Luxury brands often appeal to consumers because of their mystery and prestige. But it appears that free mobile apps accessible to everyone is the next key to success in the luxury market.
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Toronto's Claystone Labs has launched its Android homescreen service. The Canadian startup's vision is to become "Everything on your Android phone in one swipe."
It's a new way to using your Android device; Claystone's navigation is composed of Panels that feature content and apps to interact with. Panels are layered atop one another each time a user selects an item, which creats a swipable, browsable Stack. Confused? Check out the video below to see Claystone work its magic.
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In a recent report called Long Term Evolutionary Challenge: Limiting Wireless Carrier Gluttony, Seabord Group argues that Canada must stimulate competition in the mobile services sector. Consumers complain about high prices and the lack of choice in the Canadian mobile market, composed mainly of an oligopoly between Bell, Rogers, and Telus.
Seabord reports that there is an antipathetic movement toward big mobile telcos since consumers have few phone device choices. Thus, it translates into a lower penetration of mobiles services in Canada versus OECD countries and also many emergent countries.
read moreIn 1999, Waterloo-based Research In Motion gave the world a gift. It was called the BlackBerry 850, and it redefined the mobile phone. The 850 triggered an 80% surge in RIM's revenue that year and sparked an incredible run of global growth. The company quickly became a Canadian legend and a worldwide megalithic force in the mobile space. But times have changed.
MBA Online recently looked at RIM and published an infographic titled The Death of RIM: A Case Study. While it lacks many of the finer details that contributed to RIM's downward spiral, the graphic captures the company's past 13 years and encapsulates them into a digestible nutshell.
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Facebook now has more than 900 million monthly active users and more than 500 million mobile users, according to an update to its IPO filing. More than half of those active users come back every single day.
The social networking giant also revealed it generated just over $1 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2012, up 45% from one year ago but down 6.5% from the previous quarter. Advertising made up 82% of Facebook's revenue in the first quarter.
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Waterloo's Research In Motion has hired Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP. The law firm has been hired to work out a restructuring plan.
The plan could see RIM perform any of the following major moves: sell assets, seek joint ventures, or license patents, according to inside sources cited by Reuters. The most likely option at this point is for RIM to open up its BlackBerry 10 operating system, sources suggest.
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Canadians have remained largely loyal to Research In Motion despite its recent follies. However, it appears that their allegiance to the Waterloo-based company is fading.
Overall smartphone ownership is up by 13% in the past six months in Canada, according to Ipsos Reid. Now, more than one-third of Canadians own smartphones—up from just one quarter in August 2011.
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Video is growing and going mobile. Nearly half of Canadians are watching online videos more than they were last year. And 35% of smartphone owners, 56% of tablet owners, and 75% of laptop owners in Canada are regularly watching videos on their portable and mobile devices.
These are some of the more striking statistics found in new research from Ipsos MediaCT and Google. According to their March 2012 Canada Video Study, Canadians watch an average of eight videos per week, with only 13% watching none.
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Maclean's recently published a list of Canadians under the age of 25 worth keeping an eye on. There were multiple athletes, multiple scientists, and multiple politicians. But only one tech entrepreneuer (and he was technically filed under "business.")
That lone ranger is named Ted Livingston. He's the founder and CEO of Kik Interactive. Based in Waterloo, Kik is a tech startup most famous for its mobile messenger app (and more recently Clik, which turns your smartphone into a television remote).
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The BC Chapter of Meeting Professionals International has recognized Vancouver's QuickMobile for its positive impact on the meetings and conventions industry.
During the chapter’s National Meetings Industry Day (NMID) at the Vancouver Convention Centre, QuickMobile, a developer of mobile apps, received the NMID Influence Award. The award recognizes people or organizations that have supported the development of meetings and conventions or the development of policy and programs impacting the industry.
In 2011, QuickMobile delivered more than 300 mobile event apps to customers around the world.
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