20,000 Jamaican teachers to get BlackBerry smartphones in new partnership with RIM

Research In Motion has teamed up with the Ministry of Education to provide approximately 20,000 teachers in Jamaica with Blackberry smartphones for the new academic year. The Canadian High Commission is supporting the initiative, which is aimed at improving communication and increasing technology awareness.

Under the partnership with RIM, the company will be making two of its newest technologies available to teachers – the Blackberry Mobile Voice System, which will reduce costs by having one phone extension for multiple numbers; and the Blackberry Pushcast to enable distribution of content such as PowerPoint presentations, videos, or audio files.

AT&T and DubMeNow Partner on Education App Platform for Students

Demo of the DubMeNow platform.AT&T has announced a new cross-platform app platform called Campus Guide, which lets students, faculty, alumni and staff access campus information right on their smartphones. Community members can check out upcoming events, catch up on university sports scores and read course materials as well from within the app. The platform is possible due to a partnership with DubMeNow, a company we’ve covered before on NHCBBA. AT&T Campus Guide offers nine different features:

Courses: Students can connect with classmates and professors in real-time using AT&T Campus Guide, viewing grades, assignments, announcements and detailed class information.
Events: Wondering when the next big game is? Not sure when exams start? The events calendar on AT&T Campus Guide provides important dates and times for campus happenings.
Directory: Search and browse contact information and connect with other students and faculty, without paging through a campus phonebook.
Maps: Freshmen, visiting students and alumni will particularly appreciate campus maps and turn-by-turn directions between buildings.
Notifications: Timely notifications announce school cancellations and remind students about overdue library books, tuition payments and more.
News: Find the latest campus news, sports scores and Tweets – all in one place.
Friends: An always up-to-date and backed-up address book of all students’ classmates, friends and campus contacts. Any time students lose or replace their phones, they can just reinstall the AT&T Campus Guide app to their new phones and all of their contacts are restored.
My Card: Students can easily share their customizable contact information to keep in touch with their friends, classmates, potential employers, alumni and advisors..
Info: Looking for more information? Click on Info for miscellaneous details about campus.

AT&T will begin pre-selling AT&T Campus Guide on July 29th. Schools that participate in the pilot period (July 29th through September 29th) will receive the application free of charge until October 1st.

For more information on AT&T Campus Guide go to this link.

via: bbcool

Telus joins forces with Rdio: Offers Direct Billing

Telus announced today that they’ve partnered with Rdio to offer streaming music services. Rdio was launched in 2010 by former Skype founder Janus Friis. They offer nearly 9 million songs on demand, and incorporates social networking elements into their service.

The Telus partnership come evident in carrier billing at a cost of $10/month. Might not seem like a big deal for most, but for mr it means one less thing to remember to pay each month. That price gives you unlimited access to all tracks on the PC, Mac, iOS (iPhone and iPad apps), Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.

• Sign Up For FREE 7-day trial of Rdio

Foursquare for BlackBerry updates to v1.9.97 – Link your AmEx card to your account and reap the benefits!

Foursquare for BlackBerry has just updated to v1.9.97 and has an exciting new feature. You can now link your Foursquare account to your American Express card for more rewards! Simply link the accounts, check in on Foursquare at participating merchants and tap “load to card” in the special, then pay with your AmEx card. On your next AmEx statement, you’ll see the credits applied from the specials.

From the Foursquare blog:

Last March, we rolled out a small test with American Express: link your AmEx and foursquare accounts, spend at least $5 at a local merchant in Austin, and get a $5 savings applied directly to your monthly statement. When we launched, the response was overwhelmingly positive. So, after SxSW, we sat down with American Express to plot the future.

Today, we’re happy to announce that the partnership is going national. Across the whole country, at select merchants, you can now check-in with foursquare, pay with your American Express card, and get big savings on your monthly statement.

More businesses are going to be joining soon, and we’ll share those as they go live. Redeeming these Specials is a totally effortless experience. If you’re a cardmember, link your accounts now to start saving!

They are kicking off the new features with specials at H&M (Spend $75, get $10 back) and Sport Authority (Spend $50, get $20 back) nationwide, as well as some restaurants in New York. This service is effortless to use as you don’t have to clip coupons or even show your phone to a cashier; credits are automatic. Full details can be found on the Foursquare blog, including instructions on linking your American Express card to your Foursquare account.

Full details and instructions on the Foursquare blog
To download Foursquare for BlackBerry v1.9.97

via:cb

Verizon announces online payment partnership with Payfone

Verizon Wireless announced a new partnership with Payfone on Monday that will soon allow its customers using phones, tablets, and PCs to make online purchases easier. Once the partnership’s new service is deployed, customers will be able to make more secure purchases online and charge them to their Verizon Wireless bill or use other standard forms of payment. “Our relationship with Payfone complements the part of the mobile payments equation we’re already working on with our Isis joint venture,” said Greg Haller, marketing vice president, Verizon Wireless. “We approach the mobile payments arena from a customer’s perspective. As we move forward, the most important goals will be security, privacy and simplicity. Through our relationship with Payfone, we will be able to quickly offer value to our customers by offering them greater choice and a simple, safe and secure purchasing experience when shopping online from their smartphones, tablets and PCs.” Hit the jump for the full press release.

VERIZON WIRELESS AND PAYFONE POWER NEW MOBILE PAYMENT SOLUTION

New Service Will Allow Verizon Wireless Customers to Make Mobile Payments for Online Purchases from Smartphones, Tablets and PCs

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and NEW YORK – Verizon Wireless and Payfone, a leading mobile payment processing service, today announced the companies are working together to bring a new mobile payment system to Verizon Wireless customers.  When available, the service will allow Verizon Wireless customers to make online purchases from their smartphones, tablets and PCs using numerous payment methods, including charging purchases to their monthly wireless statements or using traditional payment methods through financial institution partners.

“Our relationship with Payfone complements the part of the mobile payments equation we’re already working on with our Isis joint venture,” said Greg Haller, marketing vice president, Verizon Wireless.  “We approach the mobile payments arena from a customer’s perspective.  As we move forward, the most important goals will be security, privacy and simplicity.  Through our relationship with Payfone, we will be able to quickly offer value to our customers by offering them greater choice and a simple, safe and secure purchasing experience when shopping online from their smartphones, tablets and PCs.”

With Payfone’s unique approach to mobile payments, operators and merchants are able to complete transactions securely and accurately.  Payfone also provides other features important to consumers and merchants, including intelligent routing, pre-authorization and authentication designed to reduce the friction and fraud that affect sales conversion and revenue yield for merchants and operators.

“We are pleased to be working with Verizon Wireless to deliver a new level of convenience, security and flexibility to their customers and to boost revenue and conversion for operators, merchants and publishers,” states Rodger Desai, chief executive officer, Payfone. “This underscores Verizon Wireless’ dedication to cutting-edge innovation as it stays ahead of the mobile payments curve.”

 

via:BGR

RIM working with YOU i Labs to bring the UI to the next level?

It looks like RIM is reaching out to YOU i Labs in an effort to develop the UI or future smartphones and tablets. YOU i Labs is a Canadian company that is responsible for building “inspirational user interfaces” – prodiving a natural UI framework and software services. The result is an incredibly smooth and interactive experience to start. According to their website, roughly 500 million devices in the market are running YOU i Labs developed software; could BlackBerry be added to that list? A low rumbling of rumours in the intertubes suggests a partnering between RIM and YOU i Labs.

Some of the products of YOU i Labs includes uSwish – a graphical UI platform that supports Haptics, Multi-touch, Gestures, Physics and Stereoscopic 3D. A look at the Embedded OS support list reveals that it includes QNX (hmm). Another product is isGPU (Intelligent Software Graphics Processor Unit) which is a set of libraries for 3D and 2D graphics. It brings the benefit of amazing rendering power over OS /platforms graphics support. For developers and hardware manufacturers, it gives them an OS independent graphic solution (lessening app porting costs and marketing time). Coincidently QNX is also supported (double hmm).

Now check this out – the PlayBook UI was designed by Teknision; another Canadian company which also works with YOU i Labs (triple hmm). Could these be the pieces falling into place that will allow us to see QNX powering BlackBerry smartphones? Last year, RIM acquired TAT with hopes to strengthen the design of its UI. If RIM is looking to compete with other devices /tablets (and hopefully silence critics) with a truly unique interface and experience then this partnership may be a step in the right direction.

Source: GIGAOM

via:cb

Poynt and WiLAN Announce Partnership to Distribute and License Patents

Image via G&MPoynt has announced a partnership with WiLAN that will see WiLAN assist Poynt in the licensing of Poynt’s portfolio of patents related to internet advertising. In Poynt Corporation’s patent portfolio are patents relating to advertising and location and being able to serve ads based on location context. This is a market that’s growing very quickly and becoming more important with the ubiquity of smartphones. WiLAN is a company that specializes in licensing rights to intellectual property and patents so the deal makes a lot of sense. WiLAN also has a lot of technology partners in the laptop and mobile space, so we may see some white label and embedded technology potential with this deal.

UPDATE: It’s also cool to note that Poynt has passed 8 million users across 7 countries.

via:bbcool

East Africa-Zandel Set To Launch BlackBerry Solution in Tanzania

Zantel also known as Emitac Mobile Solutions (EMS) and Research in Motion (RIM) are set to launch the BlackBerry solution in Tanzania. With their partnership, the BlackBerry solution will bring together smart phones, software and such services to customers as wireless access to email, messaging, phone, calendar, Internet and multimedia applications.

Zantel’s chief commercial Norman Moyo said:

“Zantel is proud to be associated with RIM in launching the BlackBerry solution in Tanzania. The launch of the BlackBerry solution enables us to add an innovative product that offers immense value to our customers. Zantel provides the widest network in Tanzania, our customers can enjoy the mobility offered by the BlackBerry solution across the country.”

Via AllaAfrica

via:bbempire

Poynt Announces Partnership to Help Find Missing Children

Poynt has made an interesting and heart-warming announcement lately that it will develop and implement the first geo-relevant push alert system for the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC). The push alert system will be able to quickly notify Poynt users within a relevant, geo-targeted area with their Child Search Alerts on breaking developments of an active missing child investigation. The notification will include important information about the missing child’s active case such as last known location, physical description, photos and other pertinent details to help Poynt users in the area identify the missing child.

While there are other apps on the market meant to alert users of missing children, the difference is that Poynt is bringing its 7+ million users. Having a large install base is critical because the more eyes on the missing child the better. A good example of this is the Facebook partnership with the Justice Department and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to allow users to sign up to get Amber alert notifications of missing children.

Yet another reason to download Poynt: because it could help save a child’s life.

BlackBerry to integrate Bing services at the OS level

Steve Ballmer made an appearance today at BlackBerry World 2011 and announced a partnership between Microsoft and RIM to integrate Bing into BlackBerry products. In addition to making Bing the default search and map provider for all BlackBerry devices moving foward, services will be added at the OS level instead of being bundled as a series of apps. This will bring about features ranging from voice and location-aware search to panorama stitching. It also suggests that we’ll likely see another iteration of BlackBerry OS 7 sometime before the Holiday season later this year!

What’s your thought? Good or bad for RIM to make bedfellows with Bing? Would a Google integration be better?

via:Engadget

vis:bbos