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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Us Symbian users seem to have to wait months on end for firmware updates, and then when one does come “Oh no, you can’t have that for another week Sir because you are in the UK”.

For Maemo device owners, and more specifically Nokia N900 owners, Nokia thinks you are a much more worthy proposition as a customer.

For Nokia to prove they love you so much, not only did they release a ‘global’ firmware update yesterday for the N900, they also properly brown-nosed you by releasing a further firmware update today!

Whilst this is brilliant news for the loyal fan base that the N900 has built up already,  it’s a little galling for millions of Symbian fans to sit back and watch whilst the new boy in town gets all the girls.

So the first update delivers the functionality to enable the Ovi Store to run on the N900, which previously had not been available.  It is only a small update and is available via Nokia Software Updater.

The second update is a much larger affair, and is clocking in at just over 90MB, and should be available both ‘Over the Air’ and via Nokia Software Updater.  However, OTA may not quite be working properly just yet.

UPDATE: Change log and loads more info available HERE. Thanks to @gerrymoth

So, have you installed both updates to your N900 yet?  Have you noticed any big changes?  What’s the Ovi Store like?  Leave us a comment below, or send me an email steve@thenokianetwork.com

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Just a quick one to let you know that you can get 10% off at the online Nokia UK Store by using the voucher code NOK10%JAN2010VC valid until 25th January 2010.

Using this voucher takes the cost devices such as the N97 Mini down to £386.10 from an RRP of £429, and the N900 gets just under £50 knocked off.

It doesn’t look like the code works on the already reduced sale items, such as the Nokia E52, which already has 10% off.  This offer is also not available to the pre-order items such as the Nokia Booklet 3G.

As always, you may well be able to get a better deal by shopping around, but if you are using the Nokia Store, then 10% off your order is nothing to moan about.

Enjoy!

Have you found a better deal?  Let us know in the comments, or send me an email steve@thenokianetwork.com

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Looking at the Vodafone UK website it would seem that the Nokia N900 is now available for you to buy.  Or is it as simple as that?  Well maybe not.

The Nokia N900 is Nokia’s first Maemo device capable of voice calls, and has been causing a bit of a storm in the mobile world.  If the rumours are true about Vodafone, then it’s likely to cause a few more waves.

The problem is that it looks like the N900 is for sale, but has anyone actually got their hands on one yet?  It would seem not.

Now, this may be just a stock availability issue for Vodafone, but maybe things are a bit more sinister.

A good source of resource for this is the Vodafone eForum, where a few Vodafone customers have been complaining that Vodafone can’t, or more alarmingly won’t sell them an N900.

Yet.

The reason?

The iPhone.

Word on the street has it that Vodafone is so obsessed with the upcoming launch of the iPhone in a couple of days time, that the N900 may take valuable sales away from the Jesus phone and so therefore is not allowing customers to buy the N900 yet.  More so, with Orange shifting record numbers of the iPhone in the run up to Christmas, Vodafone must be desperate to do one over on it’s rival.

There is even stories surfacing that N900′s are available in Vodafone stores, but staff are not allowed to sell them.

Anyway, if you do fancy trying to get hold of an N900 from Vodafone, they are reportedly going for free on a £40 a month contract, if you sign up for a whooping 24 months.

Have you been able to get your hands on a Vodafone N900 yet?  Do you believe these stories?  Let us know in the comments.

Maybe you work at Vodafone yourself, why not send me an email to put the story straight.  You can find me at steve@thenokianetwork.com

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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.

The other main item on the agenda was how Nokia is leading the industry of ways in which to help people in developing countries use mobile devices and services help with their life and businesses.  Ovi Mail is many peoples first viable access to an email account, Nokia Money is helping people transfer money who do not have viable access to a bank,  and how they are bringing location services to the masses not just by GPS but also by cell tower triangulation.

So that was the main crux of the Nokia keynote at CES, and there has been some very mixed reactions this.

If you want to see the live feed of the Nokia keynote at CES, Engadget has it in a great bullet format, with some good images HERE.

Now, we look forward to MWC, and what can we expect to see.

MWC (Mobile World Congress) is being held in Barcelona between the 15th and 18th February.  This is the big mobile show.

Now, I am blissfully aware that Nokia are not specifically going to be at MWC.  However, they are going to be just down the road.  Some people are predicting that Nokia will not announce anything in February because they are not going to MWC.  Whilst this fact is true in the minutest detail, the fact that they are in town, at the exact same time as MWC was no accident.  MWC would have charged Nokia an absolute fortune to host an event within the MWC realm, so a way of Nokia cutting costs is to hold their own party just down the road.

There has been lots of speculation that because Nokia didn’t announce anything at CES, there is going to be an onslaught of new devices showcased in Barcelona.

I would be wary about predicting too much, but I think we should be in line for at least one new device in E, X and N Series line ups.  Possibly even the N900′s Maemo successor, but that would be pushing the limits of reality a little too far.  I would predict that the E Series will be another S60 handset, with maybe the X Series moving to the new Symbian Foundation platform to test the waters for the N and E Series coming later in the year.  As the X Series brand is so new, a complete failure on Nokia’s part to implement the Symbian Foundation OS properly is not going to do too much damage to the venerable N and E Series monikers.

Aside from that, I’m sure we will see the next iteration of Ovi Maps, and possibly a move towards the mainstream of Nokia Money, with possible integration into a NFC (Near Field Communcations) device so that you can pay for items in high street stores using your mobile phone.  There is some speculation around that the next iPhone is going to have NFC capabilities, so Nokia getting there first will be a relatively big scalp for them.

So there we have it.  They are my predictions for MWC in Barcelona next month.  Do you disagree?  Let us know in the comments.

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In anticipation of the scheduled worldwide release of the much touted Nokia N900, yesterday Nokia updated it’s support forum to add a brand new section specifically for Maemo customers to ask questions, and to hopefully solve any problems they are having.

Granted, there isn’t many posts in there yet, but as the device is still struggling to get into customers hands for one reason or another, I’m sure it will fill up soon with people not quite used to such a new direction device.

There is also a complete dedicated section on the main Nokia Support site, which includes things such as downloads, multi-language guides, “How To’s”, and even an FAQ section.

Of course there are many other places where N900 users can look for help besides the main Nokia website itself, for instance Maemo.org, and it’s rather helpful Wiki page, which handily has things split down so they are easier to find.

A Maemo expert, I am not, so if you know of any other good resources for N900 users to get lots of help and advice, then either leave a comment below, or shoot an email to steve [at] thenokianetwork . com and I’ll be sure to update this post.

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So it would seem that after much mucking about, and customers being told different things, Mark over at The Nokia Blog is reporting that the Nokia N900 is eventually available for purchase, although ONLY for those who pre-ordered from the Nokia Store in New York.

The Nokia N900 is not currently on sale to the general American public as the pre-order lists for the Store were full by all accounts.

So what about UK consumers?  Well it would seem that the Nokia online store is still showing pre-orders only.  Play is showing a release date of 30th November right now.

I have just called the Nokia Store in Banbury, and they don’t have the device in stock, and have no idea when the N900 will be on sale.  Despite them having the demo unit on display last week.

Have you got any more info?  Lets us know in the comments, and I’ll update the main post.

In the meantime, Gerrymoth from NokiaAddict has had some fun, to try and lighten the frustration with the delivery delays circling the web right now.

If you want some more info on the Nokia N900, which you may or may not be able to buy now or in the future, check out the official Nokia N900 datasheet (PDF).

[Hat Tip - Mark @ TheNokiaBlog]

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The Nokia N900 should have been on general sale by now.  But as usual, with all things Nokia, it’s not.  Well, it is on sale.  Sort of.  Just in the US anyway, if today’s press release is to be believed.  The N900′s were shipping over a week ago according to Nokia.  Although they handily omitted who they were actually shipping the devices to.  Customers?  Retail Stores?  The Moon?

Endless rumoured dates have come and gone.

For once, in a long time, Nokia have managed to hype a handset release with so much PR, you would have thought they would have at least paid some attention to the fact of whether the device was ready to go on sale worldwide, and not just in one (fairly small for Nokia) region.

It seems so long ago that the device was announced.  In fact it was the 27th August to be exact, here is the press release.  So in terms of announcement to availability, around 3 months isn’t actually that bad if you use Nokia’s Symbian department as a yardstick.  But still terrible compared to other manufacturers.

Why didn’t they just say that it would be available in December, give themselves some leeway, and then if they manage to get it out the door in late November, Nokia would be hailed as the peoples hero.

Instead, customers are told a multitude of different things, by different people and end up getting irritated.  I was told by my local Nokia Store that the N900 would be available on Monday 16th November.  No show.  Then the London Nokia Store apparently put up on it’s Twitter, that they would be on sale tommorrow (19th).  That tweet has since been removed, apparently.

Now, by all accounts, the latest rumour, and I would stress that this is a rumour, it will be on sale next monday the 23rd November.

Who knows.

I wouldn’t be writing this if Nokia would have just said it will be on sale 1st December.

Got an opinion on this latest little debacle?  Let us know in the comments.

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.

This may be seen by some, and somewhat of a kick in the teeth for the (relatively) newly formed Symbian Foundation.  Especially as the Symbian Foundation hasn’t really had the opportunity to showcase it’s new releases just yet.  But, herein may lie the problem, in the fact that the Symbian Foundation has been up and running for just over a year now, but we have still to see any devices come to market running the ‘new’ platform.

I see it more in the fact that Nokia hope to capture the imagination of the application developers with Maemo in a way they don’t seem to have ever been able to with Symbian.

What are your thoughts on this direction change for Nokia?  Let us know in the comments.

[Hat Tip to Ben Smith]

UPDATE: So Nokia have (rather sluggishly) attempted to play down these reports, in what I would say, an attempt to try and sort out the mess they have got themselves into with the Symbian Foundation.  Mark from over at The Nokia Blog has quoted the Nokia Corporate Communications team in that they claim this is all merely speculation on their future roadmap.  No hint of a denial, I hasten to add.  Head on over to the post to read it in full