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The Boxing Day specials are coming out in full force now. At Future Shop you can get a free Xbox when you buy a BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 on a 3-year plan (minimum $45 Voice and Data required).

Happy Holidays to all!

Here’s a nice present that should make all Rogers and Fido customers very happy!

There are new pics flying around that show the 9520 BlackBerry Storm to be available at Rogers soon (First half of 2009)! This touchscreen device will have 3G HSPA and WiFi built into it. The following price plans are rumoured to be coming in about $50 lower that Bell and TELUS are currently offering. Most likely by the time this officially launches the price of the 9530 Storm will have a price drop.

Rogers 9520 BlackBerry Storm pricing:
3-year: $199.99 (most likely with a $45 voice and data)
3-year:  $249.99 (most likely no data plan)
2-year: $379.99
1-year: $479.99
No Contract: $529.99

In addition to this glorious news, Rogers will be launching the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8200, this time it will have 3G and GPS built in. It will have the same 2 megapixel camera with flash and video. (Current version of the Pearl Flip 8220 does not have GPS or 3G.)

Now for all the Fido customers that have been dreaming of getting a BlackBerry. Looks like you will have 3 to choose from: A Pearl Flip, Pearl 8110 BlackBerry Curve 8900. No price plans but targeted to launch between February and April 2009. They will all have Fido UNO which means you can use your cell while at home and not get charged the minutes.

Knowing how RIM is very particular when it comes to the BlackBerry brand is presented. The slides are most likely not final and spell BlackBerry with a small “b”. Nothing big…just something that caught my attention.

[Source: HowardForums]

If you’re looking to score a physical BlackBerry Storm from Bell Mobility (not just on pre-order) you’ll be thrilled to know that a shipment is hitting select Bell stores on Boxing Day and more during Boxing Week.

We just received and e-mail directly from Bell stating “Bell Mobility is announcing more BlackBerry Storms are arriving in select stores on Boxing Day. Additional shipments will continue to arrive throughout Boxing Week. Supplies continue to be very limited so get there early.”

The select stores will most likely be higher population locations such as Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Prices of the Storm are: No contract is $699.95; 1-year is $649.95; 2-year is $549.95 and 3-year from $249.95 with a minimum $45 per month voice and data plan.

More here at Bell

As the year comes to an end we’re seeing a plethora of mobile stats. This one caught our attention.

The Apple iPhone has a lack luster 2 megapixel camera… that doesn’t matter to the users of photo sharing site Flickr. Over the past year it’s taken top spot as the most used cameraphone on all of Flickr, but now the iPhone is taking on the most popular brand of cameras by being in the top 5.

The top cameras used on Flickr are: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Nikon D80, Apple iPhone,Canon EOS 40D.

Keep in mind that the quality of pictures coming from the iPhone is vastly different that coming from a point and shoot camera that most likely has a minimum 7 megapixel camera. In addition, the stats are a bit skewed as Flickr measures popularity on the number of users who uploaded a photo on a daily basis. So it Bob uploads a pic once a day for 30 days he will rank better than Mandy who slams out 100 pics 1 day a month.

More here

With all this holiday cheer going around it’s really easy to forget a birthday or two (like I did). In doing so I found this iPhone App called “Birthday Boy” that is basically an event reminder. It has a good user interface that is simple and can be programmed by the birthday, anniversary or event. When loaded up it shows your pics from your contact list and displays how many days or months the event is taking place.

HP has launched a free application conveniently called “HP iPrint Photo“.

By connecting to a local Wi-Fi network, this app allows you to print 4 x 6-inch photos from an iPhone (or iPod Touch) to most HP inkjet printers. When you are ready to print, simply launch the application on your iPhone, then select a photo of your choice, you will then see a print command show up which will sent a message to the printer to print.

Download it here at the AppStore… also, here is a quick video of it in action:

[Source]

Over the past year we’ve heard some astronomical cell phone bills, but nothing has been more creative that this story.

A Miami resident took a lovely trip to France and decided to take his iPhone with him. Throughout his French adventures he checked e-mails and sent text messages. Soon after he landed on U.S. grounds, AT&T sent him a welcome home gift to the tune of $4190.76.

Here is the fun part, his buddies made the videoas a reminder:

As Canadians we truly began using the mobile web within the past year and have seen significant growth since the introduction of the iPhone, Instinct, Diamond, Bold, Dare and now the Storm.

Opera has released its November statistics for mobile web traffic, otherwise known as “State of the Mobile Web”. Overall Opera Mini users viewed more than 5.7 billion pages in November 2008 (up 303% since last November). In regards to data, Opera Mini users generated more than 82.9 million MB of data for operators worldwide ( up 463% from last year).

Now, our proud Canadian stats:

If you’re looking to get a BlackBerry Curve or BlackBerry Pearl you might want to wait a couple days until the Best Buy Boxing Day Sale.

A new promo has made its way for us Canadians to enjojy: when you buy a Pearl or Curve at Best Buy on a 3-year contract with a minimum $45 voice and data plan they will throw in a whopping $200 Gift Card.

If you have any interest to understand what Ted Rogers had in mind for 2009, an article by Report on Business called “Vintage Ted” is a great read. “I’m blasting ahead, trying to get a new billing system around here.”