category research v3.png

Less Than One-Third of Canadian Businesses Use Social Media, BMO Discovers

Less than one-third of Canadian small business owners are using social media, a new BMO Bank of Montreal survey reveals. And this comes despite the fact that half of Canadian business believe social media can increase profitability—not to mention it's free, when cost is often the only obstacle for a small business trying something new.

29% of Canadian small businesses don't believe that social media is a valuable tool, the survey found. 19% haven't tried because they lack knowledge.

read more

Security Catastrophe: Canadian Businesses are Not Prepared for the Mobile Revolution, Report Says

Unprepared for the mobile revolution, Canadian business are having their private data compromised. A new "Global Study on Mobility Risks" reveals that corporate mobile devices and the bring-your-own-device phenomenon are "rapidly circumventing enterprise security and policies in Canada."

71% of Canadians agree that using mobile devices is now necessary in business, but 72% also believe these devices put organizations at risk. Worse, just half of Canadian business have the necessary security controls to address the associated risks.

read more

Canadians Not Yet Sold on E-Commerce, Research Reveals

We know that Canadians lead the world in online engagement. So it's a bit of a surprise to learn that we're not yet comfortable with online commerce.

As it turns out, Canadians still prefer shopping at bricks-and-mortar stores, according to a new research report from The Boston Consulting Group. The report, which was commissioned by Google, compared the internet economies of several major countries, including France, Australia, and Germany.

read more

Execs and Politicians Done with RIM: Less Than 1% Plan to Buy Another BlackBerry

Everyone knows that Research In Motion has seen better days. It's easy to remember the tremendous publicity a then-beloved RIM got when U.S. president Barack Obama confessed an addiction to his BlackBerry smartphone. You don't hear him clacking away on those Qwerty keys much anymore, though.

If politicans' and executives' smartphone of choice offers any insight into mobile trends—and considering key factors like security play major roles in these decisions, the answer to that question is yes—then RIM is in deep trouble. A recent National Journal survey revealed that workers on Capitol Hill and executives in the private sector still use BlackBerrys—but that an overwhelming amount never plan to use one again. And these are the types that RIM's products were built for.

read more

Meet Canada's Grant Oyston: Can Social Media Trends and Big Data be Trusted in Light of Kony 2012?

Perhaps no one has drawn more attention than a Canadian university student in Nova Scotia named Grant Oyston. He has long questioned the charity behind the Kony 2012 movement.

His website, Visible Children, has garnered over 2.5 million views. After a notorious perception early on, he's starting to look a little better in the public’s eye as the infamous Kony campaign has taken a negative turn for the charity Invisible Children.

read more

Even Though Shares Already Down 90%, RIM Still Getting Shorted More Than Ever

Research In Motion shares have plunged by more than 90% from their 2008 highs of $140. In 2011 alone, the Waterloo-based tech giant saw its value plummet by three-quarters.

Yet the worst may still lie ahead. The company will reveal its quarterly financial report at the end of this month. And no one is optimistic about the numbers.

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek issued a warning that the BlackBerry maker will likely miss some of its targets. Toronto-based Northern Securities analyst Sameet Kanade stated in a research note that one of RIM's major revenue sources—a per-device fee charged monthly to carriers—may drop substantially. And BMO Nesbitt Burns analyst Tim Long says that average revenue per user and RIM's service margin will be under extra pressure over the next few quarters.

read more

84% of Companies Buying Tablets are Buying iPads, Research Reveals

Earlier this morning we reported on new data from IDC that suggests Apple's worldwide tablet marketshare has slipped a few more percentage points to about 54%. As myriad manufacturers continue to pump out Android tablets of all sizes and prices, Apple's iron grip on the planet's tablet space is gradually weakening.

But one area where the iPad retains incredible dominance is the enterprise. Although not aggressively marketed by Apple as a business-oriented tablet, the device has emerged as just that. A recent ChangeWave Research survey reveals that the iPad is a major hit with the corporate tablet market.

read more

Quantity vs. Quality: Android Floods Market, Slowly Erodes Apple's Domination of Tablets, IDC Says

Worldwide tablet shipments rose more than 56% quarter-over-quarter at the end of 2011 to over 28 million units, according to the International Data Corporation's Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker. That marks a 155% boost year-over-year, IDC says.

2011 saw nearly 70 million units shipped. In 2012, IDC expects more than 100 million units to ship. This forecast has been upped considerably from its initial estimate of less than 90 million.

read more

America Looks to End Canada’s Reign as Most Socially Networked Country in World

In 2011, Canada held the number one rank for the most social networking users in the world on a per capita basis, according to research conducted by eMarketer.

China and the U.S. have some of the biggest populations to set the largest overall number of social networking users. Although China outnumbers the U.S. by nearly two to one with 256.5 million social networking users, a better examination would be to look at the percentage of the country’s total population, seeing countries like the U.S. and Canada take the top rankings.

read more