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Here’s an interesting experiment for blackberry fans, try using any other modern smartphone for a few weeks then switch back to your (aka non-storm) blackberry. Befuddle yourself in amusement as you jab futilely at big fat OK buttons on the screen, get confused as you try and quickly pinch-zoom or flick your tumb over the screen to speedily scroll down a webpage. It doesn’t work. Which, once you are used to them, it feels crazy because natural gestures are just such a great and easier way to handle many common mobile iteractions from launching an app to using the web. Sure, after an iphone or any slide-out keyboard, the famed berry bold/curve keyboard is a joy when hammering out emails, but for everything else the device feels like a relic. Like last-decade’s keyboard and mouse interaction paradigm crammed into a form factor it doesn’t belong.

We’re on your side here RIM, at wirelessnorth we like to cheer for the home team. But c’mon now. Would it kill you to let us grab hold of the screen once in a while?

Unless you’re a cab driver or a realestate agent, is unlimited voice still what it used to be? Thanks to the wonders of technology, we find the vast majority of usage on a mobile phone is shifting from “phoning anyone” to SMS, IM, Web, Twitter, Facebooking, skype, gtalk, foursquaring not to mention games, web and using that bright screen to find your way across your apartment in the dark.

I would never go anywhere without it, but I think I could count on one hand the number of actual calls I placed on my mobile last month.

Unlimited minutes. What are they good for?

You’ve probably seen the news already, but Tony Clement has stepped up to reverse the CRTC decision on Globalive and allow their mobile brand Wind to enter the market.

More on what this means for foreign investment and the CRTC in general to come.

Pic: one of many twitter responses this morning.

One of the last really severe pain-points for Canadian wireless sufferers subscribers have been roaming rates. It’s not uncommon for blackberry wielding business travelers we know in Canada to face roaming bills upwards of $1000 a month. It looks like there may be, finally, a Canadian-based roaming service alternative. Reader Anthony A writes to us about roammobility.com :

I came across this on twitter today and a Vancouver company, Roam Mobility has launched a global roaming service for Canadian and US travelers.

Besides low roaming rates they offer free incoming calls in over 60 countries like but got me excited was the free incoming in the USA. I did a bit reading on their site and you get a USA and UK number to use while traveling.

The price seems reasonable and they also offer new Motorola world phones if you don’t want to unlock yours or don’t have a GSM phone that works globally. I did notice that they didn’t offer data, so I contacted them and they said that the service will be available in 6 weeks. Their reason for not offering data now is because they are still trying to ensure their data roaming is at least 50% than any other major carrier.

If their service is good and I can get the service before I travel, then roaming rates won’t seem so stressful anymore. I like the idea that I can have a phone which anyone can call me on and it won’t cost me anything while I’m away. I’ve been to Miami and London this year, where were these guys before? My bill from Miami alone was $270!

If anyone else has experience/success using these guy’s roaming packages let us know.

Globalive CEO Tony Lacavera made a public appearance today at Mobile Monday Toronto, to talk about Wind, and where they go from here. You may recall that the CRTC has. for now, shut down Globalive’s wireless venture within what would have been weeks of their launch. The exact same wireless venture that another branch of government, Industry Canada, was more than happy enough to take 450M CAD of their money in exchange for a big chunk of spectrum.

• According to Tony, Canada is still effectively a series of provincial duopolies (2 carrier concentration of 80-90% in most markets), with the 3rd highest costs and least customer satisfaction in the world. What we need is competition.
• Globalive is not pleased to be missing Christmas but is pushing ahead, expanding the network, keeping staff on while they sort through with the CRTC and industry Canada
• Tony is not yet acknowledging the possibility of not launching
• CRTC’s reversal came after globalive were legally approved by both Industry Canada and Dept of Finance. The CRTC’s choice was not one of law but a subjective decision, says Tony, and we disagree with their interpretation.
• Tony played up the charity work globalive employees have been doing – “has made our culture so much stronger”
• Wind (The globalive wireless brand) plans to launch with “all unlimited plans, no contracts, no catches*”
• Other than the catch that data will have some limits, or at least large buckets (this is not so unreasonable)
• Tony is keen on cool ideas like open application platforms. Although we don’t know what that means from a carrier perspective exactly.
• Wind will launch with blackberries (the latest) and other smartphones but not the iphone yet
• Asked about whether Canada should scrap foreign ownership rules – no says they are still important from a broadcast and cultural perspective
• What Tony really means is that Globalive doesn’t need (to wait for) legislation to change for them to launch

A few great, and essentially unanswered yet questions from the audience:

1) Globalive (and the likes of Quebecor) are more clearly intent on building long-term sustainable businesses, but how well will they compete against kamakazie marketshare strategies of any of the pure new entrants who could, potentially, be intent on gaining-marketshare-at-any-cost strategies in order to flip their businesses at the end of five years? (e.g. when the spectrum exclusivity rules for new entrants come off)

2) How does the UK wireless industry (for example, pick any G8 country) perform so well and competitively without the benefit of Canadian-style foreign ownership? Why does Canada keep such good company as Burma, Iran, North Korea in sheltering our wireless industry from international competition?