BlackBerry has a lot of momentum at the moment and they plan on building on it with the announcement of the BlackBerry Classic today in media events in New York City, Frankfurt and Singapore.
The BlackBerry Classic has a familiar design, but upgrades the classic look with high-performance and modern features. Similar in appearance to the iconic BlackBerry Bold 9900, the BlackBerry Classic has a three times faster browser, 60 percent more screen space, 50 percent longer battery life, and greater variety of apps through BlackBerry World and the Amazon Appstore. The BlackBerry Classic also comes preloaded with the BlackBerry 10.3.1 OS, which means users will have access to features including BlackBerry Blend, BlackBerry Assistant and dual app storefronts.
The BlackBerry Classic will be available around the world beginning today. You can purchase it immediately through Amazon.com and ShopBlackBerry.com. Bell Mobility will offer the BlackBerry Classic for $49.95 on a two year contract starting today, Rogers Wireless will offer the BlackBerry Classic for $49.99 on a two year contract starting today and Telus will offer the BlackBerry Classic for $50.00 on a two year contract later this week.
There were other announcements as well. They are as follows:
- The Secure Productivity Bundle and the Enterprise Communicator Bundle, for corporations looking to extend productivity benefits to their employees at a reduced cost. Organizations can take advantage of BBM Protected and BBM Meetings to enhance security and productivity. Additionally, BlackBerry’s VPN Authentication eliminates one-time password tokens and PIN reset costs, and BlackBerry Blend for Enterprise seamlessly brings messaging and content from BlackBerry smartphones to computers and tablets.
- Mackenzie Health, a dynamic regional healthcare provider serving a population of more than half a million people, announced that they will use BlackBerry Classic within their organization.
- Ingram Micro Inc. announced that they will launch BlackBerry Classic. They also announced that they will offer two Enterprise Bundles, the Secure Productivity Bundle and the Enterprise Communicator Bundle.
- Enterprise Application Portfolio, BlackBerry announced today an expansion of its enterprise application ecosystem available on the BlackBerry Classic, including partnerships with Aderant, Bighand Inc., Bloomberg LP, Box Inc., CellTrak Technologies, Cisco Systems Inc., Entrust, GoldCare, InterAct, Onset Technology, Rekoop, Salient Federal Solutions, and SAP.
Apple Forced To Turn Over Documents Related To Contracts With Canadian Wireless Carriers
Posted in Commentary with tags Apple on December 17, 2014 by itnerdYou might recall that the Canadian Competition Bureau was investigating Apple over the fact that their agreements with Canadian wireless carriers. On top of that, the Competition Bureau was going to court to get Apple to hand over documents related to this. Today, this happened according to the Toronto Star:
The Federal Court intends to grant an application requiring Apple Canada Inc. to turn over documents related to alleged clauses in contracts with wireless carriers that may have unfairly boosted iPhones by pushing up prices for rival devices.
A spokesman for the court said Chief Justice Crampton indicated his agreement Wednesday, although an order had not yet been issued to Apple. A spokesman for the Competition Bureau, which filed the court application last week, said the Canadian unit of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has 90 days to comply after being served.
Now Apple could contest this, and given the track record of their iLawyers I fully expect them to. Which means that this fight will get very interesting in a hurry. You should stay tuned to this story as there’s going to be fireworks.
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