Posts Tagged ‘Nokia’
AT&T and worsening bandwidth crisis
Last week at the CTIA, AT&T acknowledged that it is having issues with the bandwidth and how the some users were utilizing lot of data bandwidth and how it was impacting the service. Clearly, AT&T has its hands full satisfying demand for data bandwidth with its existing user base which according to research has increased 5000 times over the last 3 years. Inspite of this, hardware manufacturers continue to launch new products on the AT&T network. We know that Dell is planning to launch its new Android-based mobile phone on the AT&T network. Today, Nokia announced that it will launch its new netbook, the Booklet 3G on the AT&T network for $299.99. Not to mention, RIM launching its new white Blackberry Bold, LG & Samsung continuing to provide additional new products. Given all this, I have just one question: What are they thinking?
From a business sense, it is logical to go where your consumers are. Granted, AT&T has one of the largest customer base in US and have been very successful with iPhone. But, given the bandwidth crunch AT&T is facing, if I am one of the executives making this decision, I would really not want to launch on this network, especially if it is a new product. Ultimately, no matter how good a device, customers buy the complete package: mobile device and the service. And if the customer is not going to have a quality experience on my device because of issues at the service provider, guess what they are going to say: the device is no good, since it keeps dropping the connection. I know this is not the device fault because I am enough of a geek to know what is causing this. Even an average consumer may have heard or know that connection loss may not be the fault of the device. But, if it occurs repeatedly, most consumers will give up on the device, much like I have the iPhone which I use only as a secondary phone. For my business, my primary phone is still a Blackberry 8830 on the Verizon network.
Already, living in Silicon Valley, I am reminded daily of the AT&T bandwidth issue on my iPhone. Sure, AT&T is working on fixing this issue and I know that because I got a mailer from them stating that they have improved the coverage in my area. Guess what, inspite of that, my iPhone keeps dropping the calls atleast 3-5 times a day. I am truly dreading what will the impact be on the AT&T network once the new devices are in consumer hands.
Nokia’s flirtation with Android raises questions about Symbian investment, again.
Here we go again. Recently, Nokia and Google announced that they were going to collaborate on Android to develop new Intel-chipset based mobile devices. This has led to many in the industry to question Nokia’s commitment to its Symbian operating system. Adding fuel to fire is the news by the Guardian newspaper indicating that Nokia is going to announce an Android based, touchscreen mobile phone at its Nokia World Conference in September 2009.
I truly doubt that Nokia has given up on Symbian just yet. It was only a little over a year ago that Nokia spent millions of dollars to buy out its partners in the OS and made it open source. Secondly, Nokia has been saying since February that they were going to develop Android based devices. I have to agree with Om Malik of GigaOm:
It is quite possible that the company is using Android as a basis for a 3G- or 4G-enabled netbook-type device that’s powered by Intel’s chips.
Finally, while it may be true that Nokia might be losing share of the smartphone market, you have to remember that Nokia is still the largest maker of mobile phones and almost all its phones are based on the Symbian OS.
Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone set to release in USA
Nokia has readied the 5800 XpressMusic, aka, the Tube, touchscreen phone for the US market and is set to release it as early as today. Nokia’s website still shows XpressMusic as coming soon and allows you to pre-order. However, according to Engadget Mobile, the company is set to release the phones to its flagship stores in New York and Chicago this week, possibly today. Nokia has priced this phone attractively at $399 unlocked and it has both GSM and WCDMA support so it should work on any network. So, if you were looking for an iPhone competitor with 3.2Mpxl camera and up to 16GB microSD support for tons of music, mosey over to the Nokia store or online and order it.
MWC Day 2 Recap: Android, Android Everywhere!
It was day 2 (almost on its way to day 3) of the MWC in Barcelona and it was Android’s day to shine. Several carriers and smartphone makers announced today that they will be launching devices powered by Google’s Android OS. First up, Vodafone announced that it will launch HTC’s Magic, the keyboard-less G1. Following up on Vodafone’s announcement with 1-2-3 punches, Heuwei launched its sleek-looking Android device; Acer is working on 2 Android based devices while Samsung does one better by launching 3 Android devices and potentially a Linux Mobile phone too.
In other news, Nokia announced that it will bundle Skype software on all its N-series phones starting with the N97. Also, a group of 17 phone manufacturers and carriers, under the auspices of GSM, adopted the universal charger standard. Phone manufacturers including LG, Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and operators like AT&T, Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile and Telefonica agreed to use the microUSB socket as the standard power sockets on all their phones by 2012. Key holdouts include Apple, RIM and Palm, though RIM already uses MiniUSB on its Blackberry devices.
Mobile World Congress Day 1 recap: Nokia Ovi Store, LG GD900, Arena, Windows Mobile 6.5, Samsung OmniaHD
Here is a recap of the top news story on this the first day of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona:
Nokia announced 4 new phones and the Ovi App store which will be available in March for publishers to upload content and on the N97 when it comes out in June. There are two new E-series devices: Nokia E75 and Nokia E55 with revamped email interface. The Navigator series got two more devices too: Nokia 6710 Navigator, and the Nokia 6720 classic. As the name suggest the 6710 Navigator is GPS centric device while the 6720 classic has advanced noice cancellation and form factor designed to fit around the face. Nokia, in an unusual move, announced its N86 phone far from the action in Singapore. This 8Mpxl camera phone is an update to the to-be-launched N97 with similar form factor and dual-sliders.
LG and Microsoft announced a partnership wherein LG will launch 50 new Windows Mobile based phones by 2012. I am sure a lot of these phones will see the S-Class treatment which we saw in LG Arena (also announced today with March availability in Europe). LG also announced the GD900 which has a transparent keypad slider with a very thin, 13.4″ thick casing, and have 7.2 Mbps HSDPA.
Speaking of Microsoft, it also announced the availability of Windows Mobile 6.5 with its honeycomb home screen; MyPhone, its cloud-based backup solution; Recite, the voice memo organization tool; and its own marketplace called Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which will be available on all phones running WinMo 6.5 and above.
Finally, Samsung had the best news of all: the new OmniaHD (review here), its Symbian S60 OS-based,12.7mm thin beauty with a huge 3.7″ glass AMOLED touchscreen display, an 8 Mpxl camera that shoots 720p video, HD video out, video calling, Wi-Fi, GPS and 8 to 16GB internal storage plus microSDHC support with aluminum body. It also announced the BeatDJ (see video review) with Bang & Olufson audio, 3 megapixel camera, DivX support, a 2.8″ AMOLED touchscreen and DJ features which allows the user to record tracks, scratch and add effects.
[Via Boy Genius Report, Engadget Mobile, Mobile Review, UnwiredView]
Nokia expands the XpressMusic family with 5630
Nokia today announced a new XpressMusic phone, the 5630. It is a candybar phone with dedicated music keys. It runs the new Symbian S60 OS but does not have touchscreen. The phone is very slim at 12 millimeters and comes with 3.2Mpxl camera, N-Gage experience. It also has a shortcut bar for music, radio, photos and web. Other features include:
The phone will be released in Europe in second half of this year and will retail for €199 ($256) before taxes and subsidies.
[Via UnwiredView]
Nokia E75 specs, pricing and release date leaked
Courtesy of Expansys, the UK-based e-tailer, the specs, pricing and release date were leaked for Nokia’s upcoming E75 smartphone. This QWERTY keyboard bedecked phone is expected to be released on March 13, 2009 in UK for a princely sum of £389.99 or free with 18-months contract with T-Mobile UK.
The specs for this phone are:
Let’s see what Nokia has to say about this phone.
[Via UnwiredView]
Nokia E75 gets photographed in Vietnam
It appears that the Nokia E75 decided to take a Vietnamese cultural tour before its launch party at the Mobile World Congress. I guess it wanted to brush up on its language skills before making an appearance on the world stage. Anyways, that is good news for us because now we have some photos to see. Here is one and click the link to see more:
[Via Engadget Mobile]
Bleak Q4 for mobile handset makers
Yesterday, both Nokia and Samsung announced dismal Q4 results due to the worldwide economic woes. Nokia announced their quarterly profits fell by 53% year over year from €2.6 billion in 2007 to €1.2 billion in 2008. Nokia’s market share fell from 40% in Q4 2007 to 37% in Q4 2008 which equals to 113 million units shipped in Q4. For 2008, Nokia shipped 305 million units, down 9% from 2007. The only bright spot in q4 for Nokia was its services and software sales which were up 37% to €158 million.
Samsung also reported a Q4 loss, its first ever since 2000. However, the loss was primarily due to its chips and LCD businesses. It mobile handset business actually grew in Q4 2008, posting an increase of 14% in sales over Q3 2008. However, its operating profit for Q4 was down by 69% over Q3. Samsung shipped approximately 200 million units in 2008 an increase of 22% over 2007. In Q4, it shipped 52.8 million units, an increase of 2% over Q3 2008 and 14% increase over Q4, 2007.
Sony Ericsson also suffered similar fate as Nokia and Samsung. SE shipped 24.2 million units in Q4 2008 which is 21% below Q4 2007 numbers. Its sales were consequently impacted and at €2.9 billion, were down by 23% over Q4 2007. It reported an operating loss of €262 million which is a 22% decline over Q4, 2007.
LG on the other hand had a great quarter fueled by solid demand in Europe and Asia. It shipped 25.7 million handset in Q4, 2008 which brought in $3 billion in sales revenue and reflect a sales growth of 40.3% YoY and 16% QoQ.
All companies expect Q1 2009 to be down by 5-10% from Q1 2008.
Nokia XpressMusic 5730 reviewed
Nokia has announced a new member to its XpressMusic line, numbered 5730. It will be released in April 2009 in several countries and will retail for €220. In preparation for that release, the Russian website Mobile Review (translated link here) has done an in-depth review of the phone along with tons of photos. The specs for this phone include:
This QWERTY slider phone is targeted at mid-market. Nokia hopes that by making a cheap slider, it can take on similar, but more expensive Windows Mobile based devices.
[Via Boy Genius Report]
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