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Over the past few years we’ve seen the Canadian mobile statistics dramatically increase year over year. At the end of 2008, almost 21.5 million, 67% of  Canadian, have a cell phone. Other importants statistics show us Canadians send over 77 million text messages each day.

With all this said, a new study has been released that states almost half of Canadians (47%) with cell phones can access the Internet from their mobile device…. and according to  ZINC Research this has made social networking an up and coming favourite. The report shows that of the 47% of those who access the internet on their mobile, a strong 36% surf Facebook, 9%  go to MySpace, 14% go to MSN sites.

Brian F. Singh, Managing Director of ZINC Research said “Beyond the traditional internet, Facebook is dominating all other social networking sites in the mobile market too. With their slick, easy to use applications for the iPhone and Blackberry, Facebook has made it attractive for subscribers to use the technology anywhere at anytime.

The report was conducted online from February 19th to 21st, 2009 of over 1,200 people.
Read full report here

In the constant effort to give us Canadians a throw back to the 1980′s, Koodo has changed their marketing this Spring and focused on a Wheel of Fortune type viral initiative called “Wheel of Savings”.

If you go to the Koodo Mobile website you’ll see on the homepage a whacked out guy begging you to spin the wheel Once you do you will get a creative name, something like “blabberific”, “planticipation”, “bigbillification”, “koodoliminate”, “koodophoria”, “contracphobia”, “textalation”… etc. Plus there are kinda bonus spins just like the actual game, but in the Koodo Spin the Wheel you get a free spin, Jackpot.

The end results is basically leading you towards the rate plans, phones and free screensavers. Nothing is really new, just a great way to get the brand out there. In all seriousness, we hear a new device is coming very soon… something like the Samsung Slyde which is right in line with their talk and text initiatives.

Bring on a new phone Koodo!!

Globalive Wireless Management Corp. announced they have “officially been issued wireless spectrum licenses from Industry Canada”. Which basically means that the $442 million dollars they dropped to play in the wireless game will be moving forward.

Industry Canada allows a maximum of 20% foreign ownership and one of the reasons it took so long for the official statement is because of their foreign investment by Eygptian based Orascom.

Anthony Lacavera, Chairman and CEO of Globalive said “We worked closely with Industry Canada throughout their detailed review and are pleased to be moving forward with this exciting project. Having been issued our licenses, we are one huge step closer to improving the wireless experience for Canadians by giving them a wireless company that listens, responds and collaborates with its customers. Today we are thrilled to welcome Canadians to a long-awaited brand new day in the Canadian wireless market.”

Rogers looks to have made a decision as to who will take over the reins since Ted Rogers passing a few months ago. The Globe is reporting a decision has been made internally and an announcement will be made next week that Nadir Mohamed will be the next Chief Executive Officer.

Over the past 3-months there has been many rumours if Ted Rogers’ son Edward would take top spot, however, with the stock hurting many Rogers insiders believe he’d not increase the value or have the vision to carry the organization forward. Although, the rumour of the day is that Edward will be given a key position such as a deputy chairman’s role that would take over any strategic acquisitions.

A small flyer located inside The Souce shows the upcoming Sony Ericsson C905 as “Coming Soon”… this is certainly not new info as we have seen this in the Rogers branded UR Magazine. However, it must be getting closer as outlet stores are now advertising the 8.1 megapixel gem.

Bell has released a new promo targeted to the ultimate NHL fans. When you buy a BlackBerry Storm, Curve, Flip and any Pearl you can get yourself a spanking decal of your favourite team… or just the NHL logo also. The promos are different prices for each device and you will need to enter your 10-digit redemption number.

For those who remember last years “Canadian Texting Championships” will remember Mark “Jervy” Breiva of Mississauga thumbed his way to a cool $25,000 and was crowned our Canadian champion.

LG is bringing back the Canadian Texting Championships and officially starts March 16th in Toronto, then travels across Canada to find regional winners. Then all regional winners will come back to Toronto for the big final challenge on June 29th with a shot of winning 25k.

A quick tip, looks like they are promoting the following devices so make sure you know one of these well: Neon, Rumour, Voyager, Reveal, KEYBO and Dare. Check it out here

Bell and TELUS both recently released the BlackBerry Pearl 8230 Flip. This is RIM’s first entrance into the flip phone market and made it look somewhat classy.

This comes in Pink and Black and certainly looks glossy. The Flip has 2 displays: Internal screen size is 2.4 inches (240 x 320 pixels), External screen is: 1.6 inches (128 x 160 pixels). On the external display it shows the date, time, message indicator, signall and battery strength. A nice feature on the external screen is when you receive messages, a portion of the message appears with what number. In addition, on the front of the device is the 2 megapixel camera with flash.

The cameral has video capabities and it’s nnice to see that RIM put in a 2 megapixel in there (same as the iPhone). The quality is ok and did not xcome up to pixelated. The camera also has a built in flash.

This is such an easy device to learn how to use and by far one of its greatest assets is the web experience. Viewing webpages on this is a joy as it renders pages as if it would on your computer. The actual speed is great (we tested this in both the Bell and TELUS version). On the Bell 8230 it comes loaded with NHL content so you can keep up to date on all your scores, highlights etc…

As with any BlackBerry Pearl these days it has SureType, this makes it easier for you to type your messages. We demostrated this in our review. Generally, the Flip is good entry device, especially if you want a BlackBerry. You can have al your e-mails, IM, Media features (Camera, Video, Music), this has a standard 3.5 mm earphone jack and a MicroSD slot for you to put in up to 16GB…. overal weight is 102 grams.

Check out the review here:

Pricing is as follow for the 8230:

TELUS:
3-year contract: $49.99-3 year with voice and data
2-year contract: $299.99
1- year contract: $399.99
No contract: $449.99

Bell:
Outright: $499.95
1-year: $449.95
2-year: $349.95
3-year: $29.95

CrackBerry.com has got a sweet picture of the very much rumoured BlackBerry 9900, also known as “Pluto”. This has the style of a BlackBerry Bold with no trackball but a SurePress Touchscreen. Also, this will have be 3G device and according to the leaked document it will hit Rogers in late Q3 2009.

Just to keep you up-to-date on all the Rogers BlackBerry prices, a few noticable increases to be aware of:

the Bold is now $299.99 (up $50)
Curve 8900 is now $224.99 (up $25)
Curve 8310/20 is $149.99 (up $50)
Pearl 8120′s are now priced at $74.99 (up $25)
(Thanks Chadnan!)