Cruising through the BlackBerry experience during BlackBerry DevCon Europe, we came across these sweet colored Curves. The Ballet Pink and Royal Purple Curve 9360 haven't had much press, although they have been seen around a few times before. Nothing fancy going on with either of these, but we always like to see how cool devices look with a splash of color. If you're looking to pick either of these up you may have to wait just a bit until they hit more carriers (you should see them rollout soon in Europe).

Take a closer look at both in the video above and keep reading for more images. Sexy Curves and they Know it!

Continue reading article

if you missed our coverage of the BlackBerry DevCon Europe General Session Keynote yesterday, not to worry. RIM has posted up a replay of the entire keynote for your viewing pleasure. Some good stuff to be had within as Thorsten Heins, Alec Saunders, Chris Smith and many partners took the stage in Amsterdam to show off some goods. If you have a few hours to kill it's definitely worth checking out. So grab a cup of coffee (or beer if that's more your thing) and hit the link below. Be sure to keep following all of our coverage from BlackBerry DevCon Europe.

Check out the BlackBerry DevCon Europe General Session Replay

I'm convinced that presentations never go 100% according to plan, regardless of what the presentation is about, and this morning's keynote at BlackBerry DevCon Europe 2012 was no exception to that. Vivek Bhardwaj, Head of Software Portfolio EMEA, experienced a glitch in his presentation while showing us some of the incredible new features that the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 and BlackBerry Bridge 2.0 will be capable of. Specifically, he was demoing "Open On…" which allows you to open a photo or other document from your BlackBerry to your PlayBook with one click. Vivek snapped a picture of the 2000 people in the audience but when he tried to open it on his PlayBook it didn't load as expected. Fortunately, RIM really wanted to share this feature with everyone, so after the keynote Vivek got back on stage and they filmed a follow up of the demo, which worked flawlessly. You can watch that video above.

I've seen several comments since the video was posted and even on Twitter this morning about his lack of preparedness for the presentation, which is downright silly. A person could practice something 100 times, then the 101st time it goes wrong, and that happens to be the time he's on stage. Instead of focusing on the glitch, let's focus on the innovative new features that the update will bring to our devices. "Open On…" is one of many new additions, and looks really useful for presentations and other situations and I look forward to trying it out later this month when the OS 2.0 updates are available.

Source: Inside BlackBerry Developer's Blog

During the general session keynote at BlackBerry DevCon Europe, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins took the stage for the first time and, along with VP of Developer Relations Alec Saunders, spoke a bit on the success of BlackBerry App World. We've seen some numbers before, but they just keep getting bigger every time. In addition to noting that 13% of BlackBerry developers make over $100,000 from their apps BlackBerry App World, RIM hit a milestone in January this year as they reached over 2 billion total downloads with 6 million coming daily. BlackBerry App World supports 26 currencies in 164 countries and currently has over 60,000 apps available for consumers. RIM stands by the fact that BlackBerry apps are still the most profitable for developers as well. Some interesting numbers here that will certainly keep growing as we move toward BlackBerry 10 devices later in the year. More to come from BlackBerry DevCon Europe so stay tuned!

When Research In Motion purchased the Sweden-based company The Astonishing Tribe (TAT), it purchased more than a talented group of people obsessed about advancing user interface design. It also bought TAT's technology framework, called Cascades. TAT's philosophy is that Design Loves Technology, and the Cascades development framework makes it easy for developers to put amazing animations and effects into apps.

We have had a good look at Cascades demos before, but for the BlackBerry DevCon Europe keynote TAT packaged some of them up into a high-tech Cascades Cookbook. Check out the video above to see some very cool effects in action. Cascades is being built right into the BlackBery 10 NDK, so BlackBerry developers will easily be able to bring this kind of quality to BlackBerry apps. 

Here it is folks, BlackBerry history! CrackBerry was on hand in Amsterdam to witness (and record) the first BlackBerry event keynote presentation by newly-minted CEO, Thorsten Heins. You can hit play on the video above to watch his full 25 minute debut at BlackBerry DevCon Europe.

On the announcement front, there wasn't really anything in the way of BlackBerry news. But honestly, we didn't go to the show expecting any. Mobile World Congress is coming up at the end of this month, which makes a much more strategic time and venue to officially release PlayBook OS 2.0 (and maybe announce some PlayBook models with radios inside). And as for learning more about BlackBerry 10 phones, knowing they won't hit until later in the year it makes sense that BlackBerry World in May may be where we get a bigger glimpse. 

Continue reading article

RIM's new VP of Developer Relations, Alec Saunders, took the stage at BlackBerry Devcon Europe after new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins to discuss the new BlackBerry Developer website, BlackBerry Jam, and a ton of other improvements and additions coming to BlackBerry developers.

Presentation aside, the first thing we noticed was Alec's awesome t-shirt. Bright red with white lettering, the slogan reads "Keep Calm and Be Bold". Longtime readers of CrackBerry know we have a thing around here with wearing custom made BlackBerry shirts. We're loving that Alec is following the CrackBerry lead here. And like CrackBerry Kevin and his Sexy and You Know it Workout, RIM's VP of Developer Relations is leading by example and Being Bold, as demonstrated by his DevCon Keynote shirt! Keep it up Alec! #BeBold

It's show time!! Just as the SuperBowl kicked off on Sunday I boarded a plane to make the 8.5 hour jaunt over the pond to Amsterdam. And if tonight's pre-event registration reception was any indication of the 48 hours ahead of us, it's going to be a great DevCon. The first-ever BlackBerry DevCon Europe event is SOLD OUT. The sessions are booked up. And there are sooo many passionate BlackBerry developers on hand.

Things kick off formally tomorrow with the keynote, where RIM's new CEO Thorsten Heins will be making his first appearance at a BlackBerry event. That's RIM history I just had to see in person. RIM is live streaming the keynote so I'm going to skip the live blog (it's happening during the wee hours of the morning in North America), but I'll definitely record the appearance and have it up on the blogs for when North America wakes up. I'm not making any predictions on announcements for this one - I'm just excited to take in the vibe of what feels like a NEW RIM. 

I went Euro CrackBerry Kevin for the event -- grew out the hair and stuble -- and even made up some new Let's Rock & Roll This T-Shirts for the week. Check out the video above for a quick hello from me and Dave from BBThemes and Miguel from BB-Freaks. There will be lots of DevCon Europe action coming your way soon, so keep it locke to CrackBerry!

Kevin is already on the ground in Amsterdam, gearing up for BlackBerry DevCon Europe and we'll have plenty of coverage coming from the event but one thing you'll want to tune in for is the General Session Keynote happening on Tuesday, Feb 7th at 10am CET / 4AM EST -- ya, it's early. The event will be streamed live and we'll be tuned in, so make sure you join us.

BlackBerry DevCon Euroope LiveStream

BlackBerry DevCon Europe 2012 is edging closer and you may have noticed the early bird discount date has passed. Did you miss out on the early bird discount? Don't worry CrackBerry has your back. RIM has kindly offered CrackBerry readers a saving of 50% off the regular price. To avail of this discount head on to the DevCon registration page and use promo code DCJM63. There are a limited number so hurry and register now. Don't forget if you register now you can get 50% off the early bird discount.

On top of that all attendees will receive a free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. However, the biggest reason to get on a plane to Amsterdam next month would be to meet Kevin Michaluk, our fearless leader. He'll be speaking at his own session during the conference - COM332 Panel: Working with Bloggers and Media, which you should definitely check out. So, don't forget to sign up for that after you have registered.

The good stuff does not end there though. BlackBerry UK are also offering you a chance to win flight and accommodation to the event. To be eligible to win you must be following @UK_BlackBerry on Twitter and Retweet this message by them. You must be already registered to attend DevCon Europe, so hurry and use the code above before entering the competition. One last requirement for this offer is that you must be a UK resident and 18+ years old. Deadline for retweeting is 5pm January 20, 2012. Read the full Terms and Conditions of this competition here.

BlackBerry DevCon Europe is just a month away and in preparation for the event, RIM is holding a webcast entitled The Future of Web Development. The webcast is open to all but is a must if you are looking to develop and create standalone web applications for the BlackBerry platform, be it for smartphones or tablets.

The webcast is more of a taster session for what will come at DevCon Europe, it looks at how to build HTML5 apps and monetizing them through BlackBerry App World.

When: Tuesday 17th January 2012
Time: 4:00pm GMT/5:00pm CET (11:00am EST)

Register now for The Future of Web Development Webcast 

BlackBerry DevCon Europe 2012: 50% discount on tickets and a get a free BlackBerry PlayBook if you attend!

The 2011 BlackBerry year is almost over, which means it's time to start thinking ahead to 2012. The CrackBerry crew will be at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, and from there I'll be jumping on a plane to attend BlackBerry DevCon Europe! Following the recent success of BlackBerry DevCon Asia, BlackBerry DevCon Europe is shaping up to be an event definitely worth attending.

The inaugural BlackBerry DevCon Europe 2012 takes place on February 7th and 8th in Amsterdam, and Research In Motion wants you to be there. By attending, you'll be among the first to witness the birth of the next generation in application development, BlackBerry 10.

Whether you're new to developing for the BlackBerry platform, or you're an experienced app master, take up this offer and you'll be able to attend at half the cost to learn all there is to know about developing for 70 million-strong BlackBerry community.

CrackBerry Readers Save 50% on Registration: To get your 50% discount, visit online registration now, using this unique code before the year's out: DCJM18

Free PlayBook for all attendees: By attending BlackBerry DevCon Europe 2012, you'll also receive a free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

To find out more about the event sessions, and how you could help shape the future of BlackBerry apps, visit the BlackBerry DevCon Europe website.

I hope to see a lot of you at DevCon Europe in 2012! If you're there and you see me, be sure to say hi... I'll be the guy wearing a BlackBerry PlayBook around his neck on a gold chain! CrackBerry... DevCon... Amsterdam... BlackBerry 10... I smell trouble, and a whole lot of fun!

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