nokia

Nokia could tiptoe into the tablet market as the next step beyond its Windows Phone-based Lumia lineup.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told reporters in Sydney, Australia, yesterday that the company is looking "very closely" at tablets but has yet to announce anything official, according to the Australian Financial Review.

"We are studying very closely the market right now as Microsoft has introduced the Surface tablet, so we are trying to learn from that and understand what the right way to participate would be and at what point in time."

Elop also dangled the possibility of an … Read more

Forget diamonds, graphene is now the world's hardest material. And all sorts of developers most likely want to get their hands on it.

Nokia looks to be ahead of the game in this graphene race. The Finnish mobile-phone maker announced today that it was one of the recipients of a $1.35 billion grant from the European Union to do research and development on the supermaterial over the next 10 years.

"Nokia is proud to be involved with this project, and we have deep roots in the field -- we first started working with graphene already in 2006,&… Read more

If you were planning to drop several thousands of dollars on a "luxury smartphone," what operating system would you insist such an elite device rock?

According to one Russian blogger claiming knowledge of British snobphone maker Vertu's plans, the company -- which was once a division of Nokia before the company sold all but 10 percent of it last year -- is looking to launch a fancy Android phone starting at 3,000 euros and running as high as $10,000 if you want a model made from unobtainium or some such silliness, I suppose.… Read more

Nokia has committed another $250 million to its venture funding arm, Nokia Growth Partners, the company announced today.

With that sum, Nokia Growth Partners members will be able to invest in "high potential businesses within the mobile ecosystem." The venture capitalists will focus their efforts in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

China could be an important opportunity for Nokia, so the company has expanded its presence there by appointing former AMD China president David Tang as managing director. Lu Guo, former Keystone Ventures vice president, will act as principal in China.

Nokia's latest fund is its … Read more

A few months after jumping in to the free music streaming sector, Nokia is getting ready to give its Lumia-only service a jump-start with a premium upgrade.

Nokia Music+, an upgrade to the free Mix Radio service that Nokia launched last September, will offer Lumia owners unlimited skips and unlimited downloads, the Finnish handset maker announced in a company blog post today. The service also will offer higher-quality streams, allowing downloads at eight times the existing quality.

The new service will also offer lyrics for users' mobile devices and a Web app for home use.

"Nokia Music is great … Read more

We are just one month away from the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, where the biggest names in the mobile industry will unveil new products.

We're having a difficult time containing our anticipation, especially since CES offered relatively few smartphone announcements. Year by year as the mobile industry grows, so to does the scope and importance of Mobile World Congress.

So what are our CNET editors expecting to see when they touch down in Barcelona next month? Well, I quizzed Senior editors Jessica Dolcourt and Brian Bennett on their predictions and used them as the basis of … Read more

Nokia is readying a flagship smartphone for Verizon Wireless, a new report claims.

Verizon is planning to carry the Lumia handset later this year, The Verge is reporting today, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the company's plans. That device, codenamed Laser, will "be a variant" of Nokia's Lumia 920, but it's not clear what sort of features the handset will have.

According to The Verge, Nokia's device will be put on the same playing field as Verizon's other flagship devices, including the iPhone.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop hinted at a … Read more

A record 700 million smartphones shipped last year, with Samsung and Apple together accounting for half the market, according to new research released today.

While global smartphone shipments increased 490.5 million units over 2011, the 43 percent growth rate slowed in comparison to 2011's growth rate of 64 percent over 2010, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. The research blamed saturation in North America and Western Europe for the slower growth.

"Large marketing budgets, extensive distribution channels, and attractive product portfolios have enabled Samsung and Apple to tighten their grip on the smartphone industry," the market … Read more