Nokia

Nokia market share to take a hit

The mobile handset market is going from bad to worse as Nokia, the world's largest maker of cell phones, said Friday that it's lowering its third-quarter market share outlook due to the weakening global economy.

The Finnish company has dominated the mobile handset market over the past few years. Last quarter, it reported it had grabbed 40 percent of the entire worldwide market. At the time, executives were confident that the company would maintain this level. But now, as the worldwide economy worsens, executives say they expect Nokia's market share to slip slightly in the third quarter. … Read more

Samsung agrees to sell Symbian stake to Nokia

Samsung Electronics has agreed to sell its investment stake in Symbian to mobile phone maker Nokia, according to a Reuters report.

In June, Nokia announced plans to acquire the remaining stake in smartphone software developer Symbian that it didn't already own. Nokia, by having full ownership of Symbian, wants to beat back the competition from Apple's iPhone and other competitors by accelerating its product development and serve as an open-source operating system platform for other handset makers, wireless carriers, and software developers.

Nokia, according to the Reuters report on Tuesday, will pay $410 million for its Symbian stake. … Read more

Nokia launches music-phone bundle in U.K.

Nokia launched a new music service Tuesday in the U.K. that bundles free access to music with the purchase of a phone.

The new service called "Comes with Music" offers users of certain Nokia phones a year's subscription to the company's music service. The program will initially be offered through Carphone Warehouse in the U.K., but Nokia has plans to eventually roll it out globally.

Nokia first announced the Comes With Music service last year. The service essentially bundles access to digital music with the purchase of a new handset. The first phone to use the service is the 5310 XpressMusic device. With the free one-year subscription to the service, Nokia users can download as many songs as they want and keep the songs even after the subscription expires.

This is a clear differentiator from other music stores and services. Apple's iTunes requires users pay for individual songs or albums. Verizon Wireless and Real have launched the new Rhapsody music store for mobile phones. It also allows subscribers to download and listen to as much music as they like for $15 a month. But once users stop paying the subscription fee, access to the music disappears.… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 800: It took 800 episodes, but we've finally arrived!

Well, OK, we won't have arrived until someone gets Kevin Rose to blog about how The Beatles are totally coming to iTunes on September 9, quoting an "anonymous source" (us!). Also, Brian Tong joins us for our historic discussion of the Google Chrome Web browser, lava rock problems in Hawaii, the extreme resource hoggery of IE8 Beta 2, and just how boring Spore will actually be. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 800

Apple Store in Hawaii still not open http://www.ifoapplestore.com/db/2008/08/23/hawaiian-spirits-dictate-storefront-materials/

Meet Chrome, Google’s shiny new browser … Read more

Nokia takes wraps off N96 NAM, N85, and N79

Nokia scored a hat-trick today with the announcement of three new Nokia N series models: the Nokia N96 (North American Edition), the Nokia N85, and the Nokia N79. Keeping with the family, the trio of Symbian smartphones offer high-end multimedia features, such as a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, and work with Nokia's Ovi Internet services, which include the N-Gage gaming platform, photo sharing, and Nokia Maps. All handsets are expected to ship in Q4 and will be sold as unlocked phones (you know what that means--save your pennies now because they won't be cheap). Now, let'… Read more

Two Nokia N-series phones on the way?

News of two Nokia N-series phones began speeding around the blogosphere on Monday. Though Nokia has yet to make an official unveiling, Electronista is identifying the new models as the Nokia N79 and the N85.

The N79 should be a replacement to the N78. It should have a 5-megapixel camera, a music player, GPS, 3G support, Wi-Fi, and a memory card slot. We're also hearing that it will have changeable rear faceplates in varying colors.

The N85 appears to be related to the N81. Its feature set should include a 5-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and a music player. It … Read more

Yahoo OneSearch finds a home on your Nokia

Updated on 8/21/08 at 3:54 pm to correct information about the models supported.

Starting Thursday, searching the Web with a Nokia series 60 phone will be a little faster.

Yahoo's mobile team has released a free shortcut for OneSearch, Yahoo's search engine, that will live on your phone's home screen. The OneSearch widget promises to cut your labor two ways; first, by giving you a place to begin a Web search as soon as you turn on the phone and second, by suggesting search terms as soon as you start typing.

The home screen … Read more

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte: It's this or a plasma TV

It seems Nokia is rather partial to its luxury 8800 range, and while we'd like to say the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte is a welcome departure from its predecessors, we would be lying harder than a desperate real estate agent.

This is another attractive, yet ultimately boring, phone that tries to allure wallet-bulging buyers with the increasingly tired combination of a preposterous price tag and high-end materials such as carbon fiber, metal, and glass. It's not that we don't like it; we'd just prefer to see something a little less "BMW interior" sometimes.

Feature-wise, … Read more

Nokia takes 'Lonely Planet' mobile

Tired of lugging a big travel book on vacation? Some Nokia phone users won't have to. They'll be able to download Lonely Planet travel guides directly onto their mobile handsets.

On Tuesday Nokia announced a deal with the travel book publisher Lonely Planet to sell maps and city guides to Nokia Maps 2.0 users. The service will initially allow users to download information for more than 100 cities, with more destinations to be added.

Each download, which costs 7.99 euros, or about $11.75, provides maps with directions and some background on important sites.

Nokia first … Read more

Prizefight: Motorola Rokr E8 vs. Nokia 5310

T-Mobile may be the smallest major carrier, but that doesn't mean it lacks a decent selection of phones. In the past few months the company has introduced two music phones that won our praise. The Motorola Rokr E8 offers an innovative "ModeShift" keypad, a 3.5mm headset jack, and a well-stocked music player that delivers on performance. The Nokia Xpress Music 5310 also brings a nifty music player to the table, but it packages it in a more traditional design. So, which is the better cell phone for listening to your tunes? In the latest CNET cell phone Prizefight … Read more