Posts Tagged ‘Nokia’

Nokia is planning to launch its Windows Phone 7 handsets through China Mobile (China’s largest mobile phone carrier). China Mobile accounts for two-third of the country’s total mobile phone user base i.e. over 600 million users.  This looks like a desperate move from the struggling handset maker to support his falling sales and hold off against fierce competition from Android devices and iPhone in China. It is expected that the initial launch will take place later this year and mass shipments will happen in 2012.

Nokia is struggling to hold its position as the top selling handset manufacturer in China with growing sales of Android and Apple’s iPhone devices. According to the financial report for the second quarter, Nokia is experiencing a downward trend in its sales. Nokia’s sales have fallen by 55% in china and 32% globally from the previous quarter. Competition and pricing tactics from the rivals have played a vital role in the downward trend. Further the distributors are also sitting on higher inventory levels for Nokia products, resulting in fewer new purchases.

Nokia is expecting to consolidate its position with the launch of smartphones running Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 operating system. C.K. Lu, an analyst with research firm Gartner said:

Nokia’s strategy is to use Windows Phone to position its smartphones as higher-end devices. But if you want the mass market, you have to drive down the price. I think this Windows Phone 7 will help them, but I don’t think it will have a big effect.

According to Lu, Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 devices are estimated to cost around $300, with main emphasis on the high-end market. However, Android handsets have already reached the low-end market and cost 1,000 yuan (US$157). With Android devices already available in just half the price and Google planning to directly place itself into the handset business with Motorola Mobility, Nokia’s plans to capture the smartphone market looks to be doomed. Only time can tell, lets wait and see.

Feature phones are awfully smart for phones that are not smartphones. The Vodafone 555 Blue with its dedicated Facebook button is a good example. However, we are starting to see the feature phone category getting pushed into a corner by low priced smartphones. A pair of news items this week indicates that Nokia will be using a lower-end version of Microsoft’s Windows Phone for low-priced phones. All Things D’s Ina Fried reported that:

Exclusive: Nokia to Exit Symbian, Low-End Phone Businesses in North Americ

Meanwhile, ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reported that:

Windows Phone ‘Tango’ to be Microsoft’s lower price-point operating system?

One source told Foley that Tango was being designed with Nokia in mind and for lower price point devices. A feature phone priced smartphone running a lower-end (and presumably lower resource requiring) Windows Phone version would fill the feature phone void Nokia will have in the U.S. after they withdraw from that segment of the market.

Nokia S40 mobile phone users can now enjoy a bigger, better version of foursquare, as the location-based mobile app rolled out a new version of its app for that platform.

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Credit: Technet.hu

Nokia’s first Windows Phone: images and video, codenamed ‘Sea Ray’ (Engadget)

Elop and the person who provided a longer demonstration of the Sea Ray did not really say a lot about the device or how Windows Phone “Mango” runs on it. They did talk about:

- 8 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens
- Face recognition in photos
- Enhanced people hub
- Color coded calendar
- Smooth running graphically intensive apps

What we didn’t see or hear was:
- Multitasking apps
- Whether it has a front facing camera
- Nokia’s unique custom features

Does this mean that Nokia will be able to launch the Sea Ray with Windows Phone “Mango” by this fall when we also expect the fifth generation iPhone to be released?

Credit Technet.hu: Exclusive: secret video of the first Windows-based Nokia

No hard release date has been provided for the result of the Microsoft and Nokia Windows Phone partnership. However, many people (including myself) expect some announcement or delivery before the end of the calendar year. Many of us, I believe, also expected the first Nokia Windows Phone device to be based on “Mango” Windows Phone 7.5. Forbes’ Elizabeth Woyke, however, reports that it will be based on a version beyond that: Windows Phone 8.

Nokia To Use ST-Ericsson Chips For Windows Phone 8 Handsets

It could be that Woyke is actually referring to Windows Phone 7.5 since she later writes The first/current wave of Windows Phone devices is called Windows Phone 7 but the next generation of Windows Phones will be known as Windows Phone 8. However, if Nokia’s Windows Phone will be based on a Windows Phone 8, there are a couple of possible interpretations and outcomes.

1. Nokia Windows Phone devices will be based on a release after “Mango” Windows Phone 7.5 and will not be seen until 2012. This is very bad for both Microsoft and Nokia since they both need to reignite their mobile strategies.

2. Nokia Windows Phone devices will be based on a version of Windows Phone that is on a parallel release schedule with Mango but is different enough be called a completely new version. Google did this when they released Android OS 2.3 (Gingerbread) for smartphones and Android OS 3.0 (Honeycomb) for tablets very close in time. This would be good for Nokia since it would let them differntiate their product from other Windows Phone brands. However, it would upset all the other manufacturers who would be perceived to be making smartphones with an older version of the platform. If Microsoft buys Nokia’s mobile division, as rumored, Microsoft may not care about other hardware vendors at that point.

CNN and Nokia announced the rollout of a free international news app, CNN App for Nokia, in the handset maker’s Ovi Store Tuesday.

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Microsoft just bought Skype for $8.5 billion. So, what do they do next? A Russian blogger with a track record of getting well-founded rumors about Nokia is saying that Microsoft will buy Nokia’s mobile division next week for $30 billion.

Rumor: Microsoft To Buy Nokia For $30 Billion (SoftSailor)

Eldar Murtazin: Microsoft will enter negotiations to buy Nokia’s mobile division next week (Engadget)

I initially found this far-fetched and difficult to believe. However, it makes sense given Nokia’s huge worldwide cell phone (including the huge feature phone market) market share and the appearance that Microsoft’s current Windows Phone hardware partners are increasingly focusing on building Android phones and tablets. Microsoft essentially needs to become more like Apple and control the product from start to finish.

Skype is currently Microsoft’s biggest acquistion ever. And, integrating it with the rest of Microsoft will be a huge challenge. The idea of merging a second much larger entity like Nokia’s Mobile Division simultaneously would be an almost impossible task.

Nokia N8

A Visual Guide to AWS

Nokia’s new E7 and N8 phones, however, are pentaband WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access). This means that it supports the five frequencies used for 3G around the world and, presumably, the uplink/downlink pairs in the U.S. that makes the problematic.

Going anywhere with pentaband

As you might guess, both the E7 and N8 will be sold as unlocked devices. Amazon lists the N8 discounted from $549 down to $369 and the E7 has a discounted price of $550 (down from $679).

Nokia ensured that users of its Symbian-powered N8, E7, and C7 series smartphones can stay connected by developing a LinkedIn application for the platform.

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