Posted on November 12, 2010, at 10:57 AM .
SquareTrade, a company that provides extended warranties and insurance for smartphones, released some data they collected about the various smartphones, their return rates and reliability. Here are some highlights:
- The iPhone 4 has the greatest reliability with 2.1% experiencing a non-accident related malfunction in the first year.
- Motorola and HTC came in at 2.3% and 3.7% malfunction rates in the first year, respectively.
- BlackBerry devices had the lowest first-year accident rate, at 6.7%.
- iPhone 4 had the highest first-year accident rate at 9.4%.
This seems in line with what we know about BlackBerry and iPhone. How many iPhone users do you know who have a cracked touchscreen in the first year of owning a device? By contrast, I have dropped my BlackBerry countless times and it keeps on ticking. In terms of reliability, I have had many devices brick for apparently no reason and the iPhone doesn’t have the same software issues. We can expect to see these numbers change significantly in RIM’s favor with QNX.
Posted on November 11, 2010, at 7:43 PM .
Increasingly, wireless providers are selling their devices in places you wouldn’t expect people to purchase them. The most recent example of this is a 7 year deal struck by Mobilicity with 7-Eleven in which the provider’s phones will be sold in the chain’s convenience stores in three Canadian cities. Who walks in to a 7-Eleven for a Slurpee and walks out with a Bold 9700?
There are several similar stories like the Mobilicity deal. Wind Mobile partnered with Blockbuster to offer mobile devices in movie rental outlets. Rogers sells devices in Shoppers Drug Mart and Bell and Telus sell devices in Black’s retail outlets. Even the grocery store chain Loblaws is beginning to sell mobile phones.
Other places you can purchase a BlackBerry include Amazon, Best Buy, Wal-Mart etc.
So where did you buy your BlackBerry? Would you ever buy one at a grocery store or 7-Eleven?
Posted on November 11, 2010, at 1:31 PM .
Several sites have noted that Bank of America might be dropping BlackBerry as their primary smartphone. This is a strange move considering financial institutions are one of the most important institutions to focus on security, along with government and defense. If the financial sector isn’t going to take security seriously, and use a smartphone that is built from the ground up to keep important data safe, how are we to trust these institutions with our money?
The fact that these institutions are allowing other smartphones on the network may be bad for RIM’s revenues or it might not. Bank of America for example, is allowing the shift to start in trials, and while the company has a lot of employees, the smartphone industry is growing at a rate that far outpaces the number of these employees shifting.
Does it worry you that your bank may be using a less secure smartphone?
Posted on November 11, 2010, at 12:25 PM .
Dave of Calx let us know that he’s dropped the prices on all Calx themes to $0.99 from $4.99. By late November, Calx will be releasing some new themes including a revised Mord, Pod and Anyon themes for all devices, so it looks like a clearance sale until then. We’re looking forward to seeing what the new themes are like.
Check out all of the Calx themes in the store to take advantage of this deal.
Posted on November 10, 2010, at 5:36 PM .
The AT&T AppCenter isn’t the best resource for downloading apps for your BlackBerry. Considering AT&T users have access to carrier billing through App World, it’s not clear why anyone would use it as a source for apps. The app prices are identical and the navigation isn’t as good as App World.
One of the latest moves that makes AppCenter even more convoluted is the addition of the GetJar app store as an app. It’s sort of like a puzzle wrapped in an enigma. More app distribution points are good because it gives users options and the ability to find the lowest price, but it also makes the app market complicated and frustrating for the less advanced users. Maybe GetJar and AT&T should have just found a way to merge their inventories.
