Welcome to this week’s edition of the cross-platform app roundup! This week I noticed a slight trend in the apps I chose for this roundup – they’re all (except the last one) rooted in past technologies. I’m all about paying homage to the classics, and these apps for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry are all great examples of that. So, let’s have a look at what’s hot on the other major platforms so that we might get an idea of what their audiences are looking for.
Continue reading ‘A Look at the Latest Smartphone Apps That Have Launched’
Tag: smartphonesPage 2 of 7
Hopefully this will be the new Canadian anthem.
RIM is still killing it in Canada ahead of Apple and Google and with 42% of the smartphone market, ahead of Apple’s 31% and Android’s 12.2%. Nokia is barely a player with only 6.4% of the market and Windows has even less with 5.1% of the smartphone market. The data comes from a new report on the Canadian mobile industry from market research firm ComScore Inc. In terms of smartphone adoption in general, Canada is at 32.8%, which is a little higher than the US which is at 32.2%. Europe is doing really well with smartphone penetration with numbers such as United Kingdom (40.8%), Spain (40.2%) and Italy (38.3%) in terms of smartphone adoption. But then again, Europe is a Nokia-based society and nobody is really taking that company seriously as a smartphone. It’s more like a “semi-intelligent phone”.
via @thehartley
Another example of just how outdated these recording laws are: police departments in other states are creating their own apps that directly violate the eavesdropping laws of other states.
There is a growing trend of recording and reporting incidents by the public via smartphones/mobiles these days. The trend covers events such as the police killing a man near the BART system, a plane crashing in the Hudson, tragic moments from the Iranian elections, and countless more. Recording the world around you has become commonplace in today’s society. Just take a look at the site CrowdReel, which publishes pictures from Twitter streams around the world.
Recently, a case has brought to light outdated eavesdropping laws in Illinois and 11 other states. The case involves two individuals who recorded public officials (one of which used her BlackBerry) because they wanted a record of what was said for their own personal protection. This act landed them potential sentences of 15 years in prison (the sentence is much greater when it involves a public official versus a civilian).
Continue reading ‘Eavesdropping Laws Need to Be Updated to Account for Smartphones’
Click pic to enlarge
Millennial Media has released their Mobile Mix Report and things are looking good for both RIM and the smartphone market in general. Here are some BlackBerry-specific highlights from the report:
- RIM devices represented five of the top 30 Mobile Devices, the BlackBerry Curve reclaimed the number 2 spot this month.
- RIM ad requests increased by 60% Q3 to Q4 in 2010.
- Travel and Vacation app impressions doubled quarter-over-quarter. Apps in this category have evolved to bring online capabilities to the mobile platform (e.g., reservations, check-in, boarding passes, travel updates, etc). The double digit quarterly growth shows that mobile consumers found value in staying connect through their mobile devices as they traveled this holiday season.
Hit the jump for screenshots and highlights of the Mobile Mix Report.
Continue reading ‘Mobile Mix Report from Millennial Media Shows 60% Increase in RIM Ad Requests’
RIM are making some great headway in Venezuela, and BlackBerry is the top selling smartphone in Latin America. In Q3 of 2009, BlackBerry accounted for 37% of smartphone shipments to Latin America, according to IDC. This is up from 14% the year previous.
What seems to be driving the growth, particularly in Venezuela, is the popularity of BlackBerry Messenger and the platform’s security. According to Douglas Ochoa, the VP of communications at Telefonica Venezuela, “Venezuelans are, how can you say it, mistrustful. So they’re looking for a way to communicate, to be connected, in a very secure way, and I think Blackberry has done that.”
Since BlackBerry was first introduced in Venezuela, sales have increased more than 100% per trimester, and the device, which costs anywhere from VEB869 (US$200) to VEB6,579 (US$1,530), depending on the model, has become a status symbol.
