Sidewalk Chalk

BlackBerry #1 Brand in Canada

2008-06-16T07:52:00.001-07:00

The Globe and Mail has reported that BlackBerry has soundly claimed the No. 1 spot in this year's value ranking of Canada's top 25 brands.

The Globe's Jennifer Wells writes the Best Canadian Brands list places a value of $5.6-billion on the BlackBerry brand, outpacing Royal Bank of Canada by nearly $1.5-billion. In the last ranking, in 2006, BlackBerry was not even a contender.

The upcoming Ikonica: A Field Guide to Canada's Brandscape, says: "BlackBerry is being woven into the global brand culture. The result is broad recognition and strong emotional bonds, verging on obsession with users around the world." Author Jeannette Hanna says the success of BlackBerry proves her point. "Most Americans assume BlackBerry is American technology because it's so good. It's not about the country of origin. That's not really relevant." she says. Significantly, the showing puts BlackBerry in the running for inclusion in Interbrand's ranking of the world's top 100 brands, to be released in September. To date, no Canadian brand has broken into the global rankings historically led by Coca-Cola and populated by the likes of Toyota and Microsoft.

Chalk has been a proud BlackBerry Independant Software Vendor (ISV) since 2006.

Chalk Takes Home 2 WES Awards!

2008-05-23T15:33:00.003-07:00

We spoke too soon with our Top 3 yesterday...

Since then we've been informed of 2 awards that Mobile chalkboard has won!

1) BlackBerry Cool Best of WES 'People's Choice Award' - WON Enterprise Coolness Award!

2) CrackBerry.com Best of WES 'Cracky' Award - WON Enterprise Award

BlackBerry Cool and CrackBerry.com are big in the world of BlackBerry - so we're thrilled with the news. Being chosen out of the hundreds of BlackBerry ISVs at WES 2008 is a big deal, and one we're proud to boast about!

WES Top 3

2008-05-22T17:01:00.002-07:00

WES 2008 is over, and for Chalk it was an amazing show.

These were the top 'wow' moments:

Mike Lazaridis, RIM's Co-CEO & President, visiting the Chalk booth for a private demo

Being told that our WES magazine 'Rolling Phone' was the best marketing piece in the Solutions Showcase

Making CIO Magazine's "Five Favorite BlackBerry Products & Services" list post-show

Excellent reactions, great connections and fantastic accolades. We're already looking forward to WES 2009!

To request a demo of Mobile chalkboard, click here.

WES 5 day countdown...

2008-05-07T11:43:00.005-07:00

RIM's Wireless Enterprise Symposium is right around the corner, and this year Chalk (a Silver Sponsor) will be taking the event by storm.

In celebration of WES 2008, the first 500 people to visit our booth (114 - front & center in the Solutions Showcase) and have Mobile chalkboard installed will receive FREE Kingston microSD cards.

In addition, you'll be able to sign up to vote in our inaugural I Love my BlackBerry! Contest. The stakes? $1000 cash. We'll also be choosing one voter at random to receive a $500 cash prize. More details will be revealed on Monday!

For an audio preview of what we have planned at WES, tune into the latest Bl ackBerry Co ol podcast - featuring Chalk CTO Jody Glidden. Jody will be doing a full demonstration of Mobile chalkboard during WES as well - on Wednesday at 1pm in the Demo Theatre.

Rumors of a Chalk produced magazine for the show are also circulating. Think we could pull it off? You'll have to visit us at WES to see...

Curtain opens in 5 days, 18 hours & 55 minutes.

Less than 3 weeks 'till WES!

2008-04-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in our last newsletter, RIM's Wireless Enterprise Symposium is a pivotal event for Chalk. We launched our mobile content deployment system, Mobile chalkboard, at the 2007 event, and are gearing up for another great event this year.

With 18 days, 19 hours & 33 minutes (yes, I'm serious) until the curtain opens - we've got some amazing plans in the works. A Silver Sponsor once again - not only are we front & center at the Solution Showcase, but our CTO Jody Glidden is also speaking at the event.

More details to come next week!

Smartphone 2010: what will you be packin'?

2008-03-19T08:57:00.001-07:00

We've come a long way since the first cell phone was released in 1973 ..

It was reported today that by 2010 smartphones will pack enough power to replicate the Internet-over-PC experience in many ways...

What can you expect?

More memory for multimedia apps
Always-available broadband
Tageted smartphone features
Faster bluetooth & more GPS-powered apps

What will we still be lacking? You guessed it: batterly life.

Click for the full article.

AT&T Connects Business Customers With New Wi-Fi-Enabled BlackBerry Pearl 8120

2008-03-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

AT&T Inc. and Research In Motion (RIM) have announced the availability of the BlackBerry(R) Pearl(TM) 8120 for business customers, a global handset with built-in Wi-Fi(R) that combines business-grade communications and multimedia functionality in a small and stylish design. The new BlackBerry Pearl 8120 handset enables AT&T's business customers to use the broadest domestic and international coverage area for wireless data services of any U.S. carrier.

Click for more details.

Mobile Industry on Track to hit a Trillion

2008-03-06T13:29:00.001-08:00

Yes, that's right... a Trillion - by the close of 2008.

This latest stat comes from Portio Research, who places the Mobile Industry at the top of the pecking order in terms of sustained growth (surpassing other market sectors such as IT and Pharma).

The worldwide number of mobile subscribers is estimated to grow worldwide from 3.1 billion at the end of 2007 to an estimated 5 billion by 2012.

What will the market for non-voice services be? Apparently US$250 billion by 2012.

More and more - mobile subscribers are realizing that their handsets can do much more than send messages or make phone calls. For example, in October 2007 there were almost 6.8 million mobile video viewers in the US alone. The number of mobile TV subscribers is predicted to be 488.8 million by the end of 2010.

BlackBerry more popular than expected

2008-02-22T09:29:00.001-08:00

The ever-popular BlackBerry (a Chalk favorite) is expected to have about 14 million corporate and consumer customers worldwide by March, exceeding expectations as maker Research in Motion Ltd. tries to capture more of the consumer market with the smartphone.

Research in Motion also said it expects more than two million new customers for the fourth quarter ending on March 1. That’s about 15 to 20% higher than the 1.82 million forecast in December by the company.

The popularity of the mobile device sent RIM stock soaring on Thursday. RIM shares closed at $108, up $8.96, or 9%, on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

“There are three billion cellphone users in the world,” said Agostino of Research Capital Corp. in Toronto. “The smartphone market that I would say RIM is in, is the fastest growing segment in the handset market,” Agostino said. “When you look at where they are today, they can grow.”

Agostino said he believes the BlackBerry will become even more popular for general consumers as opposed to just a device for business communications.

Timely news considering Chalk's announcement of our 'Extended Enterprise' feature for Mobile chalkboard yesterday. Coincidence? We'll let you decide...

Read full RIM release.

Make your 08 Tech Trends list & check it twice!

2007-12-21T14:33:00.001-08:00

With the holidays right around the corner and 2008 not far behind, CIOs are determining which key IT initiatives will take flight in 2008. Verizon Business has identified ten business technology trends that are driving those New Year's resolutions!

Here's Verizon Business' list of ten hot trends for 2008:

Continued Globalization
Securing the Extended Enterprise
Global Greening
Virtualization and On-demand Computing (a.k.a. Computing as a Service)
Telepresence
Outsourcing/Out-tasking
Smartphones and Managed Mobility**
Unified Communications
Work-Life Balance
The CIO as Business Strategist

** Professionals will call on their smartphones to work harder in 2008, relying more and more on mobile e-mail, integrated calendars and contacts lists while away from the office. As a result, businesses will spend more on mobile devices and will need to manage and secure numerous devices as part of an overall global enterprise mobility solution. Managed Mobility will become the next frontier, helping businesses track, monitor, secure and manage the mobile devices accessing their corporate networks.

To read the full list, click here.

See you in 2008!

Chalk bound for CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment

2007-10-03T13:13:00.001-07:00

It's the largest wireless data event in the industry - embodying the ever-changing, dynamic and innovative world of wireless data in Enterprise and in Entertainment.

This show brings together enterprise users, solution providers, content owners and mobile distribution channels.

Chalk will be on hand to showcase Mobile chalkboard.

October 23 - 25, San Francisco. Hope to see you there!

Chalk launches new Mobile-centric Newsletter

2007-10-03T13:00:00.001-07:00

Check it out!

And please let us know what you think! Email bvanhatten@chalk.com with your feedback.

Training Magazine cover story "Mobility Movement"

2007-10-03T11:01:00.001-07:00

Here at Chalk we're all about mobility these days with our mobile content deployment solution Mobile chalkboard(tm).

Turns out the folks over at Training Magazine are on the bandwagon as well! Click to read more about the "Mobility Movement" in the training world...