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San Antonio — The Progressive Retailers Organization was at the Westin La Cantera Hill Coun
New York — The maker of BlackBerry smartphones pinned its survival on today’s global launch of its first two BlackBerry 10 OS smartphones.
However, the company faces major headwinds in its make-or-break effort to survive even though the company narrowed the quality gap with competing smartphones, analysts said.
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Washington — The Department of Justice has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to delay its decision on Softbank’s plan to acquire control of Sprint Nextel Corp, according to published reports.
Under the terms of the deal, Softbank will spend $21.1 billion to acquire its 75 percent stake and provide Sprint with $8 billion to enhance its network and strengthen its balance sheet.
Waterloo, Ontario – RIM will integrate ooVoo’s HD videochat app into the BlackBerry 10 devices that RIM is launching, the companies announced.
The ooVoo app, due on the BlackBerry World storefront later this year, will integrate into the basic calling functionality in BlackBerry 10 devices, making it possible to shift from a standard voice call to an ooVoo video call, the companies said. Video chats are free.
Cupertino, Calif. – Apple launched its free iOS 6 update to add features and enable more carriers in the U.S and foreign countries to offer 4G LTE service to the iPhone 5.
The update, iOS version 6.1, also enables more foreign carriers to offer LTE service for the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad.
Grapevine, Texas — GameStop is expanding its portfolio of cellular products with the addition of no-contract prepaid Net10 service in all of its 4,400 U.S. stores.
Net10 is not available through GameStop’s online store.
Boston – Growth in global smartphone shipments slowed to 43 percent in 2012 from the previous year’s 64 percent because smartphone penetration began to mature in such developed markets as North America and Western Europe, a Strategy Analytics study found.
San Diego — Kyocera Communications and Sprint will launch their first 4G ruggedized smartphone sometime in the spring.
The LTE-equipped Android-based Torque, whose price hasn’t been released, is targeted not only to enterprise customers but, in a shift, also to consumers interested in a rugged phone, said Eric Anderson, Kyocera’s global sales and marketing senior VP/general manager.
Waterloo, Ontario — Research In Motion isn’t waiting for Wednesday’s official BlackBerry 10 OS launch to generate promotional buzz.
In separate announcements, the company said it would promote the smartphone and tablet OS during the company’s first Super Bowl commercial.
Boston – Global cellphone shipments rose a modest 2 percent in 2012 to 1.6 billion units compared with 13.7 percent growth in 2011, with Samsung knocking out Nokia for top market share, Strategy Analytics reports.
Apple also gained global share in 2012 but remained in the No. 3 market-share slot.
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