BlackBerry Kickstart Here at kevinrestivo.com, experimentation in the name of reader satisfaction and ultimately increased traffic is the name of the game. To that end, I’m going to begin a series of small experiments.

The first such trial begins today (Saturday) with a brief wrap of some of the major wireless news stories/events that happened in North America over the past week.

The format is simple: the news will be reviewed in a short paragraph followed by the impact on the industry, consumers and partners. Comments and questions always welcome. With that, here’s my first stab at it:

1) iPhone coming to Canada: Working and living in Canada we’ve got to start the week in review off with the news of the vague announcement by Rogers it will officially bring the iPhone to Canada at some point “later this year.”

Interpretation & Impact: Rogers will be able extend its subscriber lead over Bell and Telus once it adds the iPhone to its already impressive array of handsets later this year (whatever that means). As for Apple, the release of the iPhone in Canada will mark the seventh country - assuming the Great White North is next up - that cell phone aficionados will be able to purchase the much-loved iPhone. It’s doubtful the company will generate much, if any, contract revenue from Rogers though as Rogers is the sole operator of GSM networks in Canada giving it leverage with Apple. That’ll mark a departure of sorts for Apple, as the company has reportedly wrung as much as 30% of a customer’s monthly service fees out of some carriers.

2) The BlackBerry Kickstart, a purportedly new clamshell version of the popular smartphone from Canada’s Research In Motion, was leaked, er, appeared on a consumer blog called the Boy Genius Report. The report, undoubtedly leaked to the gadget blog, shows RIM is ready to release multiple versions of the BlackBerry for consumers.

Interpretation & Impact: The phone, assuming the image is indeed a photo of a forthcoming BlackBerry smartphone, will allow RIM to make further inroads into the lucrative consumer and prosumer segments where competition has intensified over the past 18 months with the entrance of Apple. The post is also further proof that (some) bloggers are influential as RIM stock jumped 7% after the product release speculation/rumour was disseminated.

3) AT&T, the exclusive network provider of the iPhone in the U.S., said it will give away free Wi-Fi access to its 71,000 iPhone owners.

Interpretation & Impact: the largest U.S. GSM network operator knows it has a winner on its hands and will go to great lengths to make its owners feel as though they are part of an elite group of people. Now THAT’S smart marketing; Good for you Randall Stephenson and co. It reinforces the value of the iPhone by showing that AT&T wants to make the wireless experience better for iPhone owners.

It also puts AT&T, which had been up until last year a dull undifferentiated provider of wireless services, into more of a Purple Cow marketing mindset and status.

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