Nearly four in 10 Canadians value the internet as much as electricity and water. 38% of us want smart appliances. 54% of us watch movies and TV shows on computers. And most of us with tablets and smartphones have at least a second screen running while watching our actual television.
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What a difference one year makes.
US smartphone ownership is up from 38% in 2011 to 50% today, according to Nielsen, while Canadian smartphone ownership is up to 54% from 36%, according to J.D. Power.
88% of mobile device owners who have downloaded an app in the past month are Android or iOS users. And we now average 41 apps on our smartphones, up from 32 last year.
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Bad news for RIM's BlackBerry today. Vancouver's Absolute Software, a provider of firmware-embedded, endpoint security and management solutions, has released Absolute Manage 6.1, which includes expanded Bring Your Own Device support for smartphones and laptops.
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Telus-owned Koodo Mobile has once again been crowned by Canadian consumers as Canada's best wireless company.
According to the J.D Power and Associates 2012 Canadian Wireless Total Ownership Experience Study, Canadians rated Koodo higher than any other stand-alone cellphone carrier, ranking "exceptionally well" in cost of service and offerings and promotions.
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Lloyed Lobo is right in saying that Nokia’s Lumia 900 is getting some pretty solid reviews. Pulled videos aside, Nokia’s goal is to be the premier provider of smartphones that run on Microsoft’s Mango operating system here in North America.
You could say that Nokia has basically built a competitive minimum viable product with a few basic features added in an attempt to re-capture some of the mobile market. The phone is only available at Rogers in Canada but is selling well worldwide.
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Quebec-based LiveRides.ca, a ridesharing network, has launched an iPhone app. The free mobile app will allow long distance commuters to find and offer car rides anywhere in Canada from their smartphone.
“Canadians have traditionally stayed away from other forms of ridesharing. Up until now, drivers and passengers didn’t have the ability to see who they’d share a ride with,” said Steven LaChance, co-founder of LiveRides.ca. "With LiveRides social profiles, drivers and passengers now have the ability to view each other’s profiles to help them make a more informed decision about their travel partner. By sharing a ride, people save gas and money, reduce carbon emissions and meet new friends.”
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Canadian discount wireless carrier Wind Mobile added only 12,364 new subscribers during its last quarter, the company reported today. This is up just 3% from the previous quarter.
The startup carrier now has 415,000 subscribers, despite once boasting about a lofty goal of having one million by this time. Wind is also struggling to increase ARPU—it's up only 2.2% year-over-year.
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97% of teenagers agree that texting while driving is dangerous. Two-thirds agree that it is very dangerous.
And yet... half of them do it anyway.
This alarming statistic is the result of a nationwide survey conducted by telecom behemoth AT&T in the US. The research found that a shocking 43% of American teens have texted while driving in the past three months.
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Last month Tim Hortons launched