GigaOM » Canada

LTE accounts for 7% of all North American mobile connections

Kevin Fitchard — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:28:50 +0000

In just two years LTE has come a long way. At the end of the third quarter there were 21.5 million LTE connections in the U.S. and Canada, accounting for 7 percent of all North American mobile subscriptions, according to new data from Wireless Intelligence, the research arm of the GSM Association.

In fact, nearly half (48 percent) of all global LTE devices reside on one of the U.S. or Canada’s 15 live LTE networks. Europe has been much slower to adopt the new 4G technology, while LTE activity in Asia has been confined primarily to South Korea and Japan.

The U.S. accounts for 20.5 million of those 4G subscribers, while Canada’s networks host about 1 million. And of those U.S. subscribers, three-quarters or 14.9 million reside with Verizon Wireless. Verizon was not only the first major global operator to launch LTE, it has rolled its network out surprisingly fast. It now offers 4G in well over 400 markets.

LTE image courtesy of Shutterstock user Inq

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Grubwithus buys The Social Feed, expands dining network to Canada

Kevin Fitchard — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 20:46:17 +0000

Grubwithus has only raised its Series A round and launched is social dining concept in just four U.S. cities, but the Venice, Ca.,-based startup already has its sights set on international expansion. The company has bought The Social Feed, a Canadian startup with a similar social networking premise: prying like-minded strangers away from their browsers to share a communal meal.

Grubwithus didn’t reveal the financial details of the deal, though the $5 million it just picked up from Los Angeles VC firm GRP Partners and Lebanese entrepreneur Michel Daher had to help. Grubwithus has officially launched in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago – though it does let members organize meals in other cities – but with the integration of The Social Feed it’s now open for business in Toronto and Vancouver as well. As part of the acquisition, Grubwithus not only gets Social Feed’s membership roster, but also the restaurant agreements it has negotiated.

The Social Feed launched in Vancouver January of 2011, just six months after Grubwithus went live in LA. The two companies have (or had) a different approach to social dining, though. As this profile by Toronto’s The Grid alludes to, The Social Feed seems more organized around the “supper club” concept – getting a large group of people of varied interests and backgrounds together at a communal table to sample a specific restaurant’s fare. The company’s co-founders organize the meals themselves.

Grubwithus has created more of a social network around the premise of small-scale dining. Members sign up for specific groups based on interest — whether its travel, technology or love of raw fish. From there, members organize their own dinner parties, while Grubwithus handles the logistics: selecting the restaurants, working out the details of the menu and handling the credit card transactions.

Hopefully Grubwithus will combine both concepts. While I like the idea of building a meal around a common interest like travel, I would suspect the common trait most Grubwithus users share is their love of good food. Tailoring or selecting your communal meal based on a specific restaurant or menu seems just as important as the choosing a discussion topic.

Grubwithus director of communications Amy Partridge said the company definitely plans to keep the supper club format going in Canada while also phasing in its topic-based format. So far, she said, there are plan no plans to introduce the supper club concept to its U.S. markets. But here’s hoping.

The Social Feed’s co-founders Alexander Close, Reggie Milligan, and Michael Brown will stay on as Grubwithus’s Canadian advisors.

Photo of recent Social Feed meal courtesy of Grubwithus

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Got a Web 2.0 service? Tyntec will slap a phone number on it

Kevin Fitchard — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:27:00 +0000

Your Facebook or LinkedIn account doesn’t have a phone number, but one day it might if Tyntec has anything to say about it. The German company wants to build a virtual mobile phone into any Web 2.0 service whose primary mission is interpersonal networking. By doing so Tyntec can bridge the gap between two flourishing yet largely disconnected worlds: over-the-top IP communications and mobile.

The service is called tt.One and assigns a real phone number either temporarily or permanently to almost anything, whether it’s a social network ID, IM account, mobile app or even an online dating service profile. That phone number can then be used to make voice calls and send text and multimedia messages into and outside or the app or service.

Tyntec has been working with Web-based peer-to-peer messaging company Pinger in Europe to extend its voice and text messaging services beyond its app, allowing members to send SMS messages to any mobile phone. But on Wednesday, Tyntec announced plans to expand to the U.S. and Canada (Pinger’s U.S. SMS service is powered by a competitor). CEO Michael Kowalzik said there is a huge opportunity in North America given the sheer volume of new over-the-top communications services emerging here each year.

How it works

Tyntec’s technology sounds like a lot like Google Voice and SkypeIn, and the principles are the same. The difference is that Google and Skype have built their own vast infrastructures, something that most Web companies have neither the money or inclination to do.

Instead, Tyntec is working directly with the mobile carriers, building a parallel network of SMS centers and servers within their networks. That allows Tyntec to replicate every aspect of a mobile phone – SMS, voice, subscriber authentication, and, of course, an actual phone number – and virtualize it in an IP environment.

“In the end, we’re operating a whole separate core network within the operator,” said Kowalzik said. “Over-the-top players want to get into the legacy mobile world, and we can give them that access.”

Not all operators are willing to play ball

Why would operators allow such access when over-the-top players are the ones cannibalizing their voice and SMS revenues? The short answer is they get paid. Tyntec functions essentially like an MVNO, buying SMS transactions, voice minutes and phone numbers from its operator partners at wholesale rates. In the case of most over-the-top traffic, they see no revenue at all, except what they collect in data subscriptions. By offering up access to their networks, they share in wealth rather than just stand idly by, Kowalzik said.

But there’s a Catch-22: The ubiquity of their services is really the only thing protecting the operators from losing their SMS and voice revenue entirely. If every app or Web service could reach outside of its confines and touch 6 billion mobile devices, there would be little reason for consumers to use carriers’ voice and SMS services at all. That’s why Tyntec’s partners have been smaller operators like Germany’s E-Plus that are looking for a way to differentiate themselves from their larger competitors, Kowalzik said – they have a lot less to lose.

Kowalzik wouldn’t reveal Tyntec’s North American carrier partners, but it’s probably a safe bet they aren’t AT&T and Verizon. In Canada, Rogers has actually tried to head off the over-the-top onslaught by launching its own softphone service called One Number. It will be interesting to see if more Web companies begin to use Tyntec and other virtual number services like those offered by Bandwidth.com to take the battle even further to the operators.

Feature image courtesy of Flickr user @boetter

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World starts to tune out America’s moronic copyright ‘watch list’

Jeff John Roberts — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:54:14 +0000

In a rite of spring, US trade officials have released a “priority watch list” for copyright that places nations like Canada alongside the likes of China, Russia and Pakistan.

The annual exercise is supposed to trigger a flurry of “time to get tough on copyright” editorials in the countries that are named and shamed. The list is also a great tool for content owners and their lobbyists to browbeat politicians into passing US-style copyright legislation.

But something funny happened this year. The list, released yesterday, got little traction with many foreign media outlets which now seem to have decided that America has cried copyright wolf once too often.

This year’s “watchlist” was reported in US news outlets (especially those in Los Angeles) but was largely ignored by foreign media outlets that usually parrot its findings.

About time. The reality is that countries like Canada have strong copyright law. It’s insulting to put Canada and other US allies like India on a list of countries that don’t respect basic rule of law.

This is also a good time to recall that more copyright law is not always better copyright law. The US model, for instance, includes penalties of $150,000 for a single violation and copyright terms that last over a century. This year, America also outraged another ally, Britain, by extraditing one of its 23-year-old citizens over a downloading website. Is the model for the rest of the world to follow?

US content owners are right to say there are holes to patch in copyright law. But lies, hysteria and insults are no way to get the job done.

It’s time for the US to throw away the stupid watch list once and for all.

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Canadians file class-actions against e-book publishers

Laura Hazard Owen — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:19:14 +0000

Last week, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Apple and five publishers for allegedly colluding on e-book prices, and class-actions suits in the U.S. continue. Three Canadian law firms are filing class-action suits against as well, the Toronto Star reports.

Two Ontario law firms and one Vancouver firm are suing Apple and the Canadian subsidiaries of Macmillan, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Hachette. The Star cites one complaint that says Apple and the publishers’ alleged collusion increased e-book prices by “as much as 50 per cent for most titles over Amazon’s previous prices and reduced competition for e-books in Canada and elsewhere.”

Canadian attorney Charles Wright of Ontario firm Siskinds LLP said, “I would expect that if there’s a change in business practices Canadians would benefit, but the case filed in the U.S. is on behalf of U.S. residents and seeks refunds to U.S. residents and so that would not do anything for Canadian consumers who have already made their purchases. A Canadian action is necessary and desirable to get compensation for Canadian consumers.”

Back in the U.S., in addition to the DOJ suit, Apple and the five publishers are the subject of class-action lawsuits and lawsuits by the states. All the parties met in court yesterday to coordinate the three-pronged suit. All 50 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may reach a settlement with HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette, which would effectively trump the class-action suit.

The Australian government is also considering a lawsuit against Apple and the five publishers.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user futureatlas.com

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Roku goes on sale in Canada

Janko Roettgers — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:01:20 +0000

Roku is officially launching in Canada this week, bringing two of its streaming devices up north. The company will start selling its Roku 2 XS and Roku 2 XD through online retailers like as well as its own website, but charge slightly more than for the same devices in the U.S.: The Roku 2 XS XD goes on sale for CA $89.99, whereas the Roku 2 XD XS will cost CA $109.99. GigaOM had first reported two weeks ago that Roku’s expansion to Canada was imminent.

The two devices will be available for pre-order on Amazon.ca, Walmart.ca and LondonDrugs.com starting Monday; Roku said in a press release that the devies should be available in Canadian Walmart and London Drugs stores by the end of the month. Roku users in Canada will initially have access to 100 channels, including Netflix and Rdio.

Roku’s international expansion started with a launch in the U.K. earlier this year. The company is looking to raise a new $50 million round of funding to finance its expansion into additional territories.

Image courtesy of (CC-BY-SA) Flickr user Яick Harris.

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Canadian managers still skeptical of remote work

Jessica Stillman — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:23:57 +0000

Telecommuting is hardly the most new fangled idea out there. As we’ve pointed out here on GigaOM previously, virtual working has been kicked about as a way to improve productivity for years, but for some reason, despite regular research results validating the concept, telecommuting’s status as a good idea whose time hasn’t quite come continues. Why is that?

One of the most compelling and frequently cited explanations is that middle managers just aren’t that into the idea, distrusting their employees to keep working without supervisors watching them like hawks. You’d hope that over time managers would get over this fear, but a new survey out of Canada suggests that trust issues persist. Microsoft Canada’s recently released Flexible Working report surveyed 1,249 employees and 642 bosses and found that while 55 percent of employees feel they’re more productive working from home, only a quarter of bosses agreed. Why were Canadian managers less than crazy about remote work? They gave Microsoft a numbers of reasons:

Just shy of half (49 percent) said the inability to talk face-to-face
The same percentage complained about lack of focus
26 percent disliked the lack of accountability
22 percent opined that that employees do less work

Still, despite the skepticism of bosses, almost half of them (42 percent) support remote working arrangements for their employees. That stat just reinforces the inevitability of remote work, according to Carolyn Buccongello, vice president of human resources at Microsoft Canada. “Boundaries between work and life are blurring. You may dismiss this as a Generation-C issue but this speaks broadly to all generations. There are pros and cons to this new way of work, but it is not going away and technology can become the key to resetting those boundaries,” she says.

She also called for bosses to rethink their distrust and focus on employees’ results, not face time. “A flexible workforce begins with leadership teams building a culture of trust and a vision that focuses on individual results rather than how much time they spend at their desk,” she says.

What, if anything, will finally convince middle management to embrace virtual work?

Image courtesy of Flickr user alexindigo.

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Canada gets two new LTE networks thanks to Rogers

Kevin Fitchard — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:46:12 +0000

Rogers Communications is keeping up its steady LTE rollout pace up north, lighting up Calgary, Alberta and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Monday and bringing its total 4G coverage to 12 million people. Given Canada’s much smaller population (35 million), Rogers and its competitors are right on track to match the U.S. in blanketing its metropolitan areas with mobile broadband by next year, though covering its vast geographic territory is another story altogether.

Rogers now has LTE networks in Canada’s largest markets: Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario: Montreal, Quebec; Vancouver, B.C. and St. John’s, Newfoundland; as well as in the two cities launched Monday. Rogers said it also plans to expand into Edmonton, Alberta in the next few months.

Canada is right on the tail of the U.S. wireless industry in LTE with three of the major operators in the process of building out nationwide metropolitan coverage. Telus went live in February with a 14-city footprint. Bell Mobility launched shortly after Rogers in 2011, but has since expanded its footprint to 13 markets, though its footprint in those cities appears to be more limited with only 6 million people covered. Telus and Bell traditionally have focused on different ends of Canada, but in a bid to roll out their LTE networks faster and more cheaply they’re sharing their infrastructure.

Canada is also one of the few countries that’s using the same spectrum as the U.S. operators, making cross-border roaming easier. Telus, Bell and Rogers are using their Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum for LTE but plan to move to into the 700 MHz bands once Canadian regulators begin auctioning it off next year. Operators can use those airwaves to move into more far-flung regions of Canada, as 700 MHz covers a lot more distance than higher-frequency AWS.

Meanwhile, AT&T and Verizon Wireless have gone the opposite route, starting in 700 MHz in order to build big coverage networks. They will use AWS airwaves to supplement their LTE capacity, particularly in urban areas where they will need to build denser networks. Consequently, device makers like Apple have started designing smartphones and tablets that work over both frequencies, capturing both the U.S. and Canadian markets in the process.

Image courtesy Flickr user radialmonster.

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Telus turning on LTE across Canada on Friday

Kevin Fitchard — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:04:57 +0000

Telus will launch Canada’s third LTE network on Friday, rolling out the mobile broadband technology in 14 cities from Vancouver to Halifax. It plans to expand the network throughout 2012 to cover 25 million Canadians, 71 percent of the country’s population, by year end.

Telus will launch with four devices and will be the first North American operator to sell Samsung’s new hybrid smartphone/tablet, the Galaxy Note, in its stores on Feb. 14 (AT&T started taking pre-orders last week, but won’t get the device untol Feb. 19). On Friday, Telus will begin selling LTE versions of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and the LG Optimus, as well as a Novatel USB stick.

Rogers was the first to kick off its LTE, rolling out service in Canada’s four biggest markets last summer and fall. It was followed quickly by Bell Mobility, which turned on its first networks throughout Ontario in September. Now all three are in a race to complete their nationwide rollouts. Given Canada’s much smaller population, they will probably beat most U.S. operators to that goal, though they still have a lot of geography to cover.

Telus’ launch cities are: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, metropolitan Toronto, Kitchener, Waterloo, Hamilton, Guelph, Belleville, Ottawa, Montreal, Québec City, Halifax and Yellowknife.

The LTE debut is welcome news for Telus’ two primary network vendors Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks, which are both working on Bell Mobility’s networks as well. Both have failed to land any of the major U.S. LTE contracts, despite their 4G success in other regions of the world.

Photo courtesy of Juan_M

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LuxeYard puts a social spin on high-end flash sales

Colleen Taylor — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:01:38 +0000

LuxeYard, a members-only e-commerce website that sells discounted high-end furniture and home decor products, is launching Tuesday to users in the United States and Canada. Yes, it’s technically another flash sales site. But what’s interesting about LuxeYard is that it’s doing things a bit differently from the established players in the space such as One Kings Lane and Gilt Groupe.

Crowdsourcing the inventory selection

Firstly, rather than populating its site with objects selected by a group of buyers operating autonomously based on their own taste, LuxeYard is taking cues from its users on what items to sell. LuxeYard members can post photos of the type of items they’d like to buy on social media platforms, and other members can vote up on products they would also like to buy. Essentially, the items for sale on site will be crowdsourced according to users’ wants.

LuxeYard screenshot (click to enlarge)

“We’re really establishing a pattern of listening,” LuxeYard COO Steve Beauregard said in a phone interview Monday. “We’re really trying to build a conversation around certain pieces, and that will help focus our buyers and attune them to our users’ tastes, rather than just buying something they think is interesting.”

Taking group buying one step further

Secondly, LuxeYard is employing truly flexible group buying. This is where members use their social networks to encourage their friends to buy the same product on LuxeYard they’re buying, thereby driving down the price of that item. For example: I could buy a chair on LuxeYard for $150, and then post about that chair on Facebook. If a certain number of other people end up buying the same chair, the final cost for everyone buying the chair could be driven down to $100.

A unique financial starting point

And another unique thing about LuxeYard is that it’s hitting the ground running from a financial perspective. The company has raised $3.5 million from private investors, but has technically already gone public by conducting a reverse merger into a publicly-held shell company. Details are still being ironed out, so there is no public float to LuxeYard’s stock, but it will begin trading under the ticker symbol “LXRD” at some point in the coming months. Access to public market investors will potentially give LuxeYard the monetary wherewithal to compete head-to-head in the flash sales and group buying space already filled with solid players such as Wayfair, One Kings Lane and others, not to mention more general e-commerce sites such as Amazon.

But how long can exclusivity last?

Now, LuxeYard also claims it will be more choosy about the items it selects to sell on the site. According to Beauregard, if a company’s products are already being sold on existing e-commerce sites or major chain stores, LuxeYard will not sell any of its products. That’s an honorable goal, but true exclusivity is not always an easy thing to maintain when you’re also balancing the demand from investors for constant growth. And being that LuxeYard is starting out as a public company with notoriously demanding Wall Street-style investors, that could be an even harder balance to strike. But overall, LuxeYard’s offering seems unique enough that the company has a good shot at success — even in the hyper competitive world of e-commerce.

Here’s one more screenshot of LuxeYard (click to enlarge):

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