nokia

Lack of open source holding back mobile industry?

My friend and one-time colleague, Mark Watson, CEO of mobile open-source company Volantis, pens a cogent analysis of the mobile content industry, and what prevents it from becoming the gargantuan market it has long been predicted to become. Watson suggests that "fragmentation may be the very thing that is inhibiting the ability to meet market expectations for growth and proliferation of mobile content and services," and suggests that open source may offer a remedy for this problem:

...[I]t's not possible for content providers to just put a mobile web application "out there" and see … Read more

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Nokia 5800 to largely miss holiday shopping season

When Nokia introduced its new 5800 Xpress Music on Thursday, it promised that the device would ship to Europe and Asia during the fourth quarter of this year. Reuters, however, is now reporting that the touch-screen music phone will miss the holiday shopping season in most markets.

According to the report, the 5800 will arrive only in India, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia, and Spain by the end of the year. Other countries, including the United States and Canada, will have to wait until 2009.

Nokia releases slew of stereo headsets

Along with the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music and its Comes with Music promotion, Nokia also announced a slew of stereo headsets to match its new music-focused products on Thursday. The Nokia BH-504 is the only Bluetooth headset of the bunch, with the ability to handle calls as well as listen to music wirelessly. Looking a lot like regular over-the-ear headphones, it's fully foldable, with advanced digital signal processing that includes echo cancellation and noise reduction. It has the typical multifunction button as well as music player controls and a volume rocker. The BH-504 has a rated battery life of … Read more

Nokia goes all out with new music phone

While LG and Samsung were quick to play their touch-screen phone cards after the release of the first iPhone, Nokia has been holding its hand close. That is, until now. On Thursday, the Finnish company announced the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, an eye-catching slim touch-screen phone that looks vaguely like you-know-what. Though Nokia is quick to dismiss the iPhone comparisons, they are obvious, and analysts across the board are making them.

See our Nokia 5800 Xpress Music slide show for a full gallery of shots.

On the outside there's an expansive (3.2 inches) touch screen with tactile feedback that serves as the primary interface tool. There are also three physical buttons--Talk and End keys and a menu control--but this device is all about getting touchy-feely. The outside is mostly black but you'll be able to exercise a bit of personal style by choosing from three versions--each has a thin colored ring in either gray, red, or blue. At 4.31 by 2.04 by 0.61 inches and 3.85 ounces, the 5800 Xpress Music falls between the iPhone and the LG Dare in size and weight. Exterior controls include a volume rocker, a dedicated power button, and a camera shutter.

Features are more like the Dare than the iPhone. Inside you'll find a 3.2-megapixel camera with video recording and a Carl Zeiss lens, messaging, stereo Bluetooth, a microSD card slot, 81MB of internal memory, USB mass storage, personal organizer apps, a speakerphone, a 3.5mm headset jack, assisted GPS, a music player, and PC syncing. It's also a full world phone with support for four GSM bands and two HSDPA bands. On the whole, that's a loaded feature set.

Getting music on the 5800 Xpress Music should be easy. Besides the traditional methods of syncing with a PC (via Windows Media Player 11) or transferring songs via Bluetooth or a memory card, you'll also be able to access songs over the air from Nokia's music store using the company's new Comes With Music service. … Read more

What exactly is the Nokia Comes With Music service?

By now, you've heard about the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, which was announced at the Nokia Remix event in London on Wednesday. Sure, the main headline may be the 5800's touch screen (a first for Nokia's cell phone line), but the handset isn't all about looks; it's got musical talent too.

Like the company's other Xpress Music phones, including the Nokia 5610 Xpress Music and the Nokia 5310 Xpress Music, the 5800 offers some advanced multimedia capabilities, particularly in the music category, but unlike previous models, the 5800 steps it up with the Nokia's Comes With Music service. What the heck is that you ask? Good question.

To provide a little background first, Nokia first unveiled its plans for the service back in December 2007. Nokia Comes With Music isn't an add-on service, but rather comes preloaded on select devices and gives you a year of unlimited access to any songs from the Nokia Music Store. Everything's included in the price of the handset; there are no additional subscription fees.

To give you a better idea of what is and isn't offered by the service, we've compiled this short Q&A about Comes With Music, which were answered with the help of a Nokia representative. Also, if you have a question about Nokia Comes With Music that wasn't covered here, please feel free to post it in the comments section and we'll do our best to get answered for you.

Q: Comes With Music lets customers buy an unlimited number of tracks from the Nokia Music Store but are there any limitations or restrictions?'A: Comes With Music gives people a year of unlimited access to the Nokia Music Store catalog--from millions of tracks from a wide range of artists, including international hits and local talent--with the capability to keep all downloaded tracks.

Q: After a year, what's the cost to continue the service?A: Once the Comes With Music first year service has expired, users can keep all the music they've downloaded and continue to update their collection with a la carte purchases. Pricing of a la carte depends on the Nokia Music Store pricing in the various regions.

Q: Will the tracks just be limited to use on the phone or can they downloaded to users' computers as well?A: Nokia provides seamless access to a world of music--people can download music directly to their Comes With Music device or via their compatible personal computer. Plus, people can easily transfer tracks and playlists between their Nokia device and computer using the Nokia Music for PC software. … Read more

Questions about Nokia's new music phone

Update 10/3: CNET's Bonnie Cha, with the assistance of a Nokia rep, has answers to many of these questions here. To summarize, Comes With Music really does offer unlimited downloads for one year, tracks are DRM-protected, and can be shared with one PC and other Comes With Music members but not burned to CD without an extra purchase, and release date for the U.S. is still up in the air.

Several sources are reporting that Nokia's expected to launch its would-be iPhone killer, the Nokia 5800 (code-named "Tube), tomorrow, Oct. 2, at an event in … Read more

Conflicting opinions on Windows Mobile: Open source or open FUD?

Last night in reading through my RSS newsreader I came across these two posts - one from CNET's Dave Rosenberg and the other from Funambol's Fabrizio Capobianco - and had to laugh at the odd juxtaposition of two seemingly diametrically opposed ideas:

So, which will it be? Open-source Windows Mobile or proprietary Windows Mobile, continuing to be sold at an outlandish $8 to $15 per phone for software that Businessweek's Stephen Wildstrom calls "awkward to use after a decade of tweaking by Microsoft."

It sounds like Windows Mobile should be free, and not because of any strategy to counter open-source Symbian (Nokia) or open-source Linux (Google). No, Microsoft should be giving it away because its Windows Mobile operating system is potty, despite a decade of effort to improve it. Microsoft has tried to replicate the desktop Windows experience on the handheld. Big mistake.

Microsoft's strategy? Well, as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer notes, it's pretty much the same as ever: FUD the competition rather than beat it:

It's interesting to ask why would Google or Nokia, Google in particular, why would they invest a lot of money and try to do a really good job if they make no money. I think most operators and telecom companies are skeptical about Google. Handset makers are skeptical of Nokia, operators are skeptical of Google, I think by actually charging money people know exactly what our motivations are.

Just because people know that Microsoft wants to screw them doesn't mean they like it, Mr. Ballmer. First mistake.… Read more

Nokia to buy Oz Communications

Nokia is bulking up its communications platform with the acquisition of Oz Communications, a privately held Montreal-based company that offers mobile e-mail and instant messaging.

On Tuesday, Nokia said it would buy Oz for an undisclosed amount, bringing Oz into its services and software unit. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Oz has been around for about five years. And the company, which has been working with Nokia since 2003, has raised more than $71 million. Its IM, e-mail, and social-networking technologies are used by several mobile operators, including Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, Alltel, … Read more