Archive for category Events

Nokia World 2010 Predictions

Aug 25

Posted by steverowlands in Events, Handsets, Industry, MeeGo, Symbian | View Comments


With Nokia World just around the corner, it is a pertinent time for some of us commentators to divvy up some opinions and talking points on how far Nokia have come, and where they are headed.

If you write for a mobile based site or blog, why not join me in making some predictions?  It’s always good to shoot wide of the mark sometimes.  Who knows.

The keynote address from OPK this year is going to be particularly important.  Not only for his own personal role at the helm of the Finnish giant, but for the stock market value of the company as a whole.  The main focus of OPK’s strategy of Nokia has been one of realignment.  To move the company to a more diverse standpoint of being a services company,  rather than the sole hardware company of the past.  Sure, we are going to get the obligatory roundup of the success of services such as Ovi Maps, but maybe the markets will demand something slightly more extravagant than a mere notice of additional content hosts to the platform.  It is the overall performance of Nokia (and Symbian for that matter) when compared to their rivals which is where OPK is going to have to tread carefully.

There is a huge amount of pressure for Nokia to come up with something that will rival iOS and Android, and Nokia have staked their claim, along with Intel, in MeeGo.  That is all well and good, but now is the time to start seeing some fruit falling from the MeeGo tree, or at the very least ripening on the branches.  For this to not happen is unimaginable.  Some evidence of a cold, hard MeeGo device, being almost market ready is where Nokia needs to be.  Nothing less.

A few PowerPoint slides showing the interface is not going to cut it.

The Ovi Store could do with a refresh, and I am confident that there will be at least some announcement in this area.  We reported last week that Nokia were now offering to make the road to the Ovi Store both free and more speedy, and I’m sure Nokia will want to tell us about that, and any analysis of numbers.

We must also not forget the corporate and enterprise users that are shifting to the iPhone in their droves.  Nokia could really steal a march here as companies look to replace their ageing Nokia E71 fleet with something new and different, but not radical.  Maybe incorporating something along the lines of the ‘touch and type’ scenario with the highly popular form factor of the E71/72 would turn out to be a very successful product line.

One market that could really have an effect on Nokia’s future going forward is in the US.  For many reasons, Nokia has never done very well in North America, so any change in policy is likely to have any detrimental impact on their success.  Expect some more news on operator tie in’s, along the lines of the Nokia E73 Mode for T-Mobile.  I think T-Mobile is going to be the main operator of choice for Nokia,  as they have the expertise to overcome some of T-Mobile’s coverage problems with the UMA technology.

Whatever the outcome of Nokia World, I’m sure Nokia will treat us to a few surprises along the way.  Be sure to subscribe to our RSS FEED to keep up to date with all the Nokia news, and follow us on Twitter.

What do you think will be happening at Nokia World?  Care to make your own predictions?   Why not leave us a comment, or write your own blog post and I will update this post with a link to your thoughts.

Symbian Goes Completely Open Source

Feb 4

Posted by steverowlands in Events, Industry, Symbian | View Comments



Today the Symbian Foundation announced that they have finally made their entire Symbian operating system source code available to everyone, completely free of charge, under the EPL (Eclipse  Public License).

This release has been a cornerstone of the Symbian Foundation’s business strategy, and comes four months ahead of schedule.

It is hoped that by moving to an open source model, developers will get involved, inspire a community, and the speed of innovation around the Symbian ecosystem will increase proportionately.


So what will this mean to me as a consumer?  Well essentially it means that any hardware manufacturer can download the code, and build a Symbian device.  Chances are that this scenario won’t really come to fruition in the short term as many of the large scale manufacturers who were interested have already joined the foundation.

What you should see though, is a quicker development of the OS to bring it up to speed with it’s competitiors, as in some areas Symbian has fallen behind somewhat.

This release is no small mean feat by any standards, and there is lots of extra reading if you are so inclined.  The announcement is HERE, the press release is HERE and the relevant post on the Symbian Blog is HERE.  Or, if you are feeling really brave, the code is available for download HERE.

What do hope to see come out of this announcement?  Are you a developer interested in taking up arms?  Let us know in the comments, or shoot me an email steve@thenokianetwork.com

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Nokia at Mobile World Congress

Jan 26

Posted by steverowlands in Events, Handsets, Industry, Maemo, Symbian | View Comments



This year, Nokia are not going to be attending Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on the 15th – 18th February 2010.

Nokia fans out there need not worry however, because Nokia will still be in Barcelona on the 15th and 16th February.  They will be holding their very own event just down the road at Once, which is the home of the Spanish National Organization for the Blind.

This is quite obviously a cost saving exercise, because of the enormous price they would have to pay in order to get a similar setup inside MWC.

Nokia have now put up their mini MWC event website, which details their press conference which will be held on 15th February at 11.30am CET sharp.  Following the press conference, there will be breakout presentations, and the opportunity to have a chat with senior management personnel.

Are you going to be in Barcelona?  Do you think Nokia will announce new devices or services?  Let us know in the comments.  Alternatively, send me an email steve@thenokianetwork.com

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New Ovi Maps Installed on Nokia N86

Jan 21

Posted by steverowlands in Applications, Events, Industry, Symbian | View Comments



Yes, you read the title correctly folks, I have the new version of Ovi Map, Version 3.03 installed on my Nokia N86 8MP.  After the press release and announcement event this morning, of the free navigation included with the new Ovi Maps, us N86 owners were left dejected after realising that our beloved devices had been left out in the cold by Nokia.

Well, I have some good news for you, I have just downloaded and installed the E52 version of Ovi Maps, available from http://maps.nokia.com/explore-services/ovi-maps and I can confirm it is working fine so far.  You will need to download the actual SIS file, and not get the text message download or else it won’t work.

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Nokia to Announce Free GPS Navigation with Ovi Maps

Jan 21

Posted by steverowlands in Events, Handsets, Industry, Symbian, Updates | View Comments



News has just filtered through this morning via Symbian-Guru and The Nokia Blog, that this morning’s Ovi announcement from Nokia will be them releasing a new version of their Ovi Maps software which now includes voice navigation for free in 74 countries around the world.

This is a potentially a big shot in the eye for Google, who currently, only have this kind of service available for American customers.

This is a very obvious announcement by Nokia to try and reassert themselves as the biggest player in the mobile market, instead of the popular choices of Apple and Google.

Also remember that the likes of TomTom and Garmin took a massive hit on the stock market when Google announced their version of free navigation a couple of months ago, so in theory, today should be an even worse day for them.

Crucially, how the markets react, will tell us if they think Nokia can still mix it up with the big boys, or is a wounded animal lashing out at it’s attackers.

As usual though, the announcement is not as simple as it could be. The way Nokia likes to do it.

Only 10 devices will have the new Ovi Maps available later today, the N97 Mini, E72, E52, E55, 5800, 5800NE, 6710Nav, 6730, 5230 and the new X6.

So where is the N97? Where is the N86? Both premium Nokia devices, but shunned from the nice shiny new goodies. The budget 5230 gets in on the action though, bizarrely.

Apparently, more devices will be added at a later date, but let’s hang fire on that, until it actually happens.

What do you think of this announcement?  Are you an N97 owner?

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Nokia at CES Roundup and Look Forward to MWC

Jan 11

Posted by steverowlands in Events, Handsets, Industry, Maemo, Random, Symbian | View Comments



So the great CES 2010 in Las Vegas is officially over.  So how did Nokia get on?  Well they had a keynote, and wheeled out the big guns like OPK onto the stage, but general opinion has been downbeat.

Right off the bat, no new handsets were announced.  This is always a disappointment when a massive company, such as Nokia, has literally nothing new to show off.

However, as Nokia are now trying to re-gig themselves into a services company, surely they had some new stuff to brag about in this arena?  Err, nope.

So what was their keynote about?

Well, it would seem that the keynote was about two things.  Firstly, how many Nokia devices they have shipped.  Nokia love bragging about this, because they are number one.  No other company in the world ships anyway near as many devices as them, and they love that fact.  Kudos to them, they deserve it.  I would say that self gratification is not, in my opinion, particularly interesting.  Just because Apple does it, doesn’t mean everyone should follow suit.

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Symbian to be Ditched By Nokia N-Series – Updated

Nov 18

Posted by steverowlands in Events, Maemo, Symbian | View Comments

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It may seem like one of those knee-jerk reactions that have been reported lately such as “Symbian is Dead”, but it is actually true. Well sort of.

The Really Mobile Project went to the official Nokia N900 meet up in London last night, and are reporting that the Maemo guys have said that Symbian will not feature as the OS in N-Series devices from 2012 forwards.  Instead, a move to Maemo is favoured as the OS of choice for the top of the range devices.

A move of this kind has been on the cards for some time, with Symbian moving ever downwards into the cheaper handset base, and it struggling to keep up in terms of flashy eye candy with the likes of Apple and Android.

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SEE09 Widget For Your Symbian Device

Oct 21

Posted by steverowlands in Events | View Comments

Some of us are off to the Symbian Exchange and Exposition 2009 event next week, and the excitement surrounding the build up is starting to flourish.

Ivan from Symbian’s Technical Communications Team has developed a small widget to help you plan how you will spend your time a the event.  It includes things such as what is happening on the main stage at any one time, and also has a Twitter plug in, which, I presume, will be linked to the #SEE09 hashtag.

If you are off to SEE09, and have a Symbian device, this may well be a worthwhile download.

The Symbian Show, London 27 & 28 October 2009

Sep 22

Posted by steverowlands in Events | View Comments

October is just around the corner, and that means the annual Symbian event in London, UK.  From memory, it’s gone by a couple of different names, and it’s all change this year with the advent of the new Symbian Foundation.  A title more in keeping with that theme, and maybe more of the willingness to show that the sails are up, and Symbian is sailing in a new direction.

This year then, the event goes by the name of The Symbian Exchange and Exposition, or SEE 2009 for short.  Now, whilst I’ll reserve judgement of the new naming convention for now, this years show looks to be a very exciting prospect.

With the meteoric rise of the mobile ‘Applications’ arena in the last 12 months or so, then it’s definitely odds on that this will be the main tour-de-force within this show.  Just a quick glance at the exhibitors list shows an overwhelming majority in favour of software vendors looking not only to pimp their wares, but also to get developer interaction and excitement brewing.  This will obviously be the focus of Symbian in the short term at least, to try and get the Ovi Store as jam packed  with cool apps as soon as is physically possible.

I’m hoping to be there, for one day at least, depending how my shifts at work lie, bringing you the news and views, and I’d really love to meet up with as many fellow like minded folks.

So, if you’re planning on attending, leave a comment below, ping me a tweet, or drop an email to steverowlands ‘at’ ovi ‘dot’ com