It’s Still A Feature Phone World, Samsung Galaxy Note Coming to Canada Q1 2012 & RIM Unveils BlackBerry Mobile Fusion for Enterprise

Samsung Galaxy Note Coming to Canada Q1 2012
The Samsung Galaxy Note, “a new category of product”, will be launching in Canada “early Q1 2012. Carrier(s) are still being decided upon, but it will most likely end up being an exclusive.
MobileSyrup

Samsung Aims to Beat 2011 Smartphone Sales Estimates
A Samsung executive recently said his company has high hopes that it will beat its original 2011 smartphone sales estimates. The Samsung executive did not disclose exactly how many smartphones Samsung hopes to sell.
BGR

It’s Still A Feature Phone World: Global Smartphone Penetration At 27%
A recently released report (download) from mobile strategy firm VisionMobile takes a look at today’s mobile marketplace finding that, despite the sharp rise in smartphone shipments over 2010 and 2011, global smartphone penetration (by OS) is at just 27%.
TechCrunch

RIM Unveils BlackBerry Mobile Fusion for Enterprise, Extends Reach to Android, iOS
In an apparent attempt to solidify its standing in the corporate world, RIM has unveiled a new platform that allows IT specialists to more tightly manage company devices — even those from rival manufacturers like Apple and Android.
Engadget

Samsung Galaxy W Now Available at Bell, Nokia Siemens to Slash 17,000 Jobs & Has the Windows Phone Marketplace Reached Critical Mass?

Samsung Galaxy W Now Available at Bell
Right on schedule is Bell releasing the Samsung Galaxy W, an affordable entry level Android that runs Android 2.3 and no word on an upgrade path to OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
MobileSyrup

LG, Prada Officially Renew Phone Partnership, Confirm v3.0 for Early 2012
LG and Prada have announced the renewal of their exclusive phone partnership, as well as the planned arrival of the third phone in the series early next year. The teaser image (above) shows a design that resembles the Prada K2 / P940 phone.
Engadget

Has the Windows Phone Marketplace Reached Critical Mass?
In testing the Windows Phone with the Nokia Lumia, there probably is a critical mass of apps in the Marketplace, but it still leaves much to be desired. Some go-to apps, such as Qik, Pandora or any third party browsers are missing.
ReadWriteWeb

Nokia Siemens to Slash 17,000 Jobs by 2013 in Restructuring Move
After Nokia and Siemens failed to sell Nokia Siemens Networks, the joint venture announced on Wednesday that it will cut 17,000 jobs around the globe by 2013 as part of a restructuring move that will focus on services and mobile broadband.
BGR

11 Craziest Black Friday Deals at Best Buy, China Leapfrogs US to Become World’s Top Smartphone Market & WIND Goes Live in Niagara

Strategy Analytics: China Leapfrogs US to Become World’s Top Smartphone Market
According to the latest Q3 figures from Strategy Analytics, China is now the world’s largest smartphone market by volume, overtaking the US for the first time.
Engadget

11 Craziest Black Friday Deals at Best Buy
Be ready for the Black Friday madness — or get yourself pumped while you wait in line — with this roundup of some of the best buys at Best Buy stores Friday. You’ll find everything from 60-inch LCD HD TVs to the popular Sony Cyber-Shot digital camera. If you’re looking for tablets or deals on cellphones, our list has some of those too.
Mashable

WIND Expands Coverage, Goes Live in Niagara
WIND Mobile is continuing their growth by expanding their “Home Zones” coverage. Recently launched in K-W, Guelph, St. Catharines and Welland, today WIND has updated their map and have turned service on in the Niagara region.
MobileSyrup

HTC Cuts Forecast on Competition from Apple and Samsung, Reevaluates S3 Acquisition
Leading smartphone vendor HTC on Wednesday trimmed its fourth-quarter revenue forecast by roughly 23% as stiff competition from Samsung and Apple has seeming slowed sales.
BGR

Today’s Mobile Brief: Premium Smartphones are Almost for Free, Nokia’s got a Lumia 800 ‘Making-of’ Documentary & the BlackBerry Brand Dominates?

11 Premium Smartphones That You Can Get For A Penny Or Less
Not a big spender? No problem — Some of the best smartphones in the previous generation and some pretty potent current-generation smartphones are available for less than your two cents. On top of Apple’s free iPhone 3GS, Amazon sells a number of completely adequate smartphones for $0.01 — making them the cheapest smartphones on the market.
Business Insider

Nokia Publishes Lumia 800 ‘Making-of’ Documentary
It’s an eight-minute long clip discussing the decisions behind the company’s “first Windows Phone”, with Nokia calling it “as much a story about collaboration and taking risks as it is about design.” Taking risks, indeed. It’s a good watch regardless of your platform affiliation.
Engadget

Mobile Carriers Look to Public Wi-Fi to Meet Consumer Data Demand
The Wireless Broadband Alliance is saying mobile operators are looking to public Wi-Fi hotspots to satiate our appetite for mobile data — despite massive investments and promotion of 4G networks. The WBA found that 47 percent of mobile operators surveyed believed further adoption of public Wi-Fi was “either very important or crucial” to keeping their customers happy, and that they hoped to combat increasing mobile data demand by offloading users to Wi-Fi, or with “pricing strategies” like the tiered data plans we’re already seeing.
The Verge

BlackBerry Still Dominates The Battle of the Smartphone Brands in Canada
A new study called the “Mobil-ology Study of Smartphone, Tablet & eReader” was conducted by Ipso-Reid. Over an “eight month period between January and August of 2011 they found that the top mobile brand in the Smartphone category is BlackBerry, followed by Apple, then a “variety of other handset brands using the Android platform”, such as Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola and Sony.
MobileSyrup