Bell launches HSPA+ in 2 Yukon communities

BCE Inc. has launched 4G wireless service in Pelly Crossing and Burwash Landing, Yukon, the company said in a press release Monday.

Bell spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis clarified in an email that the service is delivered through an HSPA+ network.

Labelling requirements eased for wearables

Industry Minister James Moore announced Friday that the government is easing labelling requirements for electronic devices by allowing information to be displayed electronically on the devices' screens rather than in a physical display on gadgets.

A news release from Industry Canada said the changes take effect immediately, and it mentioned wearable devices, such as glucose monitors, as the type of equipment that would be affected.

Shaw offers TSN, Sportsnet TV-everywhere apps

Shaw Communications Inc. said Thursday its customers can now access TV-everywhere products for BCE Inc.’s TSN and Rogers Communication Inc.’s Sportsnet specialty channels.

Sybase alumnus Mike Daniels joins BlackBerry board

BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen has brought in another one of his connections from his days leading Sybase Inc. into the BlackBerry fold.

Stingray ditches Galaxie brand, launches new app

Stingray Digital Group Inc. is getting rid of its Galaxie brand for audio channels on subscription-TV services, putting all its services under the Stingray brand, and launching a new streaming app, the company said in a press release Tuesday.

Stingray said the move will allow it to group all its services in a single brand, including Stingray Music, Stingray Concerts and Stingray Music Videos.

BlackBerry devices bring in more cash in Q2

BlackBerry Ltd. posted a $207-million US net loss in its quarterly report released Friday, though it saw bump in the number of devices it derived revenue from in comparison to the previous period.

In its second quarter, which ended Aug. 30, the company posted revenue of $916 million US, down from $966 million US in the previous quarter and $1.57 billion US in the same period last year, though it recorded a net loss of $965 million US in that quarter, according to a press release.

Parents watch less television, spend more time online: MTM

Anglophone parents whose children still live at home watch less television but spend more time on the Internet, according to a new report from Media Technology Monitor.

Households with children are slightly more likely than the overall angolophone audience to have access to television, with 74 per cent having some sort of digital TV access compared with 71 per cent of the general English-speaking population, according to the report by MTM, a project of CBC/Radio-Canada.

BlackBerry launches Passport, new app

BlackBerry Ltd. launched a new smartphone, the Passport, on Wednesday, as well as an app that brings content from BlackBerry smartphones to computers and tablets.

The Passport, revealed at a launch event in Toronto that featured hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, is aimed at professional users, the company said in a press release, has a physical keyboard, as well as a 4.5-inch touchscreen shaped like a square and is roughly the size of a Canadian passport.

Telus, Mojio promise connected-car solution this year

Telus Corp. and technology maker Mojio Inc. announced on Tuesday they will team up to provide a connected-car service in Canada before the end of this year.

In a joint press release, the companies said the service will use Telus' national wireless network to connect to the Internet and employ a cellular device from Vancouver-based Mojio that connects to vehicle's onboard diagnostic port, which is on most cars manufactured since 1996.

Regulators want investment-focused wireless industry: Natale

Telus Corp. CEO Joe Natale said Thursday he cannot predict what decisions will result from the upcoming CRTC hearings on the wireless wholesale market, though he feels Canadian regulators are likely to maintain a system that encourages investment in mobile networks.

"I really don't believe that our government and our regulator wants to step away from an investment-oriented ... approach to the wireless business," he said during a CIBC investor conference in Montreal.

BlackBerry expands mobile-payment service in Indonesia

BlackBerry Ltd. said Thursday that its mobile payment application will be made available to iPhone and Android smartphone users in Indonesia in early 2015.

The company said in a press release that BBM Money has already been available in for BlackBerry users in Indonesia since early last year.

“By combining our DNA around security, and the real-time collaboration and privacy attributes of BBM, we are uniquely placed in the growing mobile payments space,” John Sims, BlackBerry's president of global enterprise services, said in the release.

Quarter of online video viewing on mobile: Ooyala

Mobile online video viewing doubled around the world over the last year and accounted for 27 per cent of all online video viewing in this year's second quarter, Ooyala Inc. said in a report released Monday.

The report said mobile's share of online video viewing increased 127 per cent over the last year and has quadrupled over the last two years. Ooyala, an online video management company, said this is because of a combination of faster networks and more advanced mobile devices.

Internet advertising money tops TV: IAB

A report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada shows that, for the first time ever, there was more revenue in this country last year in Internet advertising than television.

In a report released Wednesday, the IAB said Internet advertising revenue was more than $3.5 billion in 2013, up 14 per cent from a year earlier. That compared to $3.4 billion in television revenue, which was down two per cent from 2012.

Google announces new smartphone for India

Google Inc. on Monday announced a new smartphone, known as Android One, it will make  available first in India and other developing countries in the near future.

Google said in a blog post that the new product represents the company's efforts to get smartphones to the approximately five billion people, mostly in less developed parts of the world, who do not yet have such devices.

Bloomberg reported that the phones will start at a price of 6,399 rupees ($115 Cdn).

MTS, SaskTel to carry iPhone 6

Two regional wireless carriers from the Prairie provinces announced Monday they will carry Apple Inc.'s new iPhone 6. when it becomes available on Sept. 19.

Videotron cites mobile TV as key in LTE launch

Four years after Videotron flipped the switch on a new wireless network, the carrier is launching an LTE network that president and CEO Manon Brouillette says will help the company deliver TV content to its mobile customers.

Videotron, owned by Quebecor Inc., was one of the companies that picked up set-aside spectrum in the 2008 AWS auction, and has been delivering HSPA service to the province of Quebec and the Ottawa region since September 2010.  

Rogers boss defends big spending on spectrum

Rogers Communications Inc.’s CEO on Tuesday said his competitors underestimate the value of wireless spectrum — something Rogers spent multiple times more money on than any other company in this year’s 700 MHz auction — though he added his company has some “dreadful” customer service that needs to be improved upon.

Apple announces new phones, payment system, watch

Apple Inc. announced two new larger iPhones, a payment system and a wearable device, the Apple Watch, at a Tuesday event in Cupertino, Calif.

The new smartphones are, at 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches measured diagonally, larger than previous iPhones and feature an upgraded camera, improved WiFi connectivity and compatibility with the latest carrier technologies such as voice-over-LTE and WiFi calling.

No comment from Rogers on OLG reports

Rogers Communications Inc. declined Tuesday to comment on reports that it will bid, along with BCE Inc., for the right to help in the running of Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.

A Toronto Star article published on Monday said Rogers and Bell are expected to bid on the partnership with the provincial lottery organization. According to the article, such involvement could make lottery ticket purchases available from cellphones.

Twitter experimenting with instant-purchase tweets

Twitter Inc. said Monday it is testing a program that allows users on its social network to make purchases with the push of a new button that will be included in tweets.

New technology promises to do more with less spectrum

A new technology that is part of the next generation of LTE could help wireless carriers more than double the speed of their networks and make the most out of their limited spectrum holdings.

Each spectrum band, be it PCS, AWS or 700 MHz, is subdivided into smaller chunks of paired and unpaired spectrum that are used by carriers to deliver wireless services.

Telus introduces device-management system for companies

Telus Corp. on Wednesday announced a new device-management system for businesses, which it said is geared toward the growing trend of BYOD (bring your own device) among organizations.

The service is called MDM Made Easy, Telus said in a press release. Using technology and services from Vox Mobile and AirWatch LLC, it's a cloud-based device-management system that doesn't involve any on-premise hardware.

BCE, Rogers tell CRTC they don’t throttle mobile traffic

In documents submitted to the CRTC this week, BCE Inc. said it does not throttle mobile data traffic, though it’s prepared to if necessary, while Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron said it does and there is no contradiction between that and its experiment with mobile-TV plans where the data used does not count against caps.

Android makes up almost 85% of smartphone market: IDC

The dominant smartphone brands keep getting stronger as weaker brands, such as devices from BlackBerry Ltd., lose more ground, according to International Data Corp.

The technology research company said in a press release Thursday that worldwide smartphone shipments totalled 301.3 million in this year's second quarter, up 25.3 per cent from the same time a year earlier.

BlackBerry finished restructuring process: Reuters

BlackBerry Ltd. has concluded its restructuring process, Reuters reported Tuesday, quoting an internal company memo.

The news service said the memo, sent Friday by CEO John Chen, said: “We have completed the restructuring notification process, and the work force reduction that began three years ago is now behind us.”

He said the company would be “adding head count in certain areas such as product development, sales and customer service, beginning in modest numbers.”

One year later, could the wireless wars re-ignite?

Last summer, a conflict between the federal government and Canada’s three biggest wireless carriers, centering over rules around the 700 MHz spectrum auction and the prospect of a large U.S. carrier entering the Canadian market, reached a fever pitch.

Blackberry buying German encryption specialists

Blackberry Ltd. announced Tuesday that it is buying Secusmart GmbH, a German company that specializes in communications security and encryption.

The companies had an existing partnership, providing smartphones to governments and large businesses featuring Secusmart technology that provides separate disk space for encrypted communications and storage.

On Monday, a spokesperson for Germany’s interior ministry told the National Post that Blackberry devices were the only ones that meet their government’s standards for security.

World tablet shipments up 11% in second quarter

World tablet shipments were up 11 per cent in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, International Data Corp. said Thursday.

Rogers posts double-digit drop in earnings

Rogers Communications Inc. on Thursday posted a double-digit decline its second-quarter earnings compared to the same period last year in its first quarterly report since announcing its corporate overhaul in May.

The company posted net earnings of $405 million, down from $532 million in 2013's second quarter. When adjusted to not include non-recurring items, earnings were down to $432 million from $497 million.

Blackberry announces hosted BES10

BlackBerry Ltd. announced Wednesday that the BlackBerry Enterprise Services 10  (BES10) platform is now available from third-party providers as a hosted service.

BES10 is the enterprise management software bundle for BlackBerry administration, connecting the company’s different services together with locally managed solutions such as Microsoft Exchange.

 With hosted BES10, companies will have a choice of providers for their BlackBerry mobile management. 

Wireless broadband penetration falls short in Canada: OECD

Data released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development on Tuesday shows Canada falls well short of the average of economically advanced countries in terms of wireless-broadband penetration.

Figures on the OECD's website showed an average penetration rate of 72.4 per cent for wireless broadband among 34 countries in this group at the end of last year, meaning there is about three subscriptions for every four people.

Marty Beard named BlackBerry COO

BlackBerry Ltd. on Monday said it has made Marty Beard its new chief operating officer.

The company said in a press release Beard was most recently chairman and CEO of LiveOps Inc., a maker of cloud-based applications for customer service. Prior to that, he was president of Sybase 365, the mobile messaging and mobile commerce unit of Sybase Inc.

Facebook tests direct-purchase feature