Rogers Prepping New Cancellation Policies, 6.8 Million Android And iOS Devices Were Activated on Xmas Day & Apple to Launch Redesigned iPhone

Rogers Prepping to Rollout New Cancellation Policies January 2012, Will Bring “Bill 60 Like Changes Across Canada
Apparently Rogers will be putting a similar Bill 60 structure in place across Canada where those wireless customers who wish to cancel their service will have to pay a “service disconnection fee”, or “Economic Inducement”, of $12.50, plus the hardware subsidy cost – “Hardware Savings / # of months in term X # of months remaining in the term”.
MobileSyrup

6.8 Million Android And iOS Devices Were Activated on Xmas Day, 242 Million Apps Downloaded
On a combined basis, 6.8 million devices were activated, up 353 percent from the 1.5 million average activations a day over the first 20 days of December. And that number from 2.8 million combined activations on Christmas, 2010, the previous record.
TechCrunch

Apple to Launch Completely Redesigned iPhone in Fall 2012
Apple is planning to use a rubber or plastic material — similar to the material used in the company’s bumper cases — that will be built into the new iPhone case. In all likelihood, this material will be used as a bezel surrounding the front edge of the phone (like the iPhone 3GS bezel) and it will serve two purposes.
BGR

Windows Phone Marketplace Passes 50,000 Apps
It seems like only yesterday that the Windows Phone Marketplace hit 40,000 apps — actually, it was Nov. 17 — and now Microsoft’s mobile app store has just passed 50,000, according to All About Windows Phone.
Mashable

LG Eclypse Now Available at SaskTel, Sony Ericsson ‘Super Phone’ Has a 13-Megapixel Camera and LTE & One Out Of Almost Every 7 Ads To be Mobile by 2016

One Out Of Almost Every 7 Ads To be Mobile by 2016
In 2016, one out of almost every seven digital ads will be served to a mobile device. Mobile advertising will account for 3.8% of all global ad spending on all media. According to Berg Insight, that will account for as much as $22.45 billion (€17.2 billion) of the global industry in 2016.
ReadWriteWeb

LG Eclypse Now Available at SaskTel
SaskTel has joined Bell and Virgin by releasing the QWERTY slider LG Eclypse. The best part of this launch is for an entry level device it comes with decent specs: Android OS 2.3.4, 1 Ghz processor, 3.5-inch touchscreen display, Wi-Fi, and a 5 megapixel camera that shoots 720p videos.
MobileSyrup

Sony Ericsson ‘Super Phone’ Has a 13-Megapixel Camera and LTE
Sony Ericsson is getting ready to release the LT28at, a high-end smartphone which the company refers to as “super phone.” The details on the Bluetooth SIG site are scarce, but LT28at will come with a 13-megapixel camera, LTE support and a 4.55-inch 720p “Reality Display.”
Mashsable

Samsung Launches Two Dual-sim Galaxy Y Phones for Carrier Cheaters
Samsung is rolling out a pair of dual-SIM blowers for everyone who wants to keep their working and private lives separate, or take advantage of constantly changing carrier deals. The Galaxy Y Duos packs a 3.14-inch touchscreen, HSDPA modem, 3 megapixel camera, microSD storage and an 832MHz processor that runs Gingerbread. The Galaxy Y Pro Duos’ only difference is its smaller 2.6-inch LQVGA TFT screen, to make space for the physical keyboard below.
Engadget

Say Goodbye to Symbian, Nexus S Update Has Been Paused & LTE Pricing May Drop as Much as 60% by 2016

Say Goodbye to Symbian, Say Hello to Nokia Belle
Symbian is already on its last legs as a mobile OS, now Nokia is giving it a bit of a kick while its down by ditching the name it grew up with and rebranding the latest version simply Nokia Belle.
Engadget

Don’t Hold Your Breath For That Nexus S ICS Update — It’s Been Paused
Still anxiously sitting by your Nexus S, awaiting that Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update that started rolling out a few days ago? According to a forum post by Google Community Manager Paul Wilcox, the company has paused the update in a number of regions while they “monitor feedback”.
TechCrunch

LTE Pricing May Drop as Much as 60% by 2016
The monthly price we pay for 4G LTE data could drop drastically over the next five years. Currently, 4G LTE networks are blazing fast but there’s no doubt that the technology comes at a price. 4G LTE handsets sold directly by wireless carriers typically cost more than their 3G counterparts, and tiered 4G data prices are still a bit too costly for heavy data users looking to ditch their cable companies.
BGR

Google Now Activating 700,000 Android Devices a Day
If the success of Android is determined by device activations, Google is certainly the market leader. According to Andy Rubin, Google’s Director of Mobile Platforms, there are 700,000 unique Android activations every day.
MobileSyrup

Facebook App for iPhone Gains Timeline, Explosion at Apple Supplier Injures 57 Workers & Even Santa Loves Siri

7 New Apps Worth Downloading This Week
With about 500,000 apps in the Apple App Store and an estimated 300,000 apps in the Android Market, finding the gems among the virtual haystack can be full-time job.
Mashable

Facebook App for iPhone Gains Timeline
Facebook updated its application for iOS devices over the weekend. The update included one major new feature: Support for the Facebook Timeline layout (which must first be activated online).
PhoneScoop

Even Santa Loves Siri in This New iPhone 4S Commercial
It must be hard being Santa. With all that responsibility (3.7 billion appointments?!) and not a lot of time, he’s got to keep his life organized. Well, Apple’s got him covered in this new Siri-focused iPhone 4S commercial.
MobileSyrup

Explosion at Apple Supplier Injures 57 Workers
The welfare of Chinese workers is back in the spotlight after an explosion at Shanghai-based Riteng Computer Accessory Company left 23 people in hospital with burns and another 34 with more minor injuries.
Engadget

Red Robot Labs Acquires Supermono, Appirio Buys Saaspoint To Expand To The UK

Two acquisitions today that were for the most part executed so Silicon Valley companies could buy their way into the UK (and Ireland) market.

Red Robot Labs / Supermono

Freshly funded location-based mobile gaming company Red Robot Labs has acquired UK-based indie gaming company Supermono Studios.

Red Robot says it will act as parent company, but let Supermono run an independent game creation and marketing business.

Founded almost a year ago, Red Robot Labs will thus expand to the UK market and set up shop in London. The company has also attracted Phil Harrison, General Partner at London Venture Partners and a former exec at Sony Computer Entertainment as a company advisor.

Also read: Life Is Crime: If You Try To Shakedown My Virtual TechCrunch Office, I Will Virtually Beat You Down

Appirio / Saaspoint

Cloud solutions company Appirio, which just raised funding from Salesforce.com and other strategic backers, has acquired Saaspoint, a provider of cloud consulting services.

Saaspoint brings Appirio experienced cloud consultants, as well as a physical presence in the UK and Ireland, in an effort to aggressively expand across Europe.

Founded in 2005 by early Salesforce.com employees, Saaspoint boasts offices in the UK and Ireland, and has served more than 100 global customers including companies such as British Gas, Dell, eBay, Paypal, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and UBM.

The transaction is expected to close later this month, subject to customary closing conditions.

CrunchBase Information

Red Robot Labs

Appirio

Saaspoint

Information provided by CrunchBase

Eat Smarter: Foodie.fm Debuts Personalized Grocery Shopping Platform

This week at the Le Web conference in Paris, Foodie.fm will be formally launching its personalized social shopping platform for groceries. The Finnish startup basically aims to better inform shoppers about the food they buy, and help retailers communicate directly about the groceries they sell.

At the core of Foodie.fm is a recommendation system, which the company says relies on patent-pending technology, that learns from a user’s eating and purchasing habits, and suggests recipes and groceries that match his or her ‘taste profile’. The system takes into account personal preferences – think food allergies or intolerance, budgetary restrictions and predilections.

Foodie.fm suggests groceries with a retailer’s real-time assortment in mind, giving users the chance to pick up all the food products they want without wondering if everything is going to be there.

Foodie.fm is currently available in Finland and in the UK as beta. In the United Kingdom, the Foodie.fm product assortment is linked to Tesco, enabling a direct check-out with Tesco.com. In Finland, the company has a similar deal with retail holding S group and boasts 140,000 users.

Foodie.fm is free of charge and currently available on the Web and as Facebook, iPhone, Android and Nokia applications.

They wrote a funny blog post that you might want to read: Who We Would Like To Take Out For Dinner at Le Web: And Where We Would Take Them

Amazon Launches Native-Language Kindle Devices, Kindle Stores In Italy And Spain

Amazon this morning announced the fresh availability of a €99 Italian-language Kindle, and the opening of an Italian Kindle Store, offering customers over 16,000 Italian-language Kindle books. The same thing is happening in Spain, obviously with a Spanish-language Kindle and a custom Spanish Kindle Store (over 22,000 titles).

In addition, Amazon announced that authors and publishers in both countries are now able to make their books available in the new Amazon.es and Amazon.it Kindle Stores using its Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform (Spanish / Italian).

Both in Spain and Italy, the 70 percent royalty option – which allows independent authors and publishers worldwide to make more money on books sold to Kindle customers in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Austria, France – is now also available.

The Kindle Store now offers customers a total of 900,000+ titles, in English and other languages.

CrunchBase Information

Amazon

Information provided by CrunchBase