Bell

Will iPhone steal market share from BlackBerry?

Hi folks! As per my previous blog post, iPhone will soon be available at the major carriers across Canada. What does this mean to us?

Well obviously some might think this will foster competition but unfortunately the carriers haven’t been one to really compete with each other. They typically have prices that are in lock step with one another. One would almost think that they get together in the background and have meetings on setting their pricing the same.

No, I think the big thing here isn’t going to be a major shift in pricing, but a major shift in marketshare. What we will see is with the iPhone more readily available it will start to encroach on BlackBerry’s territory. Of Course the BlackBerry is still scene as the corporate smartphone leader but I think with this increased availability it will be hard for corporate types to resist taking a small peak at what else is out there.

-RP

iPhone in Canada, coming to Bell and Telus

Hi folks! As some of you may know, Rogers is the only wireless provider that offers the iPhone in Canada. For a long time now customers of Bell and Telus have been hoping for Apple’s prize fighter of a smart phone to come to their networks.

Well it looks like the wait is going to finally be over. Bell and Telus are rumoured to have inked a deal with Apple regarding providing the iPhone. I haven’t heard any details on the types of plans that will be involved but I have heard that Internet speeds will be up to 21 mbps.

So for those of you that do have smartphones with Bell or Telus, this might be your chance to upgrade. If you were considering upgrading to a new smartphone, just wait a little longer and you can have a shiny new iPhone!

-RP

BlackBerry Device software version 4.5 available for Canadians

Recently the latest software revision came out for our BlackBerries for us Canadians that use BlackBerries. Also for you BES users, the latest maintenance release is out and it provides HTML email support.

I recently tried these updates out and I have to say I love them. My BlackBerry Curve now reads email as HTML emails, something that has been available in other devices for quite some time. Also the new 4.5 update added video support to my Curve by using the camera as a video camera. It’s always nice getting new functionality like this without having to pay extra for it!

The one downside from the update I noticed is that my BlackBerry Curve would almost completely drain it’s battery in half a day. My BlackBerry Curve used to run for at least a day and a half to two days before that based on my usage. I quickly went through my settings and set a few applications to query less frequently. I also deleted the ESPN and CNN applications. After I did that everything went back to normal battery time. It seems like some of these applications didn’t take to the new update well and started indirectly causing a battery drain. On a side note, I always leave my bluetooth on so when I get in and out of my car it automatically synchronizes with my car’s bluetooth cell phone ability. This battery drainage wasn’t an issue before so I refused to accept the fact that it was the bluetooth causing the drain. I’m glad I took the time to troubleshoot it because now everything is good!

 -Cheers, RP

Bell Canada and Google at each other’s throats regarding Net Neutrality

Bell Canada as you may know is currently in a heated battle with consumers regarding Internet throttling. This obviously has Net Neutrality proponents up in arms. Bell is insisting on still throttling it’s customers Internet use such as with Bit Torrent but consumers are demanding that this practice be stopped.

Recently the CRTC deemed that Bell wasn’t breaking any laws and is allowing Bell to continue this practice. Google has sent a message to Bell regarding this, to quote Google ”From consumer, competition and innovation perspectives, throttling applications that consumers choose is inconsistent with a content and application-neutral internet, and a violation of Canadian telecommunications law, which forbids unfair discrimination and undue or unreasonable preferences and requires that regulation be technologically and competitively neutral.”

Bell didn’t like what Google had to say and said this “The commission should see these claims for what they really are: the use of policy rhetoric devoid of substance in order to promote vested business interests. Indeed, the opposite of these claims is clearly the case; necessity is the mother of invention.”.

This made me laugh. Bell of all people saying that “the use of policy rhetoric devoid of substance in order to promote vested business interests”. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black. Yeesh.

-RP