Nokia Tablet

These are images of a possible Nokia was considering launching, and the patent was applied for in May 2010. This could easily have been the Meego tablet that Eldar had mentioned. Or it may be something entirely different. This is basically a big Nokia N8 and the hardware would have been freaking awesome knowing Nokia. However, the software and ‘ecosystem’ would have been another story.

The chances of this seeing the light of day seem low given tablets were all Meego. Now that it is for future disruption only (with the N950 being the only confirmed Meego device this year), thus we can assume the device as it was meant to be was scrapped.

But if does not mean we will not be seeing this device with another OS. We could see this with Windows 8 on it, which will have a special tablet edition that is rumored to be a merge with Windows Phone of some sort.

Let us see what the largest phone and software makers in the world can cook up together.

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Nokia India’s VP possible delay to Nokia Windows Phone + Updated WP Version for Nokia Phones

Talking to the Economic Times D Shivakumar India’s VP states that we can expect to see the next windows phone in the next 12 months in addition to other tidbits. The main take away points are:

Why Nokia failed: ‘Wasted 2,000 man years’ on UIs that didn’t work

The Register has a great post on why Nokia is where they are today (jumping off a burning platform). It is a relatively long article with insight from Symbian developers that take you through history of when Symbian was born to all the bad decisions made on the way resulting in the result results.

The basic takeaway is that Nokia thought the whole touch thing was a ‘passing obsession’, reverse engineered everything with no emphasis on UX, and changed their strategy for Symbian many, many times with no unified action throughout the company. The company it self was fragmented.

Read it here

Samsung enticing unhappy Symbian Developers

Samsung has been sending out an email to developers in India currently urging them to check out Bada, if they are unhappy with Nokias strategy. Not surprised that this is happening really, Samsung has been trying for years to nip at Nokias heels. They are coming close since Nokia has been a little ‘lost’ in the last few years, and are close in market share in certain markets.

In 2011 they are aiming to sell more than 10 million Bada devices this year. It seems their strategy is Android with the Galaxy S line in the North America and pushing Bada worldwide. Nokia could have done something like this, with WP for NA and Symbian/Meego worldwide.

Only time will tell if the fans gained, and developers interested are greater in number than the ones deflecting to other platforms.

If done right, I personally believe Nokia can succeed with WP if they implement changes from the Symbian/Meego platforms that everyone loved. There is absolutely NO doubt that WP is an extremely slick experience, if they add the right features all the people thinking about joining the Android/iOS platform (especially in developing contries like India/China) where Symbian is at lower price points , can get a slick experience at a cheaper price. That is course contingent upon them being able to push WP down to lower price points, but given WP current hardware requirements I do not know how it will be achieved.

Perhaps they will have a lighter version for lower price points, but that will lead to fragmentation..let us hope the largest software company and hardware company in the world can get things right from the beginning. They cannot afford not to.

Microsoft to pay $1 Billion to Nokia for WP switch?

Everyone seems to be making a huge deal out of this, personally it is not. $1 Billion between these two industry leaders is a relatively small sum. Moreover, this will be paid over 5 years. Besides providing Nokia further incentive , this was just an ‘initial’ investment in their partnership to move ahead and seal things off.

The bigger picture is that Nokia can actually focus on stellar hardware, and not focus on their weaker software side. All the software features they want will be implemented by Microsoft, even the changes they want to implement (thankfully).

One must not forget the revenue source from advertisements coming Nokia’s way (in the B’s not M’s as Elop says), the larger patent portfolio they have, advertising, access to new markets, and mapping improvements thanks to Microsoft.

People buy Nokia not because of Symbian, but because they have great, durable hardware and are a great company. Putting WP on there which is much more competitive and pleasant to use, with the right push and infusion of software capabilities comparable  to Symbian, a leading third ecosystem is not out of reach.

Source: Bloomberg

Nokia E7 up for Preorder

The first 4 inch, Symbian 3, Nokia E7 Communicator is FINALLY up for pre-order on NokiaUSA, priced aat $679 it is cheaper than in Europe.

Availability is in April, hit the link to pre-order now.

E7 Pre-Order

Nokia sells non-mobile QT licensing to Digia

Digia is a Finnish company that will run the commercial license area of QT. The main mobile licensing licensing remains with Nokia.

This may be seen as bad by some since it QT is an extremely powerful tool for cross platforms, but given their huge investment  in 2008 (via Trolltech), and in light of their new direction they need to consider their ROI (return on investment).

Had they continued using a cross platform Symbian/Meego strategy this would work. But Symbian will be going down over time in volume and Meego will be only be reserved for future disruptions. In the next few years with Symbian being cut, and Windows coming in, Nokia has no cross platform strategy except for the extremely low end.

This move does not come as unexpected, it simply allows Nokia to lower the cost of the dead weight part of QT while keeping the mobile arm (for now).

Here are some other opinions:

Allaboutsymbian

Mynokiablog

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Nokia in top 10 of TED Ads Worth Spreading Competition

This Nokia ad came in the top 10 for ads worth spreading online. This is the first such competition held by TED, which aims to spread word of the good ads online,  as opposed to ones we are forced to watch online.

I definitely think its a cool ad, shows the N8’s camera prowess, and is an ingenious way of marketing.

Now if  Nokia figured out how to market its other strengths as well, certain other companies (ahem) would have a tougher time claiming to innovate technology/features that Nokia have had for years.

Perhaps thats where the MSFT partnership comes in? Only time will tell but the newer batch of WP ads are excellent.

Video below, hit the source to watch the other 9 winners, there are definitely some awesome ads in there.

 

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Windows Phone Impression from a Symbian/Maemo User

Coming from a long time Symbian user and Maemo user (N900), having used Nokia for more than a decade their struggle over the past few years in the high end has been interesting.

Nokia has always been the best hardware manufacturer, making stellar cameras, unique designs (N93 and N95) which usually surprised and displayed their innovation.

Their latest announcement last month about their Merger with Microsoft was not a huge surprise given their high end challenges. I blogged about my thoughts here.

Given the announcement, I thought (unlike many other people that incessantly ranted) that I would give Windows Phone 7 a chance. It will not be the same OS that ships with Nokia devices, however, we can assume that what is on the market today will be the skeleton. So I purchased the HTC Hd7.

After using the HTC HD7 for a week I’ve concluded that Windows Phone is an extremely slick experience. Much more than Android, which I believe is nice but is a complete mess in terms of experience on different devices.

The iphone is slick but dumb, Android is quite smart but just messy all over. Symbian is excellent given my familiarity but it has a long way to go before being touch friendly. Nobody comes close to Symbians features.

The things I like about Windows is the cohesive experience, much like the iphone, it is very intuitive and simple to use. But more importantly different is far smarter. The inclusion of live tiles, which show the sms’s, emails, etc. present without intruding is great. The notification system (pops up on top for sms’s) is less intrusive (similar to Android). IOS has no live tiles/widgets, while Android does but having 7 screens is great and all, but it can get things complicated fast. There is a place for something in between.

Windows Phone 7 is a good midway; however, they need to evolve the tiles to show more useful information.  Syncing with all Windows services are a breeze, sharing pictures etc. are done seamlessly. Applications in the marketplace are growing, small in comparison (around 8000), but almost every application I wanted was present bar a few. AP, Flixster, Shazam, Picasa viewer, Twitter, etc. made present, and each of these had a unique slick appearance not just the same version that Android and the iPhone share.

The interface in general is fun to use, with some small enhancements showing that they put some thought into it. For example when you dial voicemail, it automatically keeps the number pad open. During normal calls that is not the case. There are a tonne of other small touches that show they put some thought into it. This showed that what they did, they did well. However, coming from a Symbian/Maemo user there were many things I missed. Setting custom ring tones, being able to transfer contacts via memory card, sending Bluetooth transfers were some of them. The feature that are must haves for me, that are not present, are multi-tasking and full IM integration much like the N900. The latter 2 are deal breakers for me, since switching between applications  is a requirement for all Nokia users, instead of waiting for 5 seconds for a game to load up again, because you hit the windows key again. Regarding IM, having a 3rd party application is always a pain, but having it fully integrated like Maemo 5 seems the best option. Multi-tasking seems to be on the way, which is great. However, I hope it is full multi-tasking with the ability to close applications unlike Android and not just in a frozen state.

Anoer minor annoyance is how WP does not alert you for new email. Does not allow have copy/paste. Both these will be fixed in the Mango update.

Besides these quirks, performance is smoother than the iPhone. The picture viewer is awesome, the phone is blazingly fast and fun to use something Android lacks. You enjoy using the interface, can see the consistency between applications and the UI. I love how holding down the camera button for a few seconds unlocks the phone. In addition, the lock screen displays the missed calls, sms’s, emails etc, AND calendar alerts while displaying a picture of your choice.

The things that Microsoft (and now Nokia) need to ensure they add Ovi Maps, ability to chose the default Nokia ringtone/sms alert tone etc. Currently, the ringtones, sms tones, etc all sound too alike. I understand there is an option to set custom ring tones, but that requires some tinkering.

All in all, over the past 2 weeks I’ve enjoyed this new experience. Web browsing is awesome (better than Android in my opinion), management of tabs is excellent, and the web browser will improve further in a few months. If Nokiasoft make the changes above in terms of software, and add HDMI, USB-OTG, a stellar camera, options for IM from different services, and the option to upload media to different services (e.g. Picasa), then I believe Windows Phone will be a runaway hit.  Nokia fans in growing markets will understand the limitation of Symbian as time passes, as they are exposed to the competitors ecosystems.

This partnership, as in matures, will ensure that they have an option, and it is a very compelling option which in my opinion will create a 3rd, very powerful ecosystem.

Nokia Microsoft Partnership Leads to Increased Developer Interest

According to reports by Flurry after the Nokia-Windows partnership, developer interest increased 66%. Moreover, they report that the new growth rate is similar to when Android started off.

This is not surprising given:

(1) Curious windows phone developers may have been apprehensive about developing given the number of devices on the market. This partnership equates to creating a third, very powerful ecosystem that will compete with Android and iOS.  Thanks to Nokia having the power to ‘swing’ which way things go. In addition, not only do the developers have access to mainly the US/Europe they have access to the rest of the world. Other curious developers will pick up on that, knowing that their own apps could be customized for various countries and localities, with a few changes, increasing their revenue stream. Lastly, the increased advertising revenue means more incentive to develop free apps.

(2) Nokia developers past and present, who may have switched over to Android or iOS or are still currently developing, will definitely be interested. They are fully aware of the reach Nokia has, and until recently developing for Nokia has been tough. But even then, given the declining market share and development issues (yes they have eased but still not quite up there), Windows phone is a great alternative. It is a platform focused fully on touch, made by a company that gets software.

All in all, this is a good sign of things to come.

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