There are more than 55 million homes in America with at least one Apple product, according to CNBC’s All-America Economic survey. That's over half of all US households.
Indeed, 16% of households own one device; 12% own two devices; 13% own three to four devices; 9% own five; and 1% own more than five. Overall, the average household owns 1.6 Apple devices.
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C-level executives who tweet on Twitter are held in high regard, a new study by social media branding firm Brandfog has discovered.
In a survey conducted by the firm, 78% of respondents said CEOs who participate in social media leads to better communication, while 94% stated that it leads to an enhanced brand image. And 64% believe it provides greater transparency.
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According to a new study conducted by KPMG, Canada is the most cost-effective country to run a business in the digital sector. Comparing business costs and competitiveness in 14 countries, KPMG found that Canada tops them all.
The Competitive Alternatives 2012 report reveals that Canada's cost competitiveness advantage over the US is an impressive 15%. Britain placed a distant second, 8% ahead of the US.
Canada offers "the lowest effective corporate tax rates for digital operations," KPMG says. This helps explain why Canada has the third-biggest video game development industry in the world.
read moreThe 2012 Mobile Future in Focus report recently released by comScore says that 53% of Canadian smartphone owners used their phone for retail-related activities in a store.
One mobile media trend called the QR Code, scannable via a barcode scanning app on your smartphone, continues to gain in popularity as NFC remains slow to take off and could still be two or three years away. The report states that 16% of smartphone owners in Canada scanned QR Codes during December 2011, while 20% did so in the United States.
All that scanning is taking place on Apple and Android phones though- the report shows that the operating share of device traffic for mobile was just 6.5% for RIM, but 47.4% for Android and 37.7% for iOS in the United States.
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Startup Weekend Halifax, the Atlantic Canadian edition of the wildly popular Startup Weekend model, took place at Dalhousie University over the weekend. Open to all, Startup Weekends gather together people with skill, ideas, drive, business know-how, or just curiosity. With the help of mentors and professional entrepreneurs, the teams develop their product or service, and face-off at the end of a grueling 54-hour period.
Techvibes reported that Tunecore, which allows artists to sell their music in three steps, officially launched in Canada back in January. They have since come out with a handbook called the "Music Industry Survival Manual: New Rules For The Music Industry."
While you can view seven volumes here and order them for free, I'm going to outline in brief Tunecore's nine new rules for the music industry as it continues to shift from traditional to one with digital downloads, on-demand streams, and unlimited digital shelf space. Artists that use Tunecore have made over a quarter of a billion dollars from 500 million units of music.
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A new report released by the Toronto Board of Trade has found that Calgary has Canada's top information and communications technology cluster. Calgary bested cities with larger ICT industries, such as Vancouver and Montreal, thanks to impressive growth.
According to the report, Calgary's ICT sector grew by 5.7% from 2002 to 2010, compared with just 1.9% in Toronto. However, Canada fared poorly overall when pitted against the US, which saw Silicon Valley and other American cities rank well ahead of Calgary and co.
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Tablets, with regards to commerce, are typically seen as tools for consumers to purchase goods online, on-the-go. But they are quickly serving another purpose. Turns out, they're killing the cash register.
Clever retailers have found a way to bring tablets into bricks-and-mortar stores—and consumer reception is thus far very positive. These mobile devices, which act as point-of-sale devices, allow staff to move about the store instead of being stuck behind the cash register. And when a consumer wants to make a purchase, they don't have to line up in front of a counter—the nearest employee can make the sale right from the tablet, where in the store.
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When Apple unveiled the original iPad in the spring of 2010, it was the first of its kind in many ways. Sure, tablets have existed before the iPad - in fact, the idea of them has been around since the 1980s (Steve Jobs considered the concept back then, too). But the iPad was the first mass-marketed, consumer-friendly tablet, designed to usher in a "Post-PC World," as Apple would put it.
It seemed to catch the competition off guard. No one had a competing product ready to launch. And when tablets did start to surface, a year later, the iPad 2 launched, and made all the iPad 2 knockoffs antiquated.
read moreCarleton University in Ottawa has partnered with Waterloo's Research In Motion to launch the RIM Teaching and Collaborative Research Centre.
“Carleton is pleased to be working with RIM, one of the world’s leading technology companies,” said Rafik Goubran, dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Design. “This partnership further connects RIM to our world-class researchers and provides our students with the opportunity to experience and explore new possibilities in wireless communications and application development. Together we will train the next generation of leaders in this exciting field.”
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