Nokia Drive App to be paid for Non-Nokia WP

After hearing Elop talk repeatedly about differentiating mainly in terms of hardware, and additionally providing software on too all vendors many were surprised (and happy) that some apps would remain exclusively to Nokia.

But after the XAP Nokia Drive was leaked perhaps they could not control it or as the mentioned in the site below it was planned all along. Simply put I hope Nokia earns enough from these services to make up for the lost advantage of distinguishing by software, since hardware i.e. camera + appearance + brand + quality,  all that are left between Nokia and other brands.

This is was re-tweeted by a Nokia official in Nokia via Twitter.

UPDATE: Turns out this is not true. Nokia underlined directly that this app (Drive) would not be available to other OEM’s. Let us hope Nokia shows more innovation, not only limited to software.

Via

Nokia Lumia Falls Below Expectations -FORBES

With all the attention and marketing blitz being strewn around by Microsoft and Nokia you would think its selling like hot cakes. All the blogs (especially the old Nokia ones) seem to be blindly loyal, not criticizing it too much. All seem so upbeat talking about the new features, but rarely pitting it against what we are so familiar with i.e. the older Nokia phones or the other platforms, and what is actually missing + can be added.

Coming from Nokia you would expect to at least have some ‘Nokia’ in them besides some applications (Nokia Maps already runs on other WP devices albeit hacked). Nokia released it without much thought it seems. Why isn’t haptic feedback from the N9 present? In standby why is there no clock? These are simple things that should have been implemented showing that, yes indeed Windows Phones were released but there is really no Nokia besides the shell (from a previously NOKIA headset).

Now here is an article from Forbes:

 Bernstein Research analyst Pierre Ferragu pointed out a research note Friday that checks on Google Trends finds that the buzz level for the Lumia 800 is about on a part with the Nokia N8, the company’s top-of-the-line but poor selling smartphone a year ago. He thinks this one could be a dud, too.

“With no breakthrough innovation, we believe Nokia’s new phones are unlikely to get traction in a highly concentrated high-end,” he writes in a research note. “Second, we don’t believe Lumia phones are competitively priced. Third, we believe in economics of increasing returns for mobile ecosystems and judge rather unlikely that Windows can gain critical mass against Android and iOS. Fourth, we have seen evidences of lack of traction for the Windows operating system over the last 12 months and challenge the idea that the Nokia brand can make a meaningful difference today.”

TheFlyOnTheWall.com reports this morning that Pacific Crest told investors this morning that shipments for Nokia’s new Windows-based phones are “surprisingly weak.” Details on the report when I get them. (Note: See update below.)

NOK is down 49 cents, or 7.5%, to $6.02.

Update: Pacific Crest analyst James Faucette wrote in a research note that shipments of Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 units in the December quarter could prove disappointing. “We believe that shipmentsof Nokia’s new Windows Phone 7 products have been lower than we had previously anticipated,” he writes. “We had expected that the company could ship as many as 2 million units into the six targeted markets for the holidays; however, we now believe that those shipments are likely to be less than 1 million for the quarter.” He adds that sell-through checks find “disappointing sales” for the Lumia so far, and that December quarter sales could be under 500,000 units.

Now I do not know where they get their information from, but I would not be surprised if true. There is nothing new or breathtaking in the device. Hardware has been used, software is well known, camera is OK. However, this is just the beginning. For Nokia to really entice everyone they really need to:

– get stellar hardware that exceeds what is on the market (software after all is the SAME), be it form factor wise, camera wise or simply small touches like haptic feedback etc.

– Nokia’fy the software: add USB mass storage option, display the time etc. on the screen, allow for access to other searches and photo-sharing etc. not just locked into Microsoft services, some of which are worse than OVI

– Overhaul the whole WP interface, keeping what is necessary. I believe we will see this in Apollo. The tiles are OK, but not great since they take up too much screen real estate for the info displayed. There are more efficient ways of displaying the same information and I believe Apollo will show us this with Nokia involvement. I hate for instance selecting a letter in the applications, too much effort and Symbian had that for contacts. Seriously?! Use a gesture like the Nokia N9 to just glide your finger and go through the alphabets instead of poking once, twice and then sliding your finger. One gesture gets rid of all that.

As of now my Nokia N9 remains the last REAL Nokia phone and after PR 1.1 has been more and more fun, I find myself picking it up just to play with it or enjoying each gesture immensely. WP gets boring after awhile and shows that many parts were rushed and not refined. Anybody that has seen the multitasking screen can attest to it: have you seen the background? Bright green? Orange? Pink? It looks ugly.

The N9 has every part refined and until Nokia can bridge functionality with absolute refinement as they did with the N9, where it is smooth and user friendly while being powerful (Android = powerful, iOS/WP = beautiful) not everyone will make the switch to their platform.

A beautiful device allows an ecosystem to thrive, I hope Nokia gets this.

Source – Forbes

Nokia N9 in the house + Nokia World Impressions

As everyone has no doubt seen the news around about the launch of the new Windows Phones from Nokia and the revelation that there is a  white Nokia N9 floating around, with the newer PR 1.1 update. I believe that is a pretty big update, but not quite as big as the next one which is said to have some 3500 improvements.

I have been using WP for the past 7 months or so, and used the developer version of Mango. It was OK but it has a long, long way to go before it is competitive. Mango brought forward many improvements, that just brings it up to the competition. But using WP does not delight nor fascinate you, say the way the iPhone did. Neither is it as powerful as the Android.

Therein lays the problem. WP alone is lackluster. The nice effects are OK but the big picture is that the OS needs a lot more work for it to be a full featured OS. This is especially true coming from Symbian/Meego or from Android or even iOS. It just does not fascinate. There are a huge number of aspects that Windows Phone needs to change because it is just a ‘dumb’ phone with polish. I will delve into that another time.

For now I have had the pleasure of using the Nokia N9. Wow. That was my first reaction on opening the box, the hardware is beautiful, it is light but feels wonderful in the hand in a solid way. That mono-block of Poly-carbonate makes a huge difference and is much better than any other device I have held so far.

Coming to the software, I am sure you all have read the reviews around. I would advice you to check out the thisismynext review, they hit the nail on the head. It is absolutely beautiful (magical!) and changes how you play with your device. I found myself wanting to touch and use the device, throughout even after a week or so. Swiping is so natural, I wonder why no one thought of it. I find myself swiping on other phones.

The software shows you can have all the features power users have with Android, in a beautiful package, with the ease and intuitive silky smooth operation of the iPhone. You can multitask, have a feed, have most of the things us Symbian users are used to. This is the first phone to do so in a customer friendly way. 

I am no doubt impressed at how smooth it is and love the package. The app store has been talked about but it is not a dead device. There are various QT developers developing and Nokia has promised support. It is not dead in Nokia either: the department is there for future disruptions, I know there may be no Meego device for a long time but there is support for the Nokia N9.

I am disappointed with Nokia for releasing WP phones, without any Nokia in them. They did not even implement the haptic feedback, or the host of other features expected.

Nokia Windows Phone for Verizon?

Appears the old staff at Engadget, now at thisismynext, had information from earlier about Nokia’s Meego phone appearing on Verizon, which is  CDMA network. Extending that logic, the hardware being very similar a CDMA Windows Phone is possible.

This is in addition to comments by other Nokia executives i.e. Chris Weber, the guy in charge of Nokia’s NA market. Either way we will be be sure in the next few days.

Nokia Conversations is ‘Changing’

Nokia Conversations website is down. It seems like its a redesign or perhaps they are getting ready to explode with all the upcoming Nokia World action with interactive content etc.

My money is on betting that all of Nokia’s websites will have more WP branding all over the place and the Conversations blog will be the 1st 1 to do so.

UPDATE: FROM Nokia Conversations Newsletter:

“Monday sees the launch of the new Nokia Conversations, and Karen Bartlett is onboard for the first step of the journey.

As newsletter subscribers, we know that you are among the most active and engaged readers of Nokia Conversations, but for the last few months we’ve been working on developing an improved site which looks great and really lets you get into the stories.

We’ve got a new look,  new people on the team – and even a new name.

Nokia Conversations is now going to be called Conversations by Nokia, and we’re going to tackle more than mobiles. You’ll still be able to read all the best information and insight into Nokia products, but now we’ll combine that with top quality journalism and original in-depth features.

We’ve always had great reporting, but now that we’ve got more people on board we can give a story time to develop and space to breathe.

And on top of that, we’ve got an art director and a video team who are going to be creating high resolution images and HD video to make the most of the stories.

The new site is built for new generation web technologies, from CSS 3 to HTML 5, but it’s also as light as possible.

Next week Nokia is going on the next stage of the company’s journey at Nokia World, and we’re evolving too.

The new Conversations by Nokia launches on Monday – and we want to know what you think. Part of the new site is that you’ll be able to talk, and the Nokia team, live online.”

conversations.nokia.com

Google Acquires Motorola – Nokia beware (update)

News just in, Motorola bought by Google for $12.5 Billion. This poses a huge threat to Nokia which up till now was competing solely with the ‘software’ from Google. By acquiring Moto Google is sending a clear message that it is:

– strengthening its patents by acquiring the huge number of patents Moto has, whereby at least one vendor will not have to pay licensing fees (patent disputes) and the latest and greatest can be shown

– Has a strong hardware manufacturing arm

– Motorola devices will now no doubt continuously have the latest and greatest versions of Android. MOTORBLUR will die, and Motorola no longer has a smartphone division. This is very similar to the deal that MSFT-Nokia made, with exclusive access to WP, solely relying on WP for smartphone strategy and giving other vendors opportunity to license. Google will develop this rapidly and expand rapidly. Do not be surprised to see profits rise as they made have higher profit margins due to lower licensing (due to patent disputes), and all the Nexus S devices from MOTO.

– This poses the Q is MSFT likely to buy Nokia? Under current condition: No. They get everything they want without spending a lot. In addition, Nokia has large cash reserves etc. that make it hard to buy. On the other hand, other vendors will be more open to licensing WP7.

Nokia should be afraid, because now things are really heating up. This is huge news and Nokia has even more pressure on since they lost another WP vendor.

Good move Google. Nokia better hurry the hell up with the Sea Ray…they have been bleeding for a while and the sharks are closing in.  They will not have much to save at this rate.

Update: Eldars tweet: “Finally. Nokia could be sold in a few weeks. Price 27billions for the whole company. Microsoft in a hurry but want to pay much less”. May or may not be true if it is and MSFT buys Nokia, I for one will no longer be a Nokia person.

WSJ

Nokia N9 not coming to most Asian Countries: WP in December

I have just learnt that the N9 will not be coming to India from an extremely reliable source. In addition, Windows Phone will be launching in markets in time for the holidays. That bodes well with being released shortly after being announced at Nokia World 2011.

 

I hope that the Nokia Sea Ray actually has internals and the accompanying devices have the hardware muscle to outdo all the competition. We must not forget that by that time that all the other vendors would have Mango devices on the market.

Nokia Windows Phone Sea Ray Leaked

Here is our FIRST un-official (following Elops official) leak of the Nokia Sea Ray running Mango. This is very clearly a prototype from some factory with the stickers still on, and the casing around the phone resembling prototypes. The phone looks amazing, as it does with the N9 looking exactly the same except for 1 button.

We see a glimpse of Mango and I can confidently say we should soon be expecting more leaks soon. But I have to say I think the hardware looks far better with Meego than WP 🙂

Source: WPCentral

Elop denies rumor of Microsoft Sale

I have not had as much time on my hands as I would have liked to publish articles. But when the rumors started going crazy about Microsoft buying Nokia’s phone unit (thanks to Eldar) I knew it was garbage.

Despite that I checked with my sources that confirmed it was not true. In addition, besides Elop, there have been denials by other Nokia spokes persons so why the rumors continue to catch wind is surprising.
Read on for the full article in Bloomberg where the rumor is flat out denied by Elop, this continues to show how when things sound far fetched they most certainly are. No matter who it is…for the record Eldar changed his mind on Nokia going WP the day before so his track record isnt exactly spot on.

Read

Nokia may not use ‘Windows Phone platform as it is today’

Kai Oiatamo from Nokia Corporate development confirmed in a Finnish interview to the Nokia Finnish blog (equivalent of conversations) that “Nokia is able to modify the Windows Phone environment to their needs. Essentially this means that you might not see the boxed home screen on a Nokia Windows Phone anytime. This was also confirmed in another comment by a Nokia representative (in Finnish) by stating that “Nokia will not adopt Windows Phone environment as it is today”.”

Öistämö stated that Nokia is free to modify the environment as they wish, but it has to remain as a single environment from the developer point of view.

This is in addition to MSFT using Ovi Maps tech. The above statement is not surprising at all to me…they are partners and CAN change as they wish as long as there is not too much fragmentation.

I sincerely hope they take the UI of WP to the next level with widgets or smarter tiles. All in all as WP is adding features at a faster rate than other platforms with both the prospect for MSFT of Nokia’s huge market, and Nokia’s chance at actually have a company that KNOWS software together with the right leadership we might see something awesome…perhaps they may even do an ‘Nokia N95’ on us?

Source