[Kennedy.L]

Does anyone know if the personal/work modes on BB10 are only optional for enterprise customers?

I would LOVE to have the two modes by choice. All my personal contacts, emails, apps, etc. on one side of my phone and then be able to swap over to strictly school relevant things. I know I can create contact lists and have separate email accounts but that's not the same IMO.

Does anyone else see a use for this?

[lunaticwithin]

The system is known as BlackBerry Balance - I believe you will need to be enrolled on a server running the mobile fusion system so would generally only be available for corporate users

[joeldf]

So, RIM is going to abandon BB users who are BOYD'ers in corporate settings that dumped BES long ago and have nothing related to BB running on their email servers anymore?

That would not be smart move.

I would hope that a similar kind of separation would happen once you tie into an Exchange account through EAS on a BB10 device.

[lunaticwithin]

Not entirely sure how you read that from my response?

Blackberry Balance (i/e the system of creating a "work" partition) on your handset will need to be done by the Balance server.

You will still be able to setup your corporate email on your phone as long as your company supports EAS as I believe BB10 will support email in the same way as the PlayBook.

[joeldf]

Well, you mentioned Mobile Fusion, which is an added software package that must be purchased and running on the corporate email server. Something that I think a lot of smaller companies that dumped BES (like the firm I work at did the moment the iPhone did EAS) will likely not do.

Slight rant on my part, here... My boss made it clear at that time that he won't touch anything BlackBerry ever again. He wouldn't even consider BES Express even though it was free. He just heard "BlackBerry" and shut down. And that was when there were 4 of us out of 30 in the office still using a BB. Now, I'm the only one - so my influence is nil.

But, if Balance also kicks in on the handset when EAS is used, then that's great.

[lunaticwithin]

I think your confusing things here? Balance will need the server component to work in order to know what is "work" and what is "personal".

As long as your company allows you remote access to your email you should be able to set your email up on your blackberry, the same way as now via BIS but you in theory will see additional benefits such as calendar and contact sync in the same way as the playbook - however - you will not have the seperation between work and personal that balance gives.

[joeldf]

Okay.

Then that goes back to by original concern. Those who "bring their own devices" into an Exchange only company, and they happen to bring a BlackBerry (like me), will not get the benefit of Balance.

That's the mistake I think RIM is making, and what my initial post was about. A lot of smaller companies that dropped their BES software to save operating costs won't go back to something they have to add and pay for.

Maybe BB10 will have some other way of keeping some kind of separation between work and personal PIM functions on its own. We'll have to see once it comes out.

[lunaticwithin]

I didn't realise iOS and Android had a similar feature to Balance then without the need for the Mobile Fusion Server?

If I bring my current personal blackberry to work without a BES server then there is no distinction between work and personal - I can forward corporate data without any issue?

[joeldf]

Android and iOS don't have anything like Balance. I personally have no experience with either iOS or Android in a work environment, but I'm surrounded by iOS users at my office (with a couple Android users mixed in).

All I'm saying is that RIM should have some way to provide similar separation of PIM functions even without some additional backend server. That would be something to really differentiate BB10 from the other mobile OSs in a work environment.

I too get my work email by tying into my exchange account through BIS. With that, all I get are my emails. I have to do a direct USB connection with DM on my work computer to sync my contacts and calendar, which have no real separation on my phone once they are there.

What BB10 should offer is the option to separate PIM data as soon as you create a new account on the phone that happens to be an exchange account - even if there is no Balance or Mobile Fusion backend on that email server, just a straight Exchange server. Let the phone do it on its own. That could be one of the selling points for these phones over iOS and Android which don't do that.

Then again, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I may be reading more into this Balance thing than it is.

[lunaticwithin]

Possibly lol. Balance on the Playbook currently shows the PIM apps data together even though they are on separate partitions which I assume is the way BB10 will handle it. I'd like to see my work calendar against my personal one rather than as two separate apps.

There is also a "Work" folder containing apps decided by your company on your work partition - I would assume that this is the folder you are seeing when you "swipe" into work on BB10.

[SA Omair]

even am looking for that option! I was glad to see that in demo videos, but wen am holdin a q10 I dun find such option!

Does anyone know if the personal/work modes on BB10 are only optional for enterprise customers?

I would LOVE to have the two modes by choice. All my personal contacts, emails, apps, etc. on one side of my phone and then be able to swap over to strictly school relevant things. I know I can create contact lists and have separate email accounts but that's not the same IMO.

Does anyone else see a use for this?

[wg7]

Why can't BB enable Balance to be user defined UNLESS connected to corporate BES environment? My wife wants to keep her school email / etc. (she is a teacher) separate from personal and there is no way in hell her district will ever buy BES.

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