“We’ve put these rumours to rest a long time ago. The focus for Nokia is on executing on our partnership around Windows Phone and growing the ecosystem, and each company has the tools they need to do so”

Basically Eldar knows nothing please focus on the awesomeness of our phones, seriously though; Nokia UK responded to slashgears post about Eldars ramblings clarifying that Nokia doesn’t mix Business with more Business, their relationship is basically with the windows phone ecosystem, not even Microsoft (I know it’s the same thing but those words can make a huge difference).

Update: For those of you interested I tracked down the ‘orginal tweet’ that put these matters to rest along time ago, By “Mark Squires” Comm Director of Nokia, this reply was after the Nokia being bought rumors surfaced the first time (early May)

Unrelated topic but I didn’t think it was worth a second post, yesterday Engadget posted what to look forward to at CES, with barely a mention of Nokia (hidden inside a link under WP), so the Nokia twitter people took it upon themsleves to remind them.

We’ll be there too! RT @engadget Engadget’s 2012 CES Preview nokia.ly/AjQEAc

— Nokia (@nokia) January 4, 2012

Which brings a random point, Nokia had a trend of not replying to anything being said about them, carrying an aura of silence except when they wanted to release a product, it’s nice to see how they’ve changed; be it reading Nokia fan Blogs (simplest example is giving Jay an N9 when a commentator asked) or replying to rumors and chiming in at random times; I like the new Nokia.

Slashgear

I guess the people at Nokia U.S. were a bit over-excited about the news they were supposed to release later on today, about what most of us had probably guessed; the Nokia 710 entering the US market (Via T-Mobile).

According to the leak the 710 is set to hit stores on Jan 11th with a very reasonable pricing of $49.99 with contract OFC, but what most of us never saw coming was the incorporation of a 4G antenna inside the 710, making it the first Nokia 4G phone to be officially availble in the US (Thanks to Matti in the comments section I also found out that the N9 as well as the 800 are also capable of the fake 4G/HSPA speeds), as well as one of the first Mango running 4G capable devices (Other: HTC Radar).

The Nokia Lumia 710 is expected to be available at T-Mobile retail stores, select dealers and retailers nationwide, and online at http://www.t-mobile.com starting Jan. 11. The Nokia Lumia 710 is expected to cost $49.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate card, with a two-year service agreement and qualifying Classic voice and data plan. For more information, visit http://www.t-mobile.com/lumia.

The 710 should hit shelves preloaded with all of the stock Nokia apps (Nokia drive, Nokia Mix radio, the Nokia exclusive ESPN app…) as well as Netflix mobile TV and many more. However according to the press release the only color made to be available is the Black battery case, which is completely fine by me as the picture above looks absolutely SEXY!!!

Full press release available below:

T-Mobile Brings Nokia Lumia 710 to the U.S.  

Nokia and T-Mobile deliver a leading entry-level Windows Phone experience to the nearly 150 million Americans still to make the transition to smartphones. 

BELLEVUE, Wash., and SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Dec. 14, 2011 — T-Mobile USA, Inc. and Nokia today announced the upcoming availability of the Nokia Lumia 710, the first Windows Phone from Nokia in the United States. Targeted at the nearly 150 million Americans who haven’t purchased their first smartphones, the 4G-capable Nokia Lumia 710 delivers high-performance hardware, Nokia’s best social and Internet experience, and access to popular smartphone applications and services from Windows Phone Marketplace.

Running on America’s Largest 4G Network^™, the Nokia Lumia 710 benefits from the unique people-first approach of Windows Phone, bringing together all interactions with family and friends in People Hub. The Nokia Lumia 710 also provides one-click access to popular services, such as Netflix, T-Mobile TV with mobile HD¹ and a leading mobile Web experience with Internet Explorer® Mobile, Bing™ Search with voice activation and Local Scout for locally relevant search results. The smartphone also brings access to signature Nokia experiences, such as Nokia Drive for voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation and ESPN for exclusive sports content.

“We’re excited to team with Nokia in bringing its first Windows Phone to the U.S. with the elegantly designed Nokia Lumia 710,” said Cole Brodman, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA. “Windows Phone offers a compelling mobile OS choice for people who want a smartphone built around them, their family and friends.  We expect it to play a more prominent role in our lineup and marketing efforts in 2012.”

Today, people are increasingly upgrading to smartphones, and many are doing so for the first time. According to the NPD Group, U.S. smartphone sales reached 59 percent in the third quarter 2011, an increase of 13 percent since third quarter 2010. With an increasing demand for smartphones, the Nokia Lumia 710 offers a compelling experience aimed at addressing the needs of the nearly 150 million people in the U.S. who have yet to upgrade to their first smartphones.

“Our research shows nearly everybody in the U.S. wants a smartphone, but many believe they can’t afford it,” Brodman said. “That’s where T-Mobile shines. Our Unlimited Value and Monthly4G plans make it more affordable than ever to step up to mobile data on our 4G network.”

”The Nokia Lumia 710 is the perfect first-time smartphone: a well-designed product that delivers the most compelling Windows Phone experience in its price range and with access to great content and thousands of applications,” said Chris Weber, president, Nokia Americas. “This is the perfect first Nokia Lumia experience and the start of our re-entry into the U.S. smartphone market.”

Available in a black or white finish, the Nokia Lumia 710 features a 3.7-inch ClearBlack WVGA scratch-resistant display for outstanding outdoor viewing and a Qualcomm 1.4 GHz Snapdragon™ processor providing speedy access to entertainment and information on-the-go. It also features a 5-megapixel camera with Nokia’s leading camera technology, enabling people to take pictures in almost any light condition and share on social networks in seconds. With the most integrated work-life solution of any mobile platform via the Windows Phone Office Hub and an interactive mobile gaming experience via Xbox LIVE®, the Nokia Lumia 710 is the complete all-round first-time smartphone experience.

Source. Thanks to Viipottaja for the tip

Over at Nokia Developer, the list of specs for the two new Nokia Windows Phones, 800 and 710, have been uploaded.

Side by side, they provide an easy comparison. Take a look for yourself.

http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/Device_specifications/Comparison.xhtml?dev=Lumia_800,Lumia_710

Like Jay posted, the 800 is to be shipped around Europe next month, with most other markets coming end of 2011/Q1 2012.

Michael

Nokia’s official blog have just announced that Nokia and Microsoft have signed a deal that will kick start the “global alliance” that was announced on the 11th of February, they have also said that the deal is ahead of schedule so the chances of seeing a WP7 device at the end of the year is a possibility.

ESPOO, Finland & REDMOND, USA - After 10 weeks of intense collaboration, we are pleased to report that Nokia and Microsoft have signed the definitive agreement for our strategic partnership to build a new global mobile ecosystem that is unlike any other. It’s a bold claim. But collectively we’ve moved from intent to agreement in such a short period. Actually, it’s even faster than we expected which makes this a perfect example of our commitment to our partnership and the speed at which we plan to move together.

They have reiterated that they are pushing a Windows Phone for this year (which is badbly needed with todays earnings announcements)

You will see unique innovation and differentiation across hardware, software and services as the Nokia products using Windows Phone roll-out, delivering consumer experiences in mapping, search, gaming, social media, advertising and productivity. Along the way, you can expect an increased focus on mobile business and productivity scenarios that build on Microsoft’s cloud services, new features for Symbian, and new capabilities for Windows Phone devices.

Apparently we will see some differentiation unique for Nokia’s devices ( I honestly not too much to delay future updates)

Our teams are working together toward a common goal with you, the consumer, at the heart of our experience. With set processes and dedicated teams across both companies, we have created and mapped out ways to collaborate. In order to innovate as partners, we know we have to go beyond the usual pairing of phone hardware with software. That’s why we are purposely creating a truly unique and deeply integrated partnership and are on a fast track to deliver.

I have got to admit I am a bit uncomfortable about the language they are using here it seems like Nokia and Microsoft are too close to comfort.

Tell us what you think in the comments are you still angry about the deal or are you coming to terms with the reality.

via Nokia conversations

As mentioned in Jay’s previous post in November, today marks the official close of the Symbian foundation websites. While most of our readers likely never had much experience with or exposure to these websites, they posed a major resource for a lot of curious cats like myself who wanted to keep track of progress on Symbian development as well as contribute ideas for improvements and/or features that we wanted to see in the platform. Nokia has created their own Symbian blog which in due course is expected to be populated with news etc. concerning the platform progress, releases and projects being undertaken that are related to Symbian.

However, all indications point towards a more closed system of development being undertaken.Whether this is done in a similar manner to the Google Android method where code dumps are made regularly and changes made at the whim of the company overseeing development remains to be seen. This, however, is both a positive and negative in that the closed system has somewhat less red tape and bureaucracy standing between ideas/concepts and the realization and productizing of these concepts. Unfortunately this comes at the cost of valuable community feedback and input. Simply looking at the number of great and well supported ideas that were submitted to the Symbian Ideas site (now unavailable of course) is testament to the benefit of using collective intelligence and outside ideas.

Statement by Tim Holbrow, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation after the break:

“In 2009, we established the Symbian Foundation to make the Symbian platform available open source and royalty-free. In November 2010 we announced that the foundation would ramp down its operational activities as a result of changes in global economic and market conditions.

We are now well underway with transitioning the foundation from a non-profit organisation responsible for governing the open development and curation of the Symbian platform, to a licensing entity with no permanent staff. Moving forward, the foundation will be responsible only for specific licensing and legal frameworks put in place during the open sourcing of the platform.

The Symbian platform will continue to evolve under Nokia, who have committed to make the future development of the platform available via an alternative direct and open model.

Due to this transition, many of the operations and services the foundation provided to the Symbian community have now ceased. With the exception of this blog site, the foundation’s public websites have closed, along with open access to the Symbian source code.

However, much of the foundation’s data is available to the public via FTP until 31 March 2011. For access to this content, please e-mail contact@symbian.org. Some content is still controlled under certain licenses; Symbian Foundation members will continue to have access to Symbian Foundation License content.

Specifically, the FTP site will allow access to:

1. Current platform source code
2. Platform Development Kits:
   • S^2 PDK 2.0.3 (parts of S^2 are only available to current Symbian Foundation members)
   • S^3 PDK 3.0.4
   • S^4 PDK 4.0.a
3. Databases:
   • Database exports from Bugzilla, Wiki, Forums, Ideas and Symbian Horizon.
     NOTE: all private, personal information has been removed
4. Documentation:
   • HTML source for the platform reference documentation and public mailing lists

Access to the FTP site will cease on 31 March 2011; by this date we anticipate a new model for hosting Symbian code will be available from Nokia.

You can find more information on Nokia’s plans for Symbian at http://symbian.nokia.com. Forum Nokia is the best place to access developer support for Symbian, including tools, documentation, technical support, and discussion boards.

We would like to extend our deepest thanks to everyone who contributed to the major milestones achieved at the Symbian Foundation. We can all be proud of these accomplishments – some not seen before in the history of computing, such as the completion of the largest transition to open source of any commercial codebase in software history. We would also like to extend warm thanks to the entire member community for their continued commitment to the Symbian platform.

We are confident that these are absolutely the right changes in the context of today’s market and economy, and we look forward to watching a new era of success for the Symbian platform unfold.”

Via

Well color me shocked (not) but it seems like Nokia has dug up another round of patents to assert against Apple in their ongoing patent litigation suits. Funnily enough these patents cover things that have traditionally been thought to be Apple’s backyard with on-device app stores and touch user interface and gestures being mentioned. It’s pretty obvious that Nokia is getting rather serious with this suit after having added 5 more patents in May.

Truthfully, some of the things being patented today range for silly to obscure/useless but the fact of the matter remains that if you spend time and money developing IP, you’re certainly going to want to be rewarded for doing so. A certain Stefan Constantinescu thinks it’s simply a defense mechanism by Nokia to stifle innovation by companies like Apple and Google because they can’t come up with ideas of their own.  My initial response was “LOL!!!” but for professionalism’s sake I’ll add a bit more to that. Why is it that when Apple sues a company it is protected its ideas and IP and all is well, but when Nokia or Oracle sues over things that are admittedly and rightfully theirs, they are seen as evil. Bias much?

I’ll give you that some of these patents are vague and rather useless in my humble opinion, but others patent equally mundane and silly ideas and are not nearly vilified for it.

Press release after the break.

Nokia files patent infringement complaints against Apple in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands

Espoo, Finland – Nokia announced it has filed claims in the UK High Court, Dusseldorf and Mannheim District Courts in Germany and the District Court of the Hague, Netherlands, alleging that Apple infringes Nokia patents in many of its products sold in these countries, including iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

“These actions add 13 further Nokia patents to the 24 already asserted against Apple in the US International Trade Commission and the Delaware and Wisconsin Federal courts,” said Paul Melin, vice president, Intellectual Property at Nokia. “The Nokia inventions protected by these patents include several which enable compelling user experiences. For example, using a wiping gesture on a touch screen to navigate content, or enabling access to constantly changing services with an on-device app store, both filed more than ten years before the launch of the iPhone.”

Nokia’s filing in the UK covers 4 Nokia patents related to touch user interface, on-device app stores, signal noise suppression and modulator structures.

Nokia’s filing in Dusseldorf, Germany covers 7 Nokia patents related to touch user interface, antenna structures, messaging functionality and chipsets.

Nokia’s filing in Mannheim, Germany covers 5 Nokia patents related to on-device app stores, caller ID, display illumination and the integration of multiple radios.

Nokia’s filing in the Hague, Netherlands covers 2 Nokia patents related to signal noise suppression and data card functionality.

None of the asserted patents have been declared essential to any wireless communication standard.

During the last two decades, Nokia has invested approximately EUR 40 billion in research and development and built one of the wireless industry’s strongest and broadest IPR portfolios, with around 11,000 patent families. Nokia is a world leader in the development of handheld device and mobile communications technologies, which is also demonstrated by Nokia’s strong patent position.

via

Image via Engadget

As mentioned before in the press release Jay posted, and has been rumored in the blogosphere for quite a while, it seems that Nokia and the Symbian board have taken a decisive step towards improving the Symbian OS, speeding up time to market, improving developer and OEM relations and at the same time cut out some of the bureaucracy that has held Symbian development up for so long. This move was hinted at when Lee Williams stepped down from the Symbian Foundation as executive director and was replaced by Tim Holbrow (former CFO) with rumors circling that winding down operations would commence imminently.  It seems that such a guess was not far off the mark.

I’m certain that a large percentage of people in the blogosphere are now shouting at the top of their voices that Symbian is dead, Nokia is down the toilet and are doomed and that Symbian has no place in the smartphone market (Engadget commenters are truly  remarkable no?). But I’d have to respectfully say that they are patently wrong. Below I’ll outline a few of the reasons why this change has happened and what the future may/may not hold for Symbian development in light of current news.

One of the most telling statements concerning Symbian development were the announcements of Sony Ericsson (SE) and Samsung, that they were discontinuing Symbian development and had no plans for the continued support and/or production of Symbian devices. Looking at those two announcements in a vacuum one might be inclined to think that two of the three major OEM  supporters and Foundation contributors (not dissing Fujitsu here) had withdrawn from an OS that was seemingly about to fail miserably.

Looking at the situation in context however, yields a starkly different story. Having tracked code package submissions to the Symbian Foundation from the fledgling days of S^2 & S^3, I’d yet to see any significant contributions of code by either company. While that’s not to say they didn’t provide any monetary support, the fact that the entire idea of the foundation was to distribute work amongst large companies with significant resources in the hope of faster iterating the OS than any single company could possibly achieve. Unfortunately for the Symbian Foundation, this was not to be, and Nokia has and will continue to contribute the VAST majority of the code.

Worse still, Android came along whereby OEM’s could get a free ride in essence, contributing little if any code, little if any monetary support while getting an OS that they could basically flash onto the base hardware provided by Qualcomm and run with it. While that’s not to say that this is a “bad” approach, in some ways it leaves the OEM’s at the mercy of Google’s whim and provides no real benefit, in the long term at least, for OEM’s looking to differentiate, grow profits significantly and control their own fates.

Android also had the benefit of provided an app store that integrated directly into the OS in the form of Android Marketplace, something that Symbian had categorically lacked before 2008. When Nokia came out with the Ovi Store in 2009, it became clearer still to all OEM’s involved with Symbian that not only could they not compete with Nokia in terms of hardware costs, reliability and scale, but they also couldn’t compete in terms of value added services to Symbian OS.  Worse still, Symbian Horizon, which would have been the go-to application repository for Symbian applications for all OEM’s, failed spectacularly leaving Samsung and SE high and dry with regards to added services, through no fault of the Symbian Foundation of course.

NB. Symbian in it’s base implementation comes without mapping applications and application stores

Having realized that there would be no financial benefit in sticking around, both companies decided to jump ship to an OS where all the work was done for them and they simply needed to toss an OS on some hardware and meet some nebulous requirements concerning the use of Google services and market and they’d be just peachy.

The second most telling statement made was by Nokia where they said that they had no intentions of sticking to the large-scale generational changes to the Symbian platform formerly known as S^3, S^4.x , S^5 etc and that they would be sticking to continuous, smaller scale improvements to what they would call “Symbian” with most recent devices getting the changes initially slated for the generational S^4 release. Furthermore, they publicly stated that Symbian development would give way to Qt development, in essence both dog-fooding and relegation of Symbian C++ to legacy status.

In hindsight, these events in addition to the rapid pace of development of both software and hardware in the mobile sphere has led to the predicament the Foundation has faced, and thusly the decision made in the conference call and board meetings today.

On the bright side of course, SEE2010 begins tomorrow with the MeeGo conference slated for the following week. Here’s to hoping for at least SOME positive news and seeing positive strides being taken in both domains.  Keep your browsers pointed here for more news on both Expos in coming days.

SYMBEOSE: Symbian the Embedded Operation System for Europe is a new initiative led by the EU and a number of major European corporations such as Nokia, ST-Ericsson and a host of others, including academic organisations with the major objective of improving the Symbian OS in order to take it above and beyond it’s current iteration and into new devices and use cases. Among these new cases are embedded systems and cloud computing.

A few of the objectives mentioned in the press release include Asymmetrical Multi-Processing for the differential use of available processors to better conserve system resources and power consumption. Such a change could see Symbian running on SOC’s like Marvell’s ARMADA 628 while barely sipping battery power. (Symbian already supports Symmetrical Multiprocessing ),  Advanced image processing and video acceleration standards (HDR video? ) and improved developer tools. Part of the motivation for this initiative may stem from the fact that Symbian is the only real competitor in the smartphone space to Android, Windows Phone 7 and iOS. It’s also the only one of these major players that has any origins in the EU. Even more significant is the fact that Symbian and Symbian-related activities account for the employment of ~20,000 people across the EU.

As such, these organisations have come together to support the development of the Symbian OS to the tune of 22 million Euros. This “new” initiative is not that significant in terms of the future direction of Symbian OS in the sense that it’s not a replacement or a new direction but the creation of a stronger community of communication, R&D and ideas.

More information can be found in the press release and an initiative summary here

via

via Nokia Conversations

reminds me of fast food place

Yes folks Nokia early this morning (why on earth I am up this early 6.30 am !!!) announced that the Nokia n8 is shipping just before the Q3 cut off date, so technically they did manage to release it on time. Devices have left China and Finland to be flown around the world to people that have pre ordered (maybe I should have ) anyway Nokia goes on to say this is the highest pre order of any Nokia device before so I am thinking that people that have not pre ordered might be waiting a considerable time longer, I guess time will tell.  They also go on to provide pictures from the factory.

One of those beauties could be yours

let us know if you have received your device

via Nokia Conversations