Craig the Author

For a few months now I have been planning this but now it is official.
I am writing a book for John Wiley and Sons under their Wrox line called Professional BlackBerry Support and Development.

I am very passionate about the BlackBerry technology and feel that more people should see how easily they can extend its functionality beyond just email.

Wiley agreed and the project is underway.

As you can imagine, writing a 500 page book in your spare time can take a while. I will be finished writing this book in March 2005 and it will be on sale in August 2005.

I will be concentrating heavily on the BES 4.0 and 4.0 hand-held code which is the next big step forward in the BlackBerry technology. This should be shipping in December 2004 and so it makes sense to follow that up as soon as possible with a book that features it.

While I will be covering many support topics in the book like rolling out BlackBerry's, knowing when to add new server hardware, etc., I will be concentrating on development heavily. The development topics are mostly BES, hand-held and mail system independent so it doesn't really matter which version of BES you are using, you will still benefit greatly from the topics covered.

The book already has an ISBN number which is 0764589539
It should start showing up on Amazon and other on-line book stores shortly. I can't say for sure if you will be able to pre-order it, but it will go on sale in August 2005.

If you have stumbled across this blog, feel free to email me with any suggestions for this book.

If you have ever seen a Wrox book, you know that the author (or authors) get to have their jib on the front cover. I'd better hit the gym and book in for some botox quick!

Webinar Fun

On November the 10th 2004 I had the pleasure of speaking during the RIM Webinar.
When I used to work in the systems integration and vendor industry I used to do presentations all the time and spent time as a Banyan instructor which was very fulfilling.

Since I've been in the "end user" market I have only presented to very small groups if at all.

So, being very passionate about BlackBerry's and the Idokorro solution I happily agreed to speak.
Apparently the webinar had about 240 registrations with about 120 people actually "attending". More will watch it on-line in its archived form. Click here to watch it (you will have to register [it's free] to watch).