Nokia

Rumour Mill: Nokia to enter laptop market?

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:59:31 -0500

Although categorically denied by Nokia earlier this year, rumours the Finnish mobile giant may be planning to enter the laptop computer market have resurfaced. On this occasion it was through the medium of a research note from a Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) analyst. For a report that could just be speculative it contained a remarkable amount of detail suggesting as it did that the Nokia device would be a 9 to 10 inch notebook/tablet computer with touchpad, NFC and Linux OS.

In its early days Nokia did produce computers but by the mid-1980s it had exited the business, merging its PC division with Ericsson Information Systems. With computer manufacturers such as HP and Apple moving into the smartphone space, perhaps it is time for Nokia to mount a counterattack.

For more on this story go to Cellular News

Symbian OS dumped by Motorola

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:00:52 -0400

Having yet to announce the details surrounding the Symbian Foundation, the OS developer has a fresh battle on its hands following the departure of Motorola as one of its long-term and most consistent advocates.

Motorola has stated it now intends to focus on just two OS platforms (Android and Windows Mobile) in the high-end market next year in a bid to reduce R&D costs and simplify its overly-complex cell phone portfolio. "We will no longer offer new devices on Symbian UIQ (Motorola's version of the Symbian OS) and our internally developed Linux-Java platform," said the company's new CEO, Sanjay Jha.

Whilst this decision will be a significant blow to Symbian's ambition to become a leading supplier of open operating systems, this move by Motorola is part of a radical overhaul of its cell phone business that will see many established suppliers and technology roadmaps thrown to one side. Jha admitted that dropping Symbian would be painful in the short-term, particularly as it meant no new Symbian-based devices would be launched in 2009. "There is no quick fix here," Jha said. "The first half of next year will be challenging, fewer devices will be released than expected."

For more on this story go to:
Unstrung and ITPro Portal

Related articles:
Nokia CEO sees new Symbian platform on handsets in 2010. Nokia story
Nokia acquires remaining stake in Symbian. Symbian story

Nokia results: What's behind the PR spin?

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:22:10 -0400

Having to explain to a jittery financial market that your profits were down 40 per cent requires a degree of nerve and careful PR management. Nokia seems to have achieved the required balance with its share price actually rising nearly two per cent following the announcement of its Q3 results.

Whilst this crash in profits made the headlines, other details buried within the announcement were slipped out by Nokia's CFO, Rick Simonson, that shed light on what challenges the company faces.

The company would continue to monitor the financial health of its distributors closely but was reluctant to use its balance sheet to support them. "We're not a bank."
Nokia would look closely at its operating expenses and plans for next year. "It's easier to ramp up spending than it is to cut it."
The fierce price competition currently seen from its competitors was probably unsustainable. "If vendors don't have low costs like Nokia, or the large scale or distribution power, price cuts are likely to be temporary."
The company would pay Qualcomm €1.7 billion as part of the patent agreement between the two companies.
The average cost of a Nokia handset has fallen €10 in the past year, to €72.
Nokia estimated its share of the mobile market at 38 per cent, slightly down from a 40 per cent share in the second quarter of this year.
Sales in emerging markets, such as India and Latin America, are coming under increasing pressure indicating that these markets are not decoupled from the global economy.
While the company believed there would be 1.26 billion devices shipped in 2008, up 10.5 per cent from 1.14 billion in 2007, it declined to provide a forecast for 2009.

Despite these issues, the majority of market analysts were pleased with the company's performance given the deteriorating market. One financial forecast speculated that Nokia's margins would contrast very favourably when compared with results expected very shortly from Sony Ericsson, Samsung Electronics and Motorola.

For more on this story:
- go to the Financial Times, MarketWatch and Electronic Times

Related articles:
Nokia reshapes mobile music. Editorial
Has Nokia snubbed European operators over Tube/5800 launch date? Nokia story

Best-ever fake Nokias flood the market

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:04:16 -0400

Two of Nokia's more expensive handsets, the Nokia Arte Sapphire and the new Nokia N96, are being targeted by counterfeit manufacturers. Dealers in the retail channel claim the fake cellphones are of a high-quality and are "flooding the market."

While Nokia has had this problem before, this latest attack on its brand is worrying the company and its retail channel due to the fake handsets appearing almost identical, including matching menu systems and the same ringtones.

One major retail chain reported a case of customers coming into the store to take out a contract, and then returning it a few days later. "But they've swapped the Nokia handset with a fake, and kept the original. It is very difficult for us to tell."

This has raised the fear that counterfeit stock could be mixed with genuine Nokia handsets with a resulting loss of confidence by the retailer.

Indication that this trade is already underway comes from eBay, with several N96 and Sapphire Arte handsets selling for way below the market price for originals.

Nokia is reported to be taking the problem seriously with its intellectual property team now closely involved.

For more on this story:
- go to Mobile Today

Related article:
Counterfeiters target Nokia, LG and Samsung handsets. Fake handset story

Rumour Mill: Has Nokia snubbed European operators over Tube/5800 launch date?

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:16:16 -0400

The European launch of Nokia's high-profile 5800 XpressMusic handset (more commonly known as the 'Tube') has slipped from Q4 until sometime early next year.

However, the 5800 will be launched in emerging markets such as India, Russia, Asia and the Middle East sometime during Q4. This move by Nokia, which has surprised many European observers, has prompted speculation that the company felt snubbed following the resistance by the major mobile operators to offer Nokia's Comes with Music service.

What seems likely to happen in Europe is that Nokia will launch the 5800 exclusively with Orange in February 2009 given that this operator lacks the iPhone, the Android G1 or the new Blackberry Storm. Nokia has commented that the 5800 will be provided SIM-free for around €250.

The deal that Orange has signed with Nokia has not provided them with an iPhone-killer outside of its home French market. Whilst lauded by many anti-iPhone commentators for its touchscreen interface and focus on mobile music, Nokia has made clear that 2009 will see the launch of a handset better able to compete with Apple's iPhone device.

For more on this story:
- go to The Register and trusted reviews

Related articles:
Operators shun Nokia's Comes With Music service. Nokia story
Nokia's Comes with Music--an operator turnoff. Nokia story

Nokia and Intel notably absent from US$1bn mobile broadband push

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:11:22 -0400

While 16 of the largest mobile operators and technology providers have banded together to support the worldwide roll out of 3G mobile broadband across a diverse range of products, Nokia and Intel (an ardent supporter of WiMAX) were notable absentees.

The initiative, unimaginatively labelled "Mobile Broadband", has a staggering US$1 billion promotional budget which will be provided by the founding members--this includes the 3 Group, AsusTek Computer, Dell, Ericsson, Gemalto, Lenovo, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Telecom Italia Mobile, TeliaSonera, T-Mobile, Toshiba and Vodafone.

Little has been made public as to where this enormous promotional budget might be spent, although the first devices, a range of laptops bearing the new Mobile Broadband logo, will appear before Christmas.

The apparent objective of this new GSMA-led group is to try and make 3G connectivity as unobtrusive and as simple as possible, with the ultimate goal of having an instantaneous connection. "There is a lot of alphabet soup coming around the corner," said Ton Brand of the GSMA. "Whether it's HSPA, evolved HSPA or LTE, we wanted one single brand that would get consumers' attention."

The GSMA's initiative will be expanded to include USB dongles, and other devices with embedded 3G modules like cameras, MP3 players and even refrigerators.

For more on this story:
- go to Unstrung and IT ProPortal

Related articles:
Intel, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks Collaborate on Global WiMAX Interoperability. WiMAX story
Intel: WiMAX/WiFi chip coming in ultramobile PCs. Intel story

Symbian exec slams Linux/cell phone combination

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:46:13 -0400

Whilst praising the achievements of the Linux community in the workstation and PC arena, a senior exec of Symbian claims the open source operating system is unfit to use within cell phones.

Jerry Panagrossi, VP of Symbian's North American operations, claims there has been misleading information over the years about the appropriateness of Linux for mobile handsets. "This is particularly true with the resource constraints that we deal with on mobile devices -- such as limitations in computation capability, resource and memory management, and power management. When you drill down and look at Linux ... you realise it's just a kernel."

Panagrossi maintains that manufacturers building a Linux phone quickly gravitate towards a proprietary implementation as they develop the underlying device drivers and add an application execution environment. "When you ask the Linux solution providers what percentage of software runs across all of their platforms, the answer is near zero per cent. There's such a degree of high fragmentation in that space, and I think it's high time we set the record straight."

Responding to the criticism, Morgan Gillis, executive director of the LiMO foundation, claimed that this question had been completely answered four or five years ago. "We've introduced 23 LiMO mobile phones since we launched last year ... all of the issues have been answered now. There are something like 5 million active Linux developers, and the other technologies rely on communities that are much, much smaller. And in Symbian's case, nearly all of the developers will be owned by Nokia. It's a very different situation."

Nokia has thus far stayed out of the mobile Linux battle that is brewing between Google's Android platform, the future open-source Symbian and the LiMo Foundation's mobile Linux stack. However, Nokia recently upgraded its membership of the Linux Foundation from Silver to Gold status, and has contributed to the Linux kernel code for using HSPA with Texas Instruments' OMAP3 processor.

For more on this story:
- go to The Register

Related articles:
How big can mobile Linux get? Linux story
Mobile Linux groups LiMo, LiPS merge. Linux story

Operators shun Nokia's Comes With Music service

Paul Rasmussen — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:54:06 -0400

Mobile operators have greeted the arrival of Nokia's Comes With Music service with huge disinterest, with only the retailer Carphone Warehouse in the UK having signed to market the service.

The lack of uptake by operators -- none in the UK have indicated firm interest -- is likely caused by these firms having spent time and effort building their own music download services. Nokia's 'free' music service, along with its Ovi portal, are perceived as threats by network operators looking to position themselves as content providers.

Passing comment on the Nokia offering, O2's head of content, Antony Douglas, said: "We will keep an eye on it; if it is a huge success, we will renew our position. We will focus on existing services, but if Nokia does something compelling that is good for our customers, we will work with it."

Defending its position, the MD of Nokia UK, Simon Ainslie, said Nokia was not out of place with the new service and pointed to Apple and BlackBerry as manufacturers already working as service providers. "The business model has changed. Apple already has an established portal."

To add spice to this uncomfortable situation, speculation has arisen over the future possibility of Nokia handsets (those running S60) supporting iTunes. This would also, apparently, include the iStore application enabling users to download music directly to the handset. An outlandish story, but given the trouble with the Comes With Music service, almost anything is possible.

For more on this story:
- go to Mobile News and Cnet

Related articles:
Sony Ericsson mulling unlimited music service. SE music service story
Nokia looks to services for future revenues. Nokia services story

Nokia's No. 1 market position threatened by price-cutting competitors

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:21:14 -0400

The cell phone giant Nokia shocked the European and US financial markets with the announcement that its Q3 market share would reduce significantly. The company blamed this downturn on several factors including a decision not to compete on price with its major competitors and the slower-than-expected ramp-up of a mid-range device.

The UK division of Nokia accused Samsung and Sony Ericsson of aggressively cutting their prices simply to gain market share. The company's MD, Simon Ainslie, said that this level of pricing couldn't sustain a business, and pointed to a similar attempt several years ago by Motorola that ended in failure.

Samsung and Sony Ericsson have both targeted Nokia's prepay heartland with low-cost and mid-range handsets, and have gained share as a result, bringing them within three to five per cent of Nokia's No. 1 market position. Some operators, notably Orange, have reduced the number of Nokia handsets on offer, while O2 recently turned down the chance to resell the new N96 smartphone.

Despite this gloomy picture Nokia remains upbeat. The company maintains it is still targeting an increase in its device market share in 2008, and still expecting industry mobile device volumes to grow 10 percent or more from the approximately 1.14 billion units it estimated for 2007.

For more on this story:
- go to Cellular News and Mobile Today

Related articles:
Nokia's outlook for 2008 is good, market share is up. Nokia Q2 story
Nokia launches three N-Series smartphones. Nokia smartphone story

Mobile mapping on the rise

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:49:05 -0400

More and more customers are using mobile maps according to a report by comScore m:metrics with 8 per cent of U.S. mobile subscribers and 3 per cent of Europeans accessing maps in the three months to May 2008. This represents a growth rate of 82 per cent in the U.S. and 49 per cent in Europe. The main driver behind the rapid growth in the U.S. seems to be the increasing availability of the iPhone which was the leading device used there to access maps. Europeans preferred the Nokia N95 and N70. Around three quarters of U.S. customers used a browser to access maps as against 57 per cent in Europe. Surprisingly, given the heavy usage of SMS in Europe, only 24 per cent of Europeans accessed maps via SMS, a figure only one point higher than the U.S.

For more on this story:
- go to 3g.co.uk and Mobile Europe

Related story:
Mapping Technology. Article