BlackBerry 10.2 SDK Release

Developers were shown a number of APIs, including those available in the recently released Blackberry 10.2 SDK, that allow developers to build enhanced mobile experiences for customers. With the inclusion of sensors such as NFC, GPS, Gyroscope and Accelerometer, for example, BlackBerry 10.2 smartphones can detect inputs and data connections within the user’s immediate environment to provide constant information about surroundings and location. The contextual information gathered by sensors can also be processed by applications to adapt to what’s happening in the environment in ways that enhances relevance and user interaction, which, for example, can be further enhanced through deep integration with the BlackBerry Hub, Contacts and BBM. The capabilities also enable the smartphone to act on or control endpoints beyond the phone. APIs for Bluetooth, for example, enable integration for alternate input devices like a wireless (Bluetooth) keyboard, as well as alternate displays, such as a monitor or HDT, through the HDMI port.

Several updates were also highlighted for the Built for BlackBerry designation in the BlackBerry World storefront, providing developers attractive incentives to further support building their business on the BlackBerry 10 platform.

Here are some of the highlights from yesterday’s keynote:

Concept Technology Demonstrations

Capabilities of the BlackBerry 10 platform were further showcased in a few concept demonstrations that capture the development paradigm of sensing the environment, understanding the various inputs and adapting to real-time contextual information. The first one involved the extension of an app user interface beyond a BlackBerry 10 smartphone onto a desktop environment. A BlackBerry Z30 was paired up with a desktop computer over Wi-Fi to seamlessly and securely project real-time applications and content on the phone to the desktop computer. A BlackBerry expert projected the BlackBerry Hub from the smartphone and rendered the user interface on the PC where full use of the keyboard and mouse was available. This showed an enhanced experience on the desktop powered by a BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

Another concept demonstration showed a rocking chair tennis game running on a BlackBerry Z30 smartphone, where the tennis paddles were controlled by the accelerometers in BlackBerry 10 smartphones mounted on the armrest. The application adapted to users’ actions signaled over Bluetooth to the controllers through an Arduino microcontroller. The demonstrations showed how applications can extend beyond the phone.

Peer to Peer Demonstration

The BlackBerry 10 infrastructure and Peer to Peer (P2P) network solve the problem of connectivity by providing a direct, secure and authenticated communication between different endpoints and providing a secure tunnel for data.  BlackBerry’s P2P infrastructure connects two endpoints without having to worry about firewalls, Network Address Translation or protocol. BlackBerry experts showcased the BlackBerry 10 platform’s Peer to Peer technology by controlling two heart monitors remotely through a BlackBerry 10 smartphone. BlackBerry’s P2P technology can manage multiple network technologies and enable the smartphones to handover from protocol to protocol, such as from Wi-Fi to cellular connectivity, without dropping the peer connection. The demonstration maintained a connection by automatically detecting and adjusting to available connections, and also included authentication with a BlackBerry ID. The P2P APIs will be available in the coming months.

Highlights for Revitalized Built for BlackBerry Program

Developers also heard about some enhancements to the Built for BlackBerry Program, including a checklist with detailed criteria for receiving Built for BlackBerry accreditation for apps. Apps with the Built for BlackBerry designation also benefit from increased visibility in the store with new features such as Top Lists on the home page and exclusive Built for BlackBerry badges that let customers easily identify Built for BlackBerry apps. More details can be found here: http://devblog.blackberry.com/2013/08/built-for-blackberry-rebuilt-for-you/

Partners Show Support for BlackBerry 10

In addition to the platform updates, major application partners Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website, Kereta Api Indonesia, which allows customers to book and confirm train ticket reservations, and WeChat, a messaging application, joined Martyn Mallick, Vice President of BlackBerry World and Global Alliances, on stage to showcase their applications and support for the BlackBerry 10 platform.

 Useful Links

BlackBerry Developer Community Jam Zone – http://developer.blackberry.com/jamcommunity/

DevBlog – http://devblog.blackberry.com

BlackBerry 10 Information Page – www.blackberry.com/blackberry10

FIDO members commit to share technology and collaborate to deliver open specifications for universal strong authentication that enables FIDO-compliant authentication methods to be interoperable, more secure and private, and easier to use. BlackBerry is among the first mobile platform and mobile device suppliers to engage with the FIDO Alliance to equip customers with easy-to-use strong authentication, allowing them to easily move from site to site securely without having to enter identifying information multiple times. As a FIDO Alliance Relying Partner (RP), BlackBerry will be able to better serve its millions of customers on BlackBerry.com, and people who use BBM™, BlackBerry® Protect and other BlackBerry services around the world, as well as developers submitting apps on the BlackBerry® World™ storefront.

“We welcome BlackBerry to the FIDO Alliance board as one of the world’s leading mobile platforms and mobile device providers. BlackBerry’s addition to the FIDO Alliance moves the mobile industry closer to universal strong authentication using the open FIDO specifications that embrace all use cases,” said Michael Barrett, FIDO Alliance president. “We also prize BlackBerry among the Internet’s leading relying parties, with the potential to allow millions of users to utilize open strong authentication.”

From initial design and manufacturing to developing tamper resistant hardware and software for securing data at rest or in transit, security has been the central element of the BlackBerry value proposition since its inception. BlackBerry provides all the components to offer secure Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) for BlackBerry, iOS® and Android™ devices.  BlackBerry also demonstrates the same dedication to perfecting and standardizing security protocols.

“BlackBerry is deeply committed to remaining the Gold Standard in mobile security while providing a model for others to adopt and follow,” said Brian McBride, Technical Director for Identity at BlackBerry. “Offering safe, reliable access for our customers across the globe is inherent to everything BlackBerry does as an organization. We are both excited and proud to join the FIDO Alliance to help extend mobile security best practices and standards to the global community as the alliance strives to achieve universal secure authentication.”

The FIDO protocol will support a full range of authentication technologies, including biometrics such as fingerprint scanners, voice and facial recognition, as well as existing solutions and communications standards, such as Trusted Platform Modules (TPM), USB Security Tokens, Near Field Communication (NFC), One Time Passwords (OTP), embedded Secure Elements (eSE), and many other existing and future technology options. The open protocol is designed to be extensible and to accommodate future innovation, as well as protect existing investments. The FIDO protocol allows the interaction of technologies within a single infrastructure, enabling security options to be tailored to the distinct needs of each user and organization.

Organizations that want to influence the development of the FIDO specifications and ensure that the open standards address their use cases and requirements should join the FIDO Alliance now. FIDO Alliance members will define the market requirements, contribute to the FIDO specifications and be part of the ecosystem that will address the broad range of use cases and technologies. The FIDO Alliance invites all companies and organizations to join the Alliance and become active members.

About BlackBerry

A global leader in wireless innovation, BlackBerry® revolutionized the mobile industry when it was introduced in 1999. Today, BlackBerry aims to inspire the success of our millions of customers around the world by continuously pushing the boundaries of mobile experiences. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, BlackBerry operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. BlackBerry is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: BBRY) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BB). For more information, visit www.blackberry.com.

About The FIDO Alliance
The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance, www.fidoalliance.org, was formed in July 2012 to address the lack of interoperability amongstrong authentication technologies, and remedy the problems users face with creating and remembering multiple usernames and passwords. The Alliance plans to change the nature of authentication by developing standards-based specifications that define an open, scalable, interoperable set of mechanisms that supplant reliance on passwords to easily and securely authenticate users of online services.

Registration for BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 in Hong Kong is now open. This year’s conference will take place on 26-27 September 2013 at AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong. For more information, please visit http://www.blackberryjamconference.com/asia

What is it all about?
BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 is one of the events for developers and key partners who are keen to understand how they are able to create applications and content for BlackBerry 10, and at the same time to gain insights on how to monetize their applications. During BlackBerry Jam Asia developers will get in-depth development training, business strategy sessions and networking opportunities that can help you build and perfect your BlackBerry 10 apps.

BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 will provide developers opportunities to understand the capabilities of the BlackBerry 10 platform and how they can create engaging application experiences customers will want to download and use. This approach supports what recent research by VisionMobile™ (2013) discovered: that “developers’ platform choices depend very much on the goal they aim to achieve. When it comes to platform selection, contract developers will opt for platforms that will generate more revenue, CIOs will focus on efficiency and low cost, CMOs will focus on reach, while hobbyists will want to experiment with newer platforms .”

Benefits for Developers
To ensure that everyone is able to benefit from this conference, there will be more than 50 breakout sessions which will be presented by BlackBerry experts and members of the developer community. The content will focus on:

• Leveraging the Mobile Computing Opportunity
Developers can learn about the burgeoning area of mobile computing and how they can leverage concepts to build innovative apps. Beyond that, developers can learn how to leverage powerful multi-tasking capabilities and Adaptive UX design to help align their apps with mobile web standards and open source communities.

• Building a Business on BlackBerry
From the beginnings of an idea, through the startup pitch and all the way to marketing and app submissions to BlackBerry World™, developers will hear how startups and established organisations alike can partner with BlackBerry to build a business on the BlackBerry 10 platform.

• Built for BlackBerry. The Signature BlackBerry 10 experience

Building developers’ businesses on BlackBerry is our top priority. The Built for BlackBerry designation indicates to customers the signature, stand-out BlackBerry 10 experience. At the conference, developers can learn more about Built for BlackBerry and check out the range of resources available for designing, developing, and distributing their apps or games.

Some other key benefits for developers attending BlackBerry Jam Asia include:

• Attend multi-language pre-conference courses such as “Developing Apps Using the BlackBerry 10 Native SDK and Cascades™ UI Framework”, and game development workshop – “Game Destination at Jam Asia”
• Ask The Experts area, where they can bring technical development questions or questions about entrepreneurship and app marketing
• Indulge in the true gaming experience on BlackBerry 10 smartphones, featuring top games from around the globe.

In addition to that, qualified* attending developers of this year’s BlackBerry Jam Asia may receive a BlackBerry® 10 Dev Alpha C  at the event. The BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha C device is a testing device for developers that can be used to help adjust, debug and test BlackBerry 10 apps to get ready for the launch of the BlackBerry 10 QWERTY smartphones.

For more information on the on the sessions, check out the Session Catalog here. For more information on BlackBerry Jam Asia, please visit http://www.blackberryjamconference.com/asia

Note:

* Qualified developers will be determined by BlackBerry using applicant information from the registration system. If a developer has already received a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha C device at a previous event or from BlackBerry, the developer will not be eligible for this offer. Quantities are limited. For more information, refer to http://www.blackberryjamconference.com/asia/event-info/device