Did Ballmer pick HTC over Nokia as his fav for Windows Phone 8?
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave a ringing endorsement to two new HTC smartphones running Windows Phone 8 on Wednesday, raising questions about the status of the much-heralded Microsoft-Nokia partnership.
Just days after appearing with Nokia officials to launch the Lumia 920 on Windows Phone 8, Ballmer appeared in New York City today with HTC CEO Peter Chou to launch the two Windows Phone 8 devices.
Both men touted the new 4.3-in. Windows Phone 8X HTC and the smaller 4-in. Windows Phone 8S HTC. Both will be sold by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA starting in November, officials said, although no pricing was announced. HTC is prepping to launch the devices on 150 carriers globally. Read more...
Amazon cosies up to Nokia for Google Maps alternative
Amazon has unveiled a mapping API that offers an exit strategy from Google Maps for its developers. The new API is aimed at devs who want to incorporate mapping into apps on Amazon's pocket cash registers tablets such as the Kindle Fire, and uses Nokia's mapping services – Nokia Location Platform.
Although the ruthless retail giant wouldn't say what powers the Google Maps alternative, Nokia didn't need much persuasion to crow about a win. Nokia Location Platform is a wholesale offering based on the eye-watering €5.7bn ($8bn) acquisition of Navteq in 2007. Yahoo! maps uses Nokia's services, as does Bing Maps – although Bing draws in map data from lots of sources. Read more...
Listen up, Nokia: Get Lumia show-offs in pubs or it’s game over
Nokia has a couple of mountains to climb. There's the real mountain: in the marketplace it's starting from scratch, a newcomer that just happens to have a large distribution business in place, and a couple of billion euros in capital. Then there's the metaphorical mountain, which is a mountain of cliches.
For Nokia to survive it will have to prove the armchair pundits wrong. Nokia showed off two surprisingly good new phones in New York this week, but a swarm of experts largely didn't agree. But all is not lost. A few hundred pundits, who typically act as a herd, are outnumbered by millions of consumers making very personal buying decisions. And armchairs don't buy phones. Read more...
Nokia apologizes for fake video used to depict Lumia 920 optical abilities
Nokia issued an apology Thursday for an advertisement that lacked a disclaimer for using a simulated video to describe the new PureView anti-blur technology inside its Lumia 920 smartphone.
"We should have posted a disclaimer stating this was a representation of OIS (Optical Image Stabilization in PureView) only," Nokia said in a blog postentitled "An apology is due."
The blog continues: "This was not shot with a Lumia 920. At least, not yet. We apologize for the confusion we created."
The blog post, written by Heidi Lemmetyinen of Nokia (with no title given), includes a 16-second video snippet used at the Wednesday news event in New York City where the Windows Phone 8-based Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 smartphones were launched. Read more...
Oops: Nokia reinstates ‘terminated’ star app developer
You may think Nokia needs to keep all the app developers it can muster loyal to the company - but last week it terminated VIP privileges for a star Symbian programmer. Nokia has since changed its mind.
The brains behind the highly regarded Gravity application, Jan Ole Suhr, was one of a number of Symbian coders who discovered their membership of the Nokia Developer Champions programme had been terminated early. This is a scheme that recognises key programmers and gives them early access to tools and technical information.
But Symbian - the mobile phone operating system now officially known as "Nokia Belle" - is no more: there are no future handsets on the drawing board, and just a small fraction of the 3,000 Nokia engineers who worked on the platform are actively developing Symbian at Accenture. Nokia spun them out last year. Read more...
Nokia woos networks with ‘exclusive Windows 8 mobe deals’
Nokia is keeping schtum amid claims it hopes to sign exclusive deals with European mobile operators for its planned Windows Phone 8 smartphones.
The handset-maker is negotiating with carriers to grant sole rights to sell its phones running Microsoft’s next mobile OS in different countries, according to the Financial Times. The carriers would have to share the cost of marketing and promoting the phones.
Such a step would be a major break with tradition for Nokia, as it has typically made its handsets available to all carriers in an effort to reach the broadest market possible.
A spokeswoman for Nokia asked by The Reg to confirm the talks said she wouldn’t comment on “speculation and rumour” but did confirm that Nokia is in "on-going" talks with carriers. Read more...
Nokia releases Windows Phone update for Lumia 800 and 710
Nokia has started rolling out a Windows Phone software update for the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710, which includes Wi-Fi tethering and a feature that silences incoming calls and messages when the phone is turned face down, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday.
Owners of the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710 may not be getting Windows Phone 8, but that doesn't mean new features won't be added to the smartphones.
Just like on other smartphone operating systems, Wi-Fi tethering -- or Internet sharing as Nokia calls it -- turns the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710 into a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. Users can share their mobile Internet connection over Wi-Fi with up to five other mobile devices or computers, according to Nokia. Read more...
Nokia’s Great Software Cleansing scrubs off everything since the ’90s
Nokia took an axe to much of its non-Windows software capacity today, leaving all but a core team working on S40, company insiders say. Among the 10,000 casualties officially announced are teams working on Meltemi, Qt and QML. The team imported via the Smarterphone acquisition will work on S40, we understand.
Engineers were locked out of their source code management systems and wikis before the announcements were made this morning. Read more...
Nokia’s Great Software Cleansing scrubs off everything since the ’90s
Nokia took an axe to much of its non-Windows software capacity today, leaving all but a core team working on S40, company insiders say. Among the 10,000 casualties officially announced are teams working on Meltemi, Qt and QML. The team imported via the Smarterphone acquisition will work on S40, we understand.
Engineers were locked out of their source code management systems and wikis before the announcements were made this morning. Read more...
Another Exec Departure At Nokia: Corp Relations EVP Esko Aho Is Going To Harvard
Nokia today announced it is losing another senior executive: Esko Aho, who had once been the prime minister of Finland and is currently EVP, corporate relations and responsibility and a member of Nokia’s leadership team, is leaving the beleaguered handset maker for Harvard University. There, he will be the Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School for public policy. He had been with Nokia since 2008 and a member of the executive team since 2009. Read more...
Nokia 808 PureView to launch in India and Russia from this month
Nokia has said that it will begin rolling out its Symbian-powered Nokia 808 PureView to “select markets” in May, initially launching the 41-megapixel handset in Russian and Indian markets.
Having been unveiled in this year’s Mobile World Congress, the 808 Pureview won awards for its impressive optics and ability to capture incredible amounts of detail in its photos.
The company noted at the time that it would look to launch the device as soon as possible but it has today confirmed that it will be available in two of its most popular markets from this month. Read more...
Nokia’s 808 PureView promo quite literally speaks for itself
I often believe that one of the best adverts for a device is when its maker is able to showcase its features using images or footage produced directly by it.
With its 41MP image quality, Carl Zeiss lens, and PureView imaging technology, Nokia demonstrates the imaging capabilities of the device front and center, but also shows off its social capabilities, really appealing to those who want the very best optics in their smartphone device. Read more...
Major European operators label Nokia smartphones expensive, unoriginal and buggy
European mobile operators appear to have dealt Nokia a fresh blow in its bid to overturn its flagging smartphone business, with its latest devices receiving a lukewarm response from four of the continent’s major carriers, Reuters reveals.
Nokia, which signed an agreement with Microsoft to power its new smartphones with the Windows Phone operating system in early 2011, has been accused of lacking innovation, inflating the price of its handsets, launching devices with major software issues and failing to back up launches with a big marketing spend. Read more...