Alec Saunders SquawkBox

In the category of "obvious, but I didn't anticipate THAT" comes the revelation that RIM is partnering with Facebook to deliver Facebook for the Blackberry.  Announced at CTIA today, the software will be available for download later today from RIM and Blackberry.

Wow!

The phenomenon of "breakage" is well understood in the gift card and prepaid phone card industries.  Breakage is the unspent amount on the card, which is pure profit for the company selling the card.  What about breakage in the cellular industry, though?  The wild profits earned by cellular carriers from overage — consumers exceeding their plans — have been widely documented.  How many people under-use their plans?

It turns out to be significant.  While searching for this information yesterday, I came across a Consumer Reports paper, republished on the Pharos International Website, offering recommendations for consumers on cellular phone use. 

Are the real profits for the cellular carriers in consumers who exceed their plans, or in the monthly breakage?

If you're raising money in Canada, Suzi Dingwall-Williams has published a summary of some of the ways that a startup can finance itself.  The key message?  Venture funding isn't the only way.  In fact, there are many ways to raise money. Venture capital may be one of the toughest in today's environment, where reportedly VC financings are down 60% in Ontario this year. 

It's ironic that so little money is flowing into startups, given the strength of the Canadian economy.

We'll be doing a little load testing on the iotum FREE Conference Call application tomorrow afternoon.  I've invited 39 of my friends to join me on a test call.   With a little luck, the facebook viral gods will turn my 39 friends into 390 or so as they each tell two friends and so on and so on and so on… We'll be paying homage to the Breck Girls, if you're old enough to remember them. 

So, if you would like to join us, and you're on Facebook, please feel free to add the following conference call to your schedule.  Invite two friends too!  It promises to be fun, and it should only take 10 or 15 minutes. 

Montreal's Mobivox is making news again this morning, with the appointment of Nitzan Shaer as COO.  Shaer will also join the Mobivox board.

Shaer's background?

• EIR at IDG Ventures in Boston
• Head of Skype Mobile, where he led development and marketing efforts that made Skype available on leading mobile phone platforms, including Nokia, Motorola and Windows Mobile.
• Product management at Microsoft where he managed development of three emerging businesses in the company's embedded and mobile division.

Does this presage marketing agreements with handset manufacturers?  Perhaps.  Mobivox is somewhat unique in that it requires no cooperation from handset manufacturers to go to market.  Or possibly  Mobivox is trying to forge a stronger relationship with Skype as they begin their push into the handset space. 

Either way, it will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out.