Posts Tagged ‘Nokia’

Wired reporting that Symbian, the mobile OS that powers most Nokia phones on the planet is now Open Source and Free. Sounds like a move designed to compete directly with Android.

Symbian’s move to open source has been completed four months ahead of schedule and it offers mobile developers new ways to innovate, says Williams. Any individual or organization can now take, use and modify the Symbian code for any device, from mobile phone to a tablet.

According to Nielson, iPhone 3G takes number one spot with 4% of ‘embedded base of all subscribers’, with RIM chomping on its heals.

Engadget, reporting on a preview of a new UI for Symbian next year. They’ve got some pretty pictures too.

According to Kai Öistämö in charge of device design, Symbian will next year;

use a new optimized graphic architecture with a focus on graphics and responsiveness, showcased beautifully on a large capacitive screen. Later in the year, a completely new visual architecture re-working of the UI will drastically reduce the complexity throughout and bring fresh appeal. We will execute here.

Note there’s no talk about better integration with Ovi, nothing about hardware. I’m not sure that people trust Nokia this late in the game.

When I see the shipping device from Nokia, I’ll believe it, until then mark me down as a sceptic.

Michael Gartenberg in his Engadget column on Nokia’s declining fortunes and muddled strategies:

Last year’s N97 flagship was an exercise in how not to create a touchscreen phone, complete with an odd three row keyboard featuring a space bar mysteriously moved right of center. The N900 feels more like a science experiment to me than a product that’s designed for mainstream users.

He also mentions Ovi, the Nokia equivalent of the App Store:

That leaves Symbian-based S60, which was totally innovative in 2002 but now looks creaky and has fragmented into multiple versions, leaving a very confused developer market. Sure, Nokia supports Flash and Silverlight with Qt somehow tying all this diversity into some unified grand theory, but it’s enough complexity to make most developers look elsewhere — and that’s exactly what’s happened.

And his conclusion is right on the money;

Truth be told, Nokia now reminds me a lot of Apple back in 1996, losing relevance and market share in places that matter but with huge potential to leverage core assets and a terrific brand with millions of loyal fans. And as Apple did in its day, Nokia must now either try to decisively seize back its leadership position — or lose it entirely.

According to this report, Apple who has a small overall share of handset sales has overtaken Nokia and was the world’s most profitable handset vendor in the third quarter of 2009.

The firm estimates that Apple’s iPhone operating profit came in at $1.6 billion in Q3, while Nokia recorded only $1.1 billion in operating profit. “With strong volumes, high wholesale prices and tight cost controls, the PC vendor has successfully broken into the mobile phone market in just two years,” said analyst Alex Spektor in the research note.