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Category Archives: mobile

Judgement Day has arrived for Canadian wireless

17 May

mobilicity

Thursday morning netted one of those surprising-but-not-really bits of news, with the announcement by Telus that it is acquiring small wireless carrier Mobilicity for $380 million. The deal is subject to government approval, which is in no way guaranteed. I wrote a piece over on Yahoo detailing why the acquisition is bad news for everyone, from consumers to the incumbent carriers themselves – and especially the government.

With additional funding unlikely to come from either within Canada or without, and other similarly cash-strapped new entrants Wind and Public Mobile unable or unwilling to buy the bleeding entity that is Mobilicity, there really doesn’t seem to be any other alternative. The deal has been rumoured for some time and was widely expected to become official ahead of the June 11 deadline for putting down deposits on the next wireless spectrum auction, which is scheduled for November.

With the wireless industry a giant mess of the government’s own creation, Industry Minister Christian Paradis and his colleagues are now under immense pressure to do something drastic. With Canadian bills already the highest in the world and edging higher, and the first of the low-cost competitors about to fall, there really is no delaying dramatic action any longer. What form that will take will be the fun thing to watch over the next few weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

 
4 Comments

Posted by on May 17, 2013 in mobile, telus

 

BlackBerry’s fight even harder in emerging markets

15 May

q5With BlackBerry announcing its new Q5 smartphone, it’s clear the company is looking to shore up its offerings in emerging markets. The device, which features a QWERTY keyboard and runs the latest BlackBerry 10 operating system, will be available in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America as early as July. While the company hasn’t yet announced pricing, the Q5 is intended to be a low-cost option for people who obviously don’t have as much disposable income as people in the West.

It’s a necessary move. Emerging markets have largely kept the company aloft over the past few years while its popularity swan-dived in more developed countries.

However, with the dual competitive reality of Google’s Android and Chinese phone manufacturers in these markets, the question quickly becomes: will the Q5 be enough? Read the rest of this entry »

 
2 Comments

Posted by on May 15, 2013 in africa, android, Google, mobile, nokia, RIM

 

Rogers roaming rate slash a welcome move

09 May

rogers-communications-2It’s not every day that Canadian wireless customers get good news, but today happens to be one of those with Rogers announcing that it is cutting its U.S. roaming rates. Customers can now buy roaming packages that supply 50 megabytes of data per day for $7.99, which is a 20-per-cent cut from the previous $10.

The company says the 50 MB is double what the typical subscriber uses per day in Canada. That’s likely true, although it’s a bit of a misnomer in that people usually need their phone’s data more when they’re not at home and therefore able to access email and other info over wired connections. Ultimately, it’s not that hard to crack 50 MB while traveling.

Nevertheless, it’s still a welcome move because roaming is quickly approaching affordability – with a little planning and forethought, Rogers customers can now visit the U.S. without breaking the bank. Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on May 9, 2013 in mobile, rogers

 

Smartphone market is distorted by middle men

23 Apr
steve-jobs-holding-original-iphone

Steve Jobs and the original iPhone: remember when it cost only $399?

The big question on tech watchers’ minds heading into Apple’s latest quarterly earnings report on Tuesday is: what’s wrong with the company? While Apple could once do no wrong, it has seen its share price swoon more than 40% over the past few months, closing below $400 last week for the first time since Dec. 2011.

As I wrote on Thursday, there’s nothing really wrong with the company per se – it’s just that Moore’s Law is finally catching up to it. Apple is almost entirely a hardware company, with 94% of its revenue coming from selling iPhones, iPads, Macs and iPods. Only 6% of its hefty cash flow comes from iTunes, apps and software sales (it’s doubtful this will change materially for the current quarter).

With Moore’s Law continually accelerating the price-performance ratio of all hardware, those companies that make most of their money from such goods will inevitably come back down to earth, regardless of what kind of run they have. And boy did Apple have a run – its decade of iPod-to-iPhone-to-iPad was an unprecedented string of hardware hits that will be difficult for anyone, including the company itself, to duplicate. Read the rest of this entry »

 
3 Comments

Posted by on April 23, 2013 in apple, microsoft, mobile

 

Lessons from Denmark’s telecom market

26 Mar
Even Danish vikings understood the benefits of cheap, accessible technology.

Even Danish vikings understood the benefits of cheap, accessible technology.

I spent a few days in Denmark last week doing research for my next book, Humans 3.0. One of the chapters will look at whether technological advance is making us happier as a whole, and with Denmark regularly ranking as the happiest country on the planet, I thought there might be some insights to be found. There definitely were and I’ll revisit this topic in future posts.

One of the contributing factors to Danes’ high satisfaction levels is surely the excellent state of their telecommunications services. Denmark has some of the fastest and cheapest wireline and wireless offerings in the world.

On the home broadband side, the country rates third overall in terms of overall value, according to Ookla’s Net Index. I almost wept tears of envy when doing speed tests at my friend’s house, where I was staying. I got even sadder when I learned that his ultra-fast, symmetrical download and uploads speeds (with unlimited usage) costs only about $15 a month. Similar service either doesn’t exist in Canada, or you have to break the bank to get it.

On the wireless side, with the debate currently stirred up again over whether Canada’s market is competitive, I thought it might be instructive to see how the Danes manage. In that vein, I ventured into a Telia store, pretending to be interested in buying an iPhone 5. Despite having only 6 million people, Denmark has four facilities-based wireless competitors: Telia, Telenor, 3 and TDC. Read the rest of this entry »

 
8 Comments

Posted by on March 26, 2013 in denmark, iphone, mobile, telecommunications

 
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