you’ve found a beta program you’d like to participate in, click the beta program widget link. You’ll be taken to a program page providing more information about the product in question and will have the option to participate or decline. Once you’ve agreed to participate, you will be provided download links (if applicable) and feedback options for that specific product. Again, not all beta programs will be offered to all people.
That’s enough BlackBerry Beta Zone information for now! Head to http://www.blackberry.com/beta, become a member, and start signing up for beta programs. And don’t forget to provide feedback – BlackBerry Beta Zone is in beta too!
Stay tuned for more posts on the BlackBerry Beta Zone coming soon.
IT Managers: Embracing Personal Employee Smartphones in the Enterprise
More and more employers are making it possible for employees to connect their personal smartphones to their corporate email, because it’s good for business and is also considered a benefit to employees that want to manage their work and life on BlackBerry. Research In Motion (RIM) is running a series of learning sessions in cities across North America designed to help IT managers embrace the reality of personal-liable smartphones in the enterprise space.
Analyst Maribel Lopez will walk attendees through the risks and rewards of bringing employee’s personal smartphones into the business world and share tactics for management success. Attendees will be able to share best practices with fellow leaders and ask questions of RIM and other industry experts. There will also be a demonstration of the recently released BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express software for all who attend!
Please see the list below to find the event registration page that’s right for you.
Toronto, ON – March 25th, 2010
Chicago, IL – March 30th, 2010
Dallas, TX – March 31st, 2010
San Jose, CA – April 1st, 2010
These learning sessions are free, but participation is limited, so please register now. All attendees will receive the Smart Policies for Personal-Liable Smartphone white paper and be entered into a draw for a free BlackBerry Starter Pack.
We hope you can join us!
BONUS: Read the most recent BlackBerry Connection Newsletter for more information on connecting personal employee smartphones.