By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
We’re a week away from the launch of the much awaited BlackBerry 10 OS and smartphones from Research In Motion and the excitement is palpable. Like a long banished king making one last rally to reclaim its throne, RIM is charging forward. Loyal BlackBerry users and supporters, long exiled from the mainstream, are gathering to show support. Hit jump to read more about Canadian brands backing BlackBerry as it attempts to make a bold comeback.
Developer and partner excitement continues to grow ahead of the BlackBerry® 10 launch events on January 30, 2013. Top application developers from around the globe have committed to BlackBerry 10 and Canadian companies are no exception. BlackBerry 10 will include applications from several well-known Canadian brands.
“Over the past few months, we have seen tremendous enthusiasm and anticipation from developers around the globe, and especially here on our home soil. We have worked closely with Canadian developers to bring the brands Canadians love to the mobile space so their content and services can be accessed anywhere, anytime,” said Martyn Mallick, Vice President of Global Alliances and Business Development at Research In Motion.
“Canada has always been a special market for us. Canadian companies have shown their ability to innovate and compete, and the Canadian companies supporting the launch of BlackBerry 10 see the value of bringing their brands to mobile computing,” said Andrew MacLeod, Managing Director for Canada at Research In Motion.
Quotes from Canadian companies:
“Air Canada was the first North American airline to release a free BlackBerry app and our customers embraced it enthusiastically. We have worked closely with RIM to develop an upgraded version in anticipation of the release of BlackBerry 10 so that our customers will be able to retrieve boarding passes, check-in, manage payments and perform other time-saving functions using the latest mobile technology. Through our relationship with RIM, Air Canada is achieving its goal of providing mobile solutions to simplify travel for its customers and we will continue to add new functions to our BlackBerry 10 app to offer them even greater convenience.”
- Lise Fournel, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Air Canada
“Loblaw is excited to feature the President’s Choice Recipe Box app on the BlackBerry 10 platform. This marks the first time that the app is being offered on a smartphone. The app brings over 1000 mouthwatering recipes, created by the President's Choice brand chefs, to our customers’ fingertips – complete with photos, easy-to-follow instructions and videos. Leveraging RIM’s new BlackBerry 10 platform demonstrates our passion for innovation while meeting our customers’ evolving needs for portability, convenience and accessibility to great recipes.”
- Uwe Stueckmann, Senior Vice President Marketing, Loblaw Companies Limited
“Mobile devices are a critical and growing component of how we interact with our customers and distribution channels. BlackBerry is an important platform for our mobile technology strategy and we are excited about the new opportunities this will provide us to service our clients and distribution partners. As part of that approach, we are pleased to work with Research In Motion and have our InsureRight application ready for the launch of the new BlackBerry 10 platform.”
- Paul Lorentz, Executive Vice President, Investment and Insurance Solutions at Manulife Financial
“We are excited to work with Research In Motion to create an enhanced presence for our teams on their new BlackBerry 10 platform. As smartphone and mobile technology continue to evolve, it’s important our team and brand applications move in lockstep. We want our web site content accessible to our fans wherever they are.”
- Chris Hebb, Senior Vice President of Content, Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment
“Tim Hortons’ launch of the TimmyMe app was well-received by our guests who found it easy and convenient to interact with our brand on their mobile devices. We are excited about the launch of the BlackBerry 10 platform and the opportunity to partner with another iconic Canadian brand such as Research In Motion to make our app available on their latest devices.”
-Bill Moir, Chief Brand and Marketing Officer, Tim Hortons
“The Weather Network has a longstanding relationship with RIM and we’re excited to continue our strong relationship with the launch of a multifaceted weather information app for the new BlackBerry 10 platform. We’ve leveraged the BlackBerry 10 platform’s native features to provide greater sharing functionality and a more engaging experience. We’ve also included popular Weather Network features such as Follow-me and PointCast, which give users forecasts specific to a postal or ZIP code.”
- Gita Ashar, Director of Mobile Applications and Emerging Technologies, The Weather Network