To make matters worse, it seems like Gmail isn’t really for non-Android use because they’re pulling the plug on Gmail app for BlackBerry.  The Gmail app will be discontinued on November 22.

According to their blog post:

“Beginning November 22, 2011, we will end support for the Gmail App for Blackberry (installed native app). Over this past year, we’ve focused efforts on building a great Gmail experience in the mobile browser and will continue investing in this area.”

“Users may continue to use the app, if installed, however it will not be supported by Google, or available for download starting November 22. BlackBerry users can continue to access Gmail through the mobile web app at http://www.gmail.com in their BlackBerry web browser. Learn more.”

So what does this mean for Gmail app?  Will iOS users still see the app on the App Store?  Or will Google finally give up on the Gmail app?

It is said that Google pulling the plug on the Gmail app for BlackBerry is a sign that Google is focusing more on making Gmail iOS compatible.

Gmail App Pulled Out… Again! is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Adjusting to a Data Intensive, Mobile World – Google Unveils New Look for GMail But Sadly Lacks API Improvements
• Gmail’s Storm Cloud Has Silver Lining: Rackspace Says It’s About “Transparency”
• Google’s Cloud Crash Woes Likely Soothed by Virtualized Offline Tape Storage
• Google’s Cloud-based Postini Service Offering Exchange Safety Net
• Clash of the Titans: Facebook to Unveil E-mail System to Rival Google
• The Devil is in the Details, and Google’s Threading them Out

Here’s part of the article, by Joe Sharkey, IPads Change Economics, and Speed, of Hotel Wi-Fi-On the Road:

IF, like me, you have been complaining about unusually poor Internet service in hotel rooms lately, the hotels have a good explanation.

Largely because of the broad use of iPads and other mobile tablets, which are heavy users of video streaming, the guest room Wi-Fi networks that most hotels thought they had brought up to standard just a few years ago are now often groaning under user demands.

“The iPad is the fastest-selling device in consumer electronics history, and because of it the demand placed on any public place Wi-Fi system has gone up exponentially in the last year and a half,” said David W. Garrison, the chief executive of iBAHN, a provider of systems for the hotel and meetings industries.

This means more hotel customers are unhappy with their Internet connections. Hotel owners, meanwhile, who are digging out from a two-year slump caused by the recession, will probably have to invest more money to provide more bandwidth.

For travelers, it may mean still another fee, since hotels will be paying their own Internet bills. Some hotel Internet service providers are proposing a solution that offers tiered Wi-Fi service. The lowest level, suitable for basic Internet requirements like checking e-mail, would be free, but other levels would be priced depending on bandwidth requirements. According to iBAHN, iPads consume four times more Wi-Fi data per month than the average smartphone.

The iPad represents the “final nail in the coffin” for the idea that all Internet is free, Mr. Garrison said.

It’s all about the iPad, despite the fact that good old-fashioned laptops can also do video streaming (as can clunky smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S, for that matter.)

What is it about the iPad that makes people want to stream movies so much more than laptops do? From a purely technical standpoint, the only significant differences between the two platforms are the laptops’ larger screens, potentially better sound, and superior storage compared to iPads. Doesn’t every traveler have a laptop? Apparently not.

Business travelers have a large number of laptops, but more and more they seem to carry iPads as well. It’s not unusual for frequent fliers like myself to see our whole row using iPads at the same time, and my informal survey suggests that about half the iPad users in Economy Plus, Business, and First Class are also carrying laptops.

There are still a number of things you can’t do very well on an iPad, particularly the mundane business of word processing and presentation creation, so the laptop is still a necessity. It’s also still the case that some of us like to carry a fairly large document inventory when we travel, and cloud-based storage is much more expensive than a fat hard drive.

If you are using the cloud for your documents, you’re slamming your hotel’s Wi-Fi, although not as hard as you do with video streaming. Just as video streaming is the dominant Internet application in terms of volume overall, so is it dominant on hotel networks.

Getting back to our question about why the iPad makes people want to stream video, the best answer comes from a panel at TelcoTV2011 today: Matt O’Grady (EVP, Media Audience Measurement, The Nielsen Group) says consumers see the iPad as a “mobile TV set.” You watch streaming video on it because that’s what it’s for. Sure, you can do email, web surfing, and gaming on it too, but the killer app for tablets in general and iPads in particular is video. That’s why people pay the extra money and tolerate the extra weight that iPads bring in comparison to smartphones.

This effect – people carrying a portable TV wherever they travel – is slamming hotel networks, and pricing changes are the result. Pricing will be an efficient solution, because consumers actually do have the choice of loading video on their iPads before they travel (and while traveling if they also carry a laptop.) It’s less convenient, but if there’s money in it, people will do it.

[Cross-posted at High Tech Forum]

Get Ready for Metered Wi-Fi is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Giving Android a Chance
• “Unlimited” Now Equals 300 Megabytes
• Verizon Takes a Step Forward
• Landmark Study Finds That Cell Phones Do not Cause Cancer
• Traveling Super Bowl Fans Inflated Indy’s WiFi Nearly 20%
• Mobile Malware Hosted on German Server Shows Diversity of Fraud

Tar Heel Capital is a Polish company that manages private equity funds, investing in companies to allow them to further develop, often leading to institutional investment or an IPO.  Though the company is based in Poland, they are still incorporated here in the United States.

LiveChat was founded in 2002, and since 2010 they have been cash flow positive.  Simply put, more money comes in than out, which is what every business wants.  LiveChat attributes its financial stability to its product and ongoing support from core customers.  Their unique chat invitation triggers, and visitor behavior monitoring services help businesses better service their customers, as well as improve their own service with the information gathered from visitors.

Aside from being available on the web, LiveChat is also available on mobile platforms such as iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows OS.  Back in July, they launched an app compatible for iPads, as well as Facebook-integrated.  This availability of LiveChat on mobile platforms as well as social networks is crucial, as there is a huge demand from the mobile sector.  This means there is also a huge demand for customer support here, and there’s a huge population that uses social media.

LiveChat eliminates the customer’s need to physically visit the company just to have their problem solved, or wait a long time on the phone to reach customer service.  Problems get fixed in real-time and everyone saves a lot of time, and of course money. The company claims it serves some 1600 businesses of all sizes, including Linens ‘N Things, ING, Adobe, Orange Telecom, Better Business Bureau, and Air Asia.

“With the backing of Naspers, we enjoyed significant growth and are in a strong position to take the business forward as an employee-owned company. We’re ramping up our goal to become the undisputed leader of support software for ecommerce and give every business the tools to communicate with website visitors,” said Mariusz Cieply, CEO of LiveChat.

LiveChat is one of the many technology-driven solutions for customer service today.  It’s a space that’s readily improved by big data solutions, empowering metrics for better customer management products, an area where ClickFox has found its niche as well. LiveChat took the top spot from Assistly, which was acquired by Salesforce.com for $50M in September of this year.

LiveChat Completes Management Buy-Out, Now 60% Employee Owned is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• LiveChat Aims for Happy Customers With Facebook Integration
• LiveChat for iPad, Easier Customer Chat Support
• Capitalizing on Web Analytics, LiveChat Launches Tools to Boost Ecommerce ROI

The award-winning Pageonce Money & Bills already lets users automatically track all sorts of bills — from rent and mortgage, utilities, and cellphone to credit cards — and alerts them when a bill is due.  Now Pageonce gives users the option to pay immediately from their choice of accounts with a few taps on their smartphone.  It’s a feature we’ve been anticipating from the Pageonce service, and it really helps the company complete its circle.  Pageonce makes paper bills, checks and stamps, and logging into several different websites for online bill pay obsolete, helping users save time and avoid annoying late and overdraft fees.

“Pageonce has been helping millions of users stay on top of all their money and bills through a simple and smart mobile interface,” said Guy Goldstein, Pageonce Founder and CEO. “Now we’re empowering people to DO their finances directly from their smartphone. Paying bills is our first step in building the Wallet of the Future.”

Simple, Smart and Secure.

Pageonce collects all the information about a user’s bills, including payment due date, amount due and itemized details, and presents them in a simple, easy-to-read format on a smartphone.  Before a bill is due, users will get an alert that allows them to pay now in just three steps:

1)    Select how to pay

2)    Enter the amount

3)    Tap Pay
Once the transaction is done, the user will get a receipt and an e-mail telling them that the payment had been sent.  It will be followed by a confirmation message that the payment had been received.  And just like with bank-powered bill payments, Pageonce transactions are secure.  The payment app has its own PIN code to which designates access from one specific mobile device, and it also has the ability to block mobile access from the web if the device gets lost or stolen.  And in many ways, using Pageonce for bill pay is easier than your bank–it’s more centralized, designed for easy viewing and works across multiple accounts.

“Consumers are hungry for that combination of convenience and control that will enable them to pay bills more easily, more quickly, and with more control,” said Mark Schwanhausser, Senior Analyst, Multichannel Financial Services, Javelin Strategy & Research. “That means being able to review the details of a bill, not just the amount due. That means having the ability to choose when and how to pay, whether it’s from a “pay now” checking account or a “pay later” credit card that earns rewards. And, increasingly, it means being able to pay bills via mobile device whenever and wherever you are.”

Pageonce recently concluded a successful beta testing program that included nearly 1,000 best testers paying thousands of bills.  It’s getting deeper into a market that’s really taken to mobile devices, enabling personal finance services to flourish.  This latest development solidifies Pageonce’s goals around becoming a personal finance tool, a direction the company has settled into this past year.

Pageonce Money & Bills with bill pay is available now on the iPhone and Android for $4.99 per month.

Pageonce recently raised $15 million in funding, bringing their total raised capital to $25 million.  And they already have a reported five million registered users.   Their user base grew by 250% and their staff grew by 67% in just two quarters.  The boom in Pageonce’s user base can be attributed to the growth in mobile device sales and use.  Everything in this world is fast-paced and on the go.  Apps like Pageonce Money & Bills make people’s lives easy, making an appeal to end users with its app’s simplicity and usability.

PageOnce Sets Out for Mobile Payments Domination is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Pageonce CEO on the Wallet of the Future: “Transaction is the Next Step”
• Pageonce An Early Supporter of Amazon Appstore, Applies Big Data to Personal Finance
• Mobile Payments Target SMBs as AT&T Settles In
• Evolution of Mobile Payments: No Hands, No NFC?
• Pageonce Scores 5M Users Amidst Mobile Finance Competition
• Pageonce Raises $15m in Personal Finance Space

After services were restored, RIM offered free premium apps for subscribers, free tech support for enterprise subscribers and compensation for the service providers who took the first hit from angry BlackBerry users.

RIM held their BlackBerry DevCon Americas in San Francisco Mariott Marquis from October 18-20 where early registrants were given a free PlayBook tablet.  During the conference, they introduced a new OS for BlackBerry and enticed app developers to make apps for BlackBerry.

BlackBerry BBX

The BlackBerry BBX is the next generation OS for BlackBerry smartphones and tablets that is a hybrid of the BlackBerry, QNX and HTML5.  They rolled all the best features into one OS to make one platform capable of giving the best service in connecting people, devices, content and services.

BBX will include HTML5 with BlackBerry® WebWorks™, Adobe® AIR®, Native C/C++, and the BlackBerry® Runtime for Android™ Apps. Apps compatible with the QNX platform will be compatible with the BBX.  Also, BBX will feature the new BlackBerry Cascades UI Framework for advanced graphics.  BBX will also expand the BlackBerry DNA of collaboration, communication and immediacy, with familiar “Super App” capabilities such as deep integration between apps, always-on Push services, BlackBerry security, the BBM™ Social Platform and more.

Though the new OS platform seems promising, some analysts are thinking that RIM’s move is a little too late as competition is clearly miles and miles ahead of them.  They have to cover a lot of ground in order to keep up with competition.

Though BBX has just been announced and is not yet out, it’s already facing a problem because of its name.  Basis International, a global software company, holds the trademark for BBx®, a computer language that enables programs to run in any software.  Basis is said to be taking legal actions to protect their name.

“We are fielding numerous customer inquiries voicing their confusion about the RIM announcement,” Nico Spence, the chairman and chief executive of Basis, said in a statement.

RIM has yet to receive notification from Basis and believe that it would not cause confusion since they are not in the same line of business.  Spence voiced out that BBx might actually be what RIM needs iin order to keep up with competition as this could possibly help them in their app developer woes.

“Ironically, BASIS’ BBx may aid RIM in its quest to grab a share of the application market for mobile devices in that any application created with BASIS’ BBx for the Android or iOS mobile devices will also run on BlackBerry products,” Spence said.

High Hopes For The Future

RIM’s new head of developer relations Alec Saunders challenged developers to make apps for RIM.  Though RIM suffered a 50% decline in sales in the US, there’s a growing market base outside of it as BlackBerry users increased from 50 million last year to 70 million this year.

“I want a team on the ground here in Silicon Valley, going to developer events and meeting with developers all the time,” Saunders said while attending his company’s BlackBerry DevCon conference. “There’s a giant perception gap. Nobody is telling our story and even we weren’t telling our story.”

Also, they enticed DevCon attendees to try out their Android compatible apps on the PlayBook equipped with the new BBX software located in a booth just for that purpose.  RIM stated that their Android apps will work with the software.  This could probably go well for developers as it eliminates the need for them to tweak their apps just so it would run on BlackBerry devices.  It cuts the cost and possibly double their revenue.

The PlayBook suffered much criticism when it launched since it lacked native email, calendar and contacts program though RIM promised that those will be available in the next upgrade, the PlayBook 2.0.  No specific date has been announced as to when the update will be available.

On a lighter note, one BlackBerry fan won tickets form him and his Apple-user buddy to attend the BlackBerry DevCon in San Francisco.  Julian Dias entered the CrackBerry Fanboy contest with his video of skydiving and while he was freefalling, he used his BlackBerry to text “I’m falling for BlackBerry!”  If that wasn’t enough to prove how much Dias loved his BlackBerry, I don’t know what is.  Dias is literally a BlackBerry diehard fan.  The purpose of the Dias’ jump wasn’t only for fun; they had a purpose in coming to the conference.  They want to pitch an idea, Voyage 662, to RIM as to how they could help the company.  The point of Voyage 662 is that in a span of two months, they will visit six countries in South America and give six families BlackBerrys so they could keep in touch with their families and friends in the US.  They think that the service outage needs to be replaced with positive advertisement and the best advertisement RIM could have is from users of the device.

RIM BlackBerry DevCon Highlights: From BBX To Fanboys is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Is RIM Listening To The Wind of Change?
• RIM Loses Footing In Europe, Kindle Fire Sales at 6M
• RIM’s New Head Sticks with Plan, Even When Facing Patent Lawsuit
• Regardless of Its Future CEO or Owner, RIM’s Future is Cloud Services
• Android Usurped by Apple in Q4, RIM Drowns in Sales and Security Leaks
• RIM Gets Back to Basics: CES Demos Focus on Business Users, Cloud

Repeat calls signal a lose-lose situation—this is according to a recent Clickfox study (infographic below).  The study made good use of big data to locate states with the most number of repeat calls, which translates into dissatisfied consumers.  The top three states include high cost and high frequencies of calls are Nebraska, West Virginia and New Mexico. On the other hand, the territories with lower call rates are recorded in Montana, Minnesota and Arkansas. The 1-800 numbers are always for free (for customers), and cost the company $8 each call, the more repeat calls the bad for it for the business. Looking at the results, there’s a clear need for reform within the customer service industry.

It’s no fun for companies to see that their customers are quite unhappy with the service they are paying for over multiple calls.  After all, a reputation for bad customer service spreads like wildfire.  However, with these types of data sets and this level of business intelligence (BI), companies can identify and attack recurring issues accordingly.  BI applications that have been integrated within a business segment are now gaining popularity as analytics becomes a critical part of organizational strategy.

ClickFox knows all too well the importance of BI, and its product lineup sets out to empower companies with the information they need to make the right decisions.  The company’s in the process of building out its BI tools and services, rolling out an update just a few weeks ago.   ClickFox has become a leader in BI for its innovation around leveraging big data, recognizing the power in data-driven insight and forming ways to execute strategies around that knowledge base.

Midwest Has Angriest Wireless Customers in the US is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Can Social Media Beat Customer Service? This Infographic Says Yes.
• Are Oracle Apps Good for Cloudonomics?
• Where Android Loses Big: Service Costs
• LiveChat for iPad, Easier Customer Chat Support
• Delivering the best Customer Experience Through ‘Big Data’ approach
• ClickFox Adds Advisory Board, Pushes Innovations in Big Data BI

Director of product management and market development for VMware, Srinivas Krishnamurti made the announcement, but did not disclose which specific Samsung phones will carry the technology.

“It will be dependent on the carriers. We have carrier partners lined up who will take us to market. VMware isn’t saying yet which carriers are interested in selling the phones but expects them to launch in the coming months.”

Before Samsung, VMware hypervisor was tested in LG phones.  The technology will only be functional on Android OS on smartphones produced by the above-mentioned mobile manufacturers.  Should the run turn out to be a successful one, VMware hopes to bring hypervisor access to other Android phones, Apple iOS, RIM’s Blackberry, Microsoft Windows 7 Phone and more.

This development not only thrusts VMware forward to the mobile industry, but for the other parties as well.  Just yesterday, Samsung welcomed the Wave triplets, its latest family of devices.  There’s also the introduction of ChatON, a faddish social networking product that leverages its OS as well as its device distribution.

VMware has conquered the virtualization yard for a long while now. Penetrating the mobile community may be more challenging, but having something like the hypervisor service could make the game even more interesting.

Samsung for VMware: the Rise of Virtual Mobility is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Digital Camera’s Quest to Survive the Smartphone Era
• MWC 2011: More Tablets than CES?
• Mobile OS “Also Rans” Turning Sights to Bigger Prizes
• Smartphones Used More in the Home than On the Go: Movies, Games
• Intel Sees Laptop-Tablet Hybrid’s Bright Future, Bets $300M Funds
• HP Loses Ground in the Tablet War

In the coming months, Verizon Wireless customers will be able to use Serve to make payments for digital goods and other transactions on their Verizon smartphones and payments. Serve is recognition that in the new digital economy, the traditional credit card isn’t enough to capture all of the transactions that happen.  The deal should help grease the wheels of mobile commerce.

With Serve, American Express users will be able to “spend, send and swipe — online, offline, and mobile.”  It can be used to share a bill for lunch with a friend or buy some virtual goods in online games. In that sense, a broader mobile payments ecosystem could help everyone, from carriers to mobile game publishers.

Verizon customers will be able to create Serve accounts that function as digital wallets, which they can access via smartphones and tablets.  With Serve, a smartphone user could receive an offer on his or her mobile device and accept it on the spot, paying via the Serve online checkout system. In that system, the user authenticates a mobile number and then proceeds to make the purchase. The transaction appears on the Serve account holder’s bill.

The two companies are also working with Payfone to support Serve checkout on Verizon Wireless devices. Payfone’s pre-authorization and intelligent routing features will help Verizon Wireless customers who use the Serve application make mobile payments simply and securely.

“Our collaboration with Verizon highlights the speed at which Serve is evolving to reach a wide audience,” said Dan Schulman, group president, Enterprise Growth, American Express. “Verizon Wireless customers will soon be able to complement their busy lifestyle with a trusted payment platform that delivers a fast, flexible and secure way to manage their day-to-day mobile purchases, and together we’re taking the necessary steps to make mobile commerce a reality.”

Meanwhile, Mastercard is trying out its hyperlocal marketing through social networks. As part of MasterCard Worldwide’s iconic “Priceless” campaign, the brand has created a New York-based promotional event for its Priceless Cities in-market branding campaign.

Find the chairs and check-in via Facebook Places to be eligible to win special prizes, including meet-and-greets with Yankee greats, a “safari sleepover” at the Bronx Zoo, “V.I.P. treatment” at Marcus Samuelsson’s red-hot Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem, and access to a new section of Yankee Stadium known as Batter’s Eye View – which hosts the MasterCard Batter’s Eye Cafe.

MasterCard’s partnership with Facebook Places also comes as rival American Express launched a program with Foursquare in June that lets card members get loyalty card-like credit when they check in.  The mobile wallet space is heating up, finding ways to incorporate consumer benefits, discounts and account information every step of the way.

Mobile Payments and Offers Get Another Kick from AmEx, MasterCard, Verizon is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Google Wallet Officially Launches, but Not For Everyone
• Traveling Super Bowl Fans Inflated Indy’s WiFi Nearly 20%
• Mobile Malware Hosted on German Server Shows Diversity of Fraud
• How Social, Mobile was Super Bowl 2012? A Brand’s Dream Come True
• Evri Updates iPad App, Preps for Kindle Fire Next
• Social Mobile’s True Value for Super Bowl 2012? Business Intelligence

And now it seems that over the weekend Apple has begun enforcing a policy that dates back to February, that prohibits developers from providing in-app links to their own out-of-app content. Kobo, Borders, Nook Kids, the Kindle Apps and Google Books (which was temporarily pulled from the site) were all hastefully updated to comply with the new polices in the past few days.

“The changes will cut the amount of digital content available for easy purchase from within the App Store, reducing its appeal to consumers and potentially limiting sales for third-party app developers,” reports Financial Times.

Users of the apps subject to Apple’s restrictions will have to purchase content directly via Safari, which can make things a lot more complicated for apps like Spotify and Rhapsody, which require a subscription. It turns out, this update can also result in some usability issues, too, according to tech blogger Martin Taylor. Kobo books purchased via a browser could not be viewed from the publication’s own app.

Apple is looking to get out the most out of the major publications that target its mobile consumer base, although this is not the only field that seems to have caught the company’s eye. Reports suggested that Apple may be one of the buyers interested in acquiring Hulu, though the potential deal seems to have since cooled off.  But it’s clear that Apple’s steadily looking to center its own ecosystem in the mobile space, especially when it comes to media and software distribution, along with the personal cloud.

Apple Says No to In-App Links, Forces More Publishers’ Hands is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Why Users don’t Like Branded Apps…Umm, They’re Branded.
• Apple’s “App Store” Pride Shattered by Amazon in Court.
• Not Again: SAP Pays $345M in Intellectual Property Case
• Microsoft vs Apple vs Android: ‘J’accuse!’
• Apple Tightens In-App Purchase Policy, Shoulders Out Sony E-Reader
• Flash Hits the iPhone: Skyfire Browser Approved

“Kik Messenger’s mobile SDK is a proactive solution to meeting the needs of developers wishing to provide a real-time experience to users.  Goal would entail increasing adoption with presenting this unique approach of holding hands and sharing.

Kik promises to deliver a process which only takes 10 minutes to implement into a developers architecture. Interaction with Kik outside of applications is a new approach that will offer a real-time experience for a larger audience.”

From Kik

They have such a unique way of managing data and user experience. Combined with a community of users which support the cause.  It feels like the matrix of real-time communication.  Like Kik will eventually be able to do backflips by a developer of another application.

Pay attention to Kik Messenger.  I’m a beta tester, so that’s your proof.  Nothing but mad respect and love for those guys.

Kik a Dev Into Gear. Real-Time SDK in 10 Minutes is a post from: SiliconANGLE We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

• Top 10 Developer and Engineering Skills Employers Will Look for Going into 2012
• Qualcomm Releases AR SDK Kit for iOS
• Kik Messenger Arrives to Windows Phone 7. Taking a Hatchet to GroupMe.
• Google Updates AdMob for WP7, Embraces Platform “Openess”
• Preview SDK Tools for Android 3.0 Honeycomb, a Focus on User Interface and Design
• Mobile Malware Hosted on German Server Shows Diversity of Fraud