Shaw launches on-demand viewing of History

Shaw Communications Inc. said Thursday it has launched a mobile app and upgraded the website for its History channel to allow its subscribers on-demand viewing of almost 300 hours of programming.

Shaw said in a press release the History Go application is available for users of Apple Inc.’s iPhones and smartphones powered by Google Inc.’s Android software. The on-demand service can also be accessed at history.ca.

BlackBerry CEO would consider selling BBM: reports

BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen said Tuesday he would consider selling BBM, the company’s messaging service, according to different media reports Tuesday.

CNBC quoted Chen in an interview as saying: "If somebody comes to me with $19 billion, I would definitely sell it. I would recommend to the board to take it."

Rogers launches smartphone upgrade offer

Rogers Communications Inc. has launched a new program to allow customers to get new smartphones every 12 months.

Subscribers to the Rogers Next program, who are on a two-year term, pay an extra $24.99 per month for the right to upgrade to a new smartphone after 12 months with no extra charges for the new phone or connection fees, provided the phone’s subsidized cost is less than $250, Rogers said in a press release Wednesday. If the cost is more than $250, the customer pays the difference.

Blackberry CEO John Chen slams “inappropriate” T-Mobile offer

BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen said in a blog post Tuesday he was “outraged” at T-Mobile US Inc. after the U.S. carrier sent a targeted email to BlackBerry users last week offering them a deal if they switched to an Apple iPhone 5S.

In a posting on the BlackBerry website, Chen said the offer, which was billed as “a great offer for BlackBerry customers,” was “clearly inappropriate and ill-conceived.”

Android, iPhone users can make free calls on new BBM

BlackBerry Ltd. announced a new version of its BBM messaging system Thursday that will, among other features, allow users of Apple Inc.’s iPhone and smartphones powered by Google Inc.’s Android system to make free calls to other BBM users over a WiFi or data connection.

Telus working on Public Mobile integration

Telus Corp. is “assessing” the pricing plans it makes available to Public Mobile subscribers as it works to migrate those customers onto its LTE network this year, the company’s chief commercial officer said.

“We are assessing Public Mobile pricing right now and looking at product offerings,” Joe Natale, Telus’ executive vice-president and chief commercial officer, said Thursday in a conference call with analysts to discuss the company’s fourth quarter results.

Android, Apple account for 95.7% of smartphone market: IDC

Google Inc.’s Android operating system and Apple Inc.’s iOS software powered 95.7 per cent of the smartphones shipped globally in 2013’s third quarter, a report released Wednesday showed.

That market share was up from 91.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012, International Data Corp. said in a release. For 2013 overall, these two operating systems were found in 93.8 per cent of all smartphones shipped, up from 87.7 per cent in 2012, it said.

Andrew Bocking leaves BlackBerry’s BBM unit

BlackBerry Ltd. confirmed Monday that Andrew Stocking has left his post as executive vice-president of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

His LinkedIn profile shows that he’s held that position since June last year, and has been an employee of BlackBerry and its predecessor, Research In Motion Ltd., since 2000.

BlackBerry spokeswoman Kim Geiger said in an emailed statement that Bocking “made the decision to leave BlackBerry. We thank him for his years of leadership and contribution.”

Wireline data gains ‘highlight’ of Q4: BCE’s Cope

BCE Inc. CEO George Cope called the company’s wireline data revenue growth the “highlight” of its fourth-quarter results, released Thursday.

“From my perspective, the highlight of the quarter is the data revenue growth in wireline of four per cent,” Cope said in a conference call with analysts.

Wireline data revenue came in at $1.51 billion during the quarter, BCE said in a press release, driven by services to businesses and higher residential revenue from Internet and television customers. 

Canadian mobile data traffic, speeds up almost 100% in 2013: Cisco

The average mobile connection speed of Canadian smartphones nearly doubled in 2013, climbing to more than 10 Mbps, Cisco Systems Inc. said in a new report released Wednesday.

In Canadian highlights for an annual update of its Visual Networking Index data usage summary, Cisco said the average smartphone connection speed in Canada in 2013 reached 10,777 kbps, or 10.5 Mbps, up from 5,824 kbps, or about 5.7 Mbps, in 2012.

Google to sell Motorola Mobility

Google Inc. said Wednesday it has reached a deal to sell Motorola Mobility LCC to Lenovo Group Ltd. for $2.91 billion US.

Google CEO Larry Page said in a blog post Wednesday that the smartphone business is “super competitive, and to thrive it helps to be all-in when it comes to making mobile devices.”

He said added that Motorola will be “better served” by Lenovo, a China-based computer manufacturer, which Page added “has a rapidly growing smartphone business.”

BlackBerry update unlocks FM radio

BlackBerry Ltd. announced an update to its operating system on Tuesday that, among other things, unlocks a built-in FM radio on certain models.

The company said in a release Tuesday that version 10.2.1 of its BlackBerry 10 OS will unlock that radio on its Z30, Q10 and Q5 devices, and that no network connection is needed to use the radios.

Smartphone shipments neared a billion last year: reports

A pair of new market reports said there were about one billion smartphones shipped around the world last year, and both pegged year-to-year growth of such transactions at just less than 40 per cent.

International Data Corp. said in a release Monday that vendors shipped just over one billion smartphones in 2013, up 38.4 per cent form 2012. It said 55.1 per cent of all mobile phone shipments were smartphones, up from 41.7 per cent in 2012.

Juniper Research said in another release Tuesday that smartphone shipments totalled 980 million last year, up 39 per cent from 2012.

Seniors bigger users of radio, TV: report

Canadian seniors are bigger users of traditional media such as television and radio than younger people, while they are less frequent users of newer media and less likely to own smartphones and tablets, according to a new report.

Android users expected to exceed a billion this year

Google Inc.’s Android operating system will reach 1.1 billion users in 2014, research company Gartner Inc. said.

That would mark a 26 per cent increase from 2013, Gartner said in a release Tuesday.

"Android holds the largest number of installed-base devices, with 1.9 billion in use in 2014, compared with 682 million iOS/Mac OS installed-base devices," Annette Zimmerman, principal analyst with the company, said in the release.

Will wireless providers benefit from smartphone market’s ‘device exhaustion’?

When smartphones first became available, they were groundbreaking and innovative because they brought together the functions of previously separate devices—cameras and GPS, telephones and computers—into one.

They “integrated the functions of other devices we had in our pocket at the time,” Glen Yeung, managing director and global head of technology research at Citi, said in a telephone interview.

Now, though, it seems we’re all out of devices to integrate.

More Canadians surf and watch, MTM says

The rate of English-speaking Canadians using the Internet while watching television has more than doubled from seven years ago, a new report by Media Technology Monitor (MTM) said.

Bell, Telus chipping away at Rogers’ lead in postpaid wireless

Data usage and subscriber growth powered BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. to higher first quarter wireless revenues as the two companies added more postpaid subscribers at a faster pace than rival incumbent Rogers Communications Inc.

In an earnings statement released Thursday, Bell said it added a net 59,497 postpaid wireless subscribers in the three-month period that ended March 31, bringing its total postpaid subscriber base to 6.48 million, representing 84.5 per cent of its 7.67 million total wireless subscribers.