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There are Over 200 Competing Tablets. And the iPad Outsells Them All - Combined

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.

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RIM and Ottawa's Carleton University Open Teaching and Collaborative Research Centre

Carleton 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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Losing at Home: Apple's iPhone Has Dethroned RIM's BlackBerry in Canada

I suppose it was inevitable. As Android and iOS devoured RIM's marketshare in the US, Canadians maintained their patriotic loyalty to the Waterloo-based Research In Motion. On home soil, RIM's BlackBerry smartphones held their ground—yes, marketshare was dwindling, but RIM always retained its top spot.

However, times have changed. New data reveals that RIM, a pioneer of smartphones in the early 2000s, no longer holds the crown in Canada.

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Tablet Gaming Will Become a $3 Billion Market in by 2014, Juniper Forecasts

Tablet gaming generated nearly $500 million in revenue last year—not bad for a newly emerging market. But being in infancy, there's plenty of room for growth, and Juniper Research is predicting intense momentum through 2014.

According to the research firm, tablet gaming will become a $3-billion-plus market within two years, as tablets continue to land in more consumers' hands and developers craft bigger and better games for the devices. As Juniper notes, tablets have been going to higher-income households, where the demographics tend to buy more games and also buy more in-game items.

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Canada's Internet Economy is Crumbling and Must be Fixed

More than 8 in 10 Canadian households now have internet access, according to Statistics Canada. Even in rural areas, more than two-thirds have Canadians have internet. However, internet access penetration is just one side of the coin.

The other side is how good, and how costly, our internet is. And that's where things go dim. See, while we all may have internet, we're overpaying for it, and the stuff we're getting is far from cutting-edge.

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Developer Interest in BlackBerry is Low and Dropping Fast, Research Reveals

Worldwide developer interest in RIM's current BlackBerry platform has plunged to a low of just 16%, down a steep 20% in just three months. For comparison, almost 90% of developers are "very interested" in developing for Apple's iOS platform, while about 80% are interested in Google's Android platform for smartphones (though it's an interesting sidenote that far fewer developers show any interest in Android tablets).

This grim finding comes from a report published by Appcelerator in conjunction with research firm IDC. According to their study, developers appear to be waiting for Research In Motion to release BlackBerry 10, the QNX-based operating system for its smartphones.

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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.

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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.

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