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A few nights ago in San Francisco, Pebble’s founder and CEO Eric Migicovsky recounted the last year of Pebble’s existence. He admitted there were many things that could have been done differently, and if he had to do it over again he’d lower the number of colour choices, but is otherwise enthused for the future of wearable technology.

The Kickstarter project that aimed to raise $100,000 resulted in $10 million and nearly 100,000 backers, many of whom are just now getting their Pebbles. Now that the hardware is in the wild, Pebble is iterating on its promise to make the smartwatch accessible to developers, both from and to a smartphone. With this latest firmware update and a new SDK open to devs, two-way communication — to and from the watch — has been enabled. PebbleKit now lets developers create interactive watch faces, multiplayer games, abilities to check-in to Foursquare or Facebook (theoretically) and other features that require two-way interaction.

The company has also raised $15 million as it endeavours to hire more engineers and developers to improve the product’s software experience, and hopefully work out any remaining kinks in the hardware manufacturing. The 18-person team is expanding, and though they no longer claim Waterloo as their home, Pebble, and Migicovsky, is still very much a Canadian success story.

Source: Kickstarter

The Canadian Wireless Trade Show is back for the 3rd time and its looking like the best lineup yet. Several key mobile execs are making presentations, namely from Samsung Canada, Visa, MasterCard, and Google – so hopefully there will be some good stats on Android in Canada and mobile wallet/payment adoption.

Since this is a trade show there’ll be the usual booths from mobile businesses promoting their products and services. This year the cast of players so far includes Gadget Guard, Incipio, iShieldz and Targus. Admission to the CWTS is free and it’s taking in Toronto on September 25th and 26th.

Check it out here at CWTS

BlackBerry stunned the world, plus brought truth to years of rumours, when they announced their popular messaging service BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) would be coming to iOS and Android this Summer. The app will be free and is “subject to approval by Google Play and the Apple App Store.”

During his keynote presentation, Thorsten Heins, BlackBerry CEO, stated that “at launch we’ll support iPhones running iOS 6 or higher and Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich or higher.”

This statement led to some questions about tablets. Vivek Bhardwaj, Head of the BlackBerry Software Portfolio, cleared up the air by saying BBM for tablets will not be in the cards at launch, but possibly later. “At this point it is iOS and Android, and that’s iOS phones running iOS 6 and higher. Smartphone is our real focus and again it comes back to what BBM is. If you look BBM and the engagement and the activity, it’s because it is mobile, because people are on the go.”

Tablets, such as the iPad and the pletora of Android tablets, are certainly mobile and probably something BlackBerry is holding in their back pocket when they release all the BBM features. When BBM for iPhone and Android smartphones becomes available, users will be limited to only messaging and groups. “Later on” BBM for iOS and Android will have BBM Voice, BBM screen share, and BBM Channels.

Heins capped off his BBM notes by proudly saying “I cannot wait for the day when all of our BlackBerry fans can send BBM invites to all their friends on other platforms. They’ve asked us for this for years. The time has come now for everyone to experience what we all know. BBM is simply the best messaging and collaboration platform in mobile today.”

There are over 60 million active BBM users around the world.

Source: TrustedReview
Via: PhoneArena

The growth of LTE connections has quickened in the past year, increasing nearly 50% from the end of 2012 to the beginning of 2013. North America makes up the majority of these 100 million connections, making up 57% of worldwide LTE market share.

Thanks to mature networks from AT&T and Verizon, as well as Rogers, Bell and TELUS, North America’s LTE growth is quickening, especially as it expands to lower-cost devices.

According to 4G Americas, a trade organization based in Bellevue, Washington, there are 22 commercial LTE networks deployed in North America, facilitating an increase from 38 million connections at the end of 2012 to an amazing 57 million in May 2013.

Despite making up just 12.7% of the global LTE rollout, North America is the fastest-growing segment of the technology’s user base, something that can be traced back to an early adoption scheme and enough available spectrum to avoid having to re-farm existing 3G networks.

4G Americas expects there to be 133 million LTE connections worldwide by the end of 2013, increasing to 400 million by 2015 and nearly a billion by the end of 2017.

Source: 4G Americas, Marketwire

LTE coverage in Canada has grown just a bit more. Rogers and Manitoba regional carrier MTS have announced their LTE now reaches more customers.

If you’re a Rogers customer then you’ll notice their LTE Max branded network – which uses dual frequency 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz bands – is now live in various parts of Canada:

- Muskoka, Ont.
- Sault Ste. Marie, Ont
- Brooks, Cochrane and Canmore, Alta.
- Sydney, N.S

In addition, Rogers LTE network has been expanded in Moncton, New Brunswick. Over in Manitoba, MTS has followed through on its commitment to launch LTE in six more communities. These first couple locations are now live, both Grand Beach and Victoria Beach can access faster data speeds.

Source: Rogers, MTS

eBay redesigned its iOS app with a new look and some nice new features. The app looks much slicker now, with smooth new animations and a more intuitive design.

The company added a shopping cart to the app, so you can potentially check out multiple items at once, though the service is limited to the US and UK right now. Similarly limited to the US is a new feature to upload your drivers license for registration verification.

Along with performance enhancements and bug fixes, eBay now lets mobile users compete on an equal footing with desktop users for last-minute bids, something that has been a long time coming.

Download eBay for iOS.

Via: TNW

If the leak is true, then Samsung will again come to market with another tablet. The Galaxy Tab 3.0 was announced last month and the newest leak online is a slightly larger Galaxy Tab 3 8.0. Yes, it’s an inch larger at 8-inches and SamMobile’s reliable sources state this will be released later this month. As for its design, the tablet “looks the same” but “the bezel is thinner and the Tab 3 8.0 has more level sensors.”

As for the expected specs, the 8.0 version runs OS 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, 8-inch WXGA display (1280×800 resolution), 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 16GB internal storage, 1.3MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear-camera, usual micro USB ports, 3.5mm earphone jack, 4450 mAh battery and overall dimensions of 209.3 x 122.2 x 6.95mm.

No word yet on either of the new tablets coming to Canada.

Source: SamMobile
Via: Engadget

Firefox has updated its web and mobile browsers today with new beta versions. Now up to version 22, Firefox for Android has benefited from some fantastic WebGL-based speed updates and some improvements to CSS3.

Most notably in this release is a full tablet UI for devices between 7- and 10-inches. Previously the spread-out interface was limited just to larger tablets, but now devices like the Nexus 7 can take part, too.

While Chrome is still the most popular choice for Android users running ICS and above, Firefox is a great choice for those stuck on Gingerbread or Froyo. The new release is fast, renders pages accurately, and supports add-ons. The next release will implement WebRTC, an open standard that allows browsers to communicate with one another without installing any plugins. This has already been activated on the Firefox beta for desktops and the latest version of Chrome, so it’s only a matter of time before it comes to mobile.

Download Firefox beta for Android.

Via: Mozilla

After struggling through last year, taking many hits, BlackBerry is slowly gaining its Canadian market share back. The one-time smartphone leader had sunk to a low 6% market share and new a report by research firm Raymond James shows that BlackBerry has more than doubled to grab 13.5% of the Canadian market. Of course, both Apple and Samsung account for the lion’s share of Canada. Apple has 40.1% (down from 44% in Q4 2012) and Samsung has approximately 31%, also down from 35% in Q2 2012.

The spurt of success has been the introduction of the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry Q10. Many Canadian organizations, namely Canadian Tire, BMO, Torys LLP – have outwardly declared that the new BlackBerry 10 platform is their OS of choice. Missing are specific Canadian sales numbers, but carriers have reported that there has been a “very positive response” to the new BlackBerry devices.

Source: Barrons
Via: CNET

A report earlier this week suggested that Samsung was going to achieve Galaxy S4 sales of 10 million units. It’s true. JK Shin, Samsung’s co-CEO, stated “We are confident that we will pass more than 10 million sales of the S4 next week. It is selling much faster than the previous model S3. Samsung spent 50 days to pass the 10 million sales mark for the S3. The S4 will be Samsung’s first ’10 million seller’ device less than a month after its official debut.”

Clearly, this flagship Android is a massive success and Samsung continues their foray into Android and smartphone dominance. The Galaxy S4 is available on the following Canadian carriers: Rogers, Bell, TELUS, Fido, Virgin, Koodo, WIND, Mobilicity, Videotron, SaskTel, Eastlink and MTS.

Shin also reportedly said that the Galaxy Note 3 will be unveiled at IFA in Berlin this September and come with a 5.9-inch OLED display.

Source: Korea Times
Via: Engadget