On October 22nd, 2013, RIM finally decided to launch BBM on Android and iOS, and I say this with little enthusiasm. The BBM application was long overdue, serving as a bitter reminder of what could have been if they had only launched the app years ago. Although there is a high demand for the application, I do not see a bright future for RIM. The company is trying to salvage what little remains, and is doing a terrible job might I add. Blackberry announced on Twitter that they had reached 5 million downloads after eight hours of launching (Burns, 2013). As one of many who attempted to download the application upon its release, I was wait-listed due to its excessive demand. I found this completely ridiculous, and agree with Thomas’ post about how the company is nothing but a sinking ship. BBM was once a unique application that allowed its users to send picture messages, have group conversations, show read receipts, and more. Now it is the mere equivalent to every other messaging application in the app store, having almost no ‘product differentiation’ at all. I believe that what sparked the high initial demand of the application was purely nostalgia. Users similar to myself wanted to relive their glory days in high school where they treated BBM as a form of ‘MSN’ or ‘instant messaging’ on-the-go. However, in simple terms, BBM just isn’t the same. Nice try, RIM.
References
https://blogs.ubc.ca/thomascampbell/
http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/22/bbm-finally-launches-for-android-and-ios-years-too-late/
http://media.idownloadblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/BBM-crossplatform.jpg
On November 4th, the Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, Dr. K. Kellie, revealed a government-supported project that “aims to increase economic opportunities for women in Canada” (Thomas, 2013). The project includes the Canadian federal government promising $500,000 in order to create more economic opportunities for female entrepreneurs. It aims to cut off the systematic barriers that lead to under-representation of women-led companies in Canada (Thomas, 2013). With the help of this project, the government wants to not only foster supplier diversity, but also increase corporate support of female entrepreneurs. This initiative is currently under the responsibility of WeConnect Canada, which is an organization supporting female business owners. After hearing the news about the federal government’s pledge, president of WeConnect Canada, Mary Anderson, stated, “We are very pleased to partner with the Government of Canada for this project that will help more Canadian women succeed as entrepreneurs”. Since 2007, over $46 million has been approved through the Women’s Program for initiatives that support economic security and prosperity for businesswomen (Thomas, 2013).
Since the U.S. government shutdown, many have been concerned with what this means for the economy. United States defense contractor Lockheed Martin stated that it would put 3,000 workers on unpaid leave. One of the consequences of the shutdown includes not being able to collate economic data. Penny Pritzker, U.S. Commerce Secretary, described how this current situation is affecting businesses because of their inability to receive data. Furthermore, the number of staff members on leave is said to grow if the shutdown continues. Not only has the United States government shutdown had an affect on the country’s economy, but it has a global impact as well. Due to the fact that the U.S. economy is the number one economy in the world, it is inevitable that their affairs concern the rest of the world as well. The Chilean President Sebastian Pinera suggested that the country confront its fiscal problems in a more efficient way that wouldn’t include shutting down the government. However, President Obama refuses to negotiate with Republicans over budget issues until they decide to pass a temporary bill to reopen the government as well as raising the country’s borrowing limit. In terms of businesses, many feel that congress needs to find a solution now.
Seaspan Shipyards has announced a new $3,300,000,000 contract from the federal government in order to build vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard. Holy ship, that’s a lot of zeros! This recent news will mean that up to 17 vessels will be built Seaspan, including 7 ships from a previous contract confirmed in April. What exactly does this mean for Canada’s economy? Harper’s government claims that it will create jobs and generate significant economic benefits not only in shipbuilding, but other industries across the country. The article claims that 4,000 jobs are expected to be created from the first Vancouver contract alone. Minister Moore feels that The Government’s National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy has played a significant role in revitalizing the province’s shipbuilding industry. The amount of long-term jobs in this industry alone show signs of future economic growth. Construction, manufacturing, and engineering companies will continue to benefit from this project. Meanwhile, opposing parties are pressing the Harper government to see if they can follow through with all of their promises. Only time will tell exactly how beneficial this project will be for our economy.
