In All About Symbian Insight podcast no. 112, Ewan returns with a bang and, together with Steve and Rafe, brings you up to date with developments in the Symbian world. We start with news of the WordPress Symbian client, the beta release of Nokia Bots and the recent upgrades to Nokia's Ovi Store. In the second half of the podcast there are hardware thoughts on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz (Steve) and Nokia 5230 (Ewan). You can listen to AAS Insight 112 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
What can the networks do to promote third party applications (asks James Parton at Vision Mobile)? This is a well argued editorial, as Parton looks at the rise of the manufacturer’s application stores – but he reckons the stores are full of ‘dumb’ applications, labelling them 1.0, with no context of their user, location or environment. And that’s where the mobile phone networks need to act as enablers.
If you thought my text reviewsof the Vivazhereon AAS were a little generous to Sony Ericsson, then you might appreciate my Phones Show 107 review of the phone, where - maybe - it's possible I got out of bed on the wrong side that morning. Or maybe the Vivaz really is that flawed... There's also your Desert Island Smartphone (poll) results. Enjoy.
If, like me, you'd like to see the Symbian freeware scene grow and grow, why not take a look at this appeal over on the Symbian Foundation blog? Craig is trying to amass votes so that the idea of a freeware test system can get progressed within the organisation - take a look and add your tuppence worth if you agree that it's a good idea!
comScore have recently published a coupleof press releases which contain interesting statistics about smartphone market penetration and mobile platform market share. For example, people are twice as likely to buy a smartphone in Italy than they are in Germany. Symbian's strong position in Europe is shown by market share figures of 47%, 55% and 74% in the UK, Germany and Spain respectively. The figures provide a contrast to the frequently reported US market share figures and demonstrate the degree of regional differentiation.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In which case it would be helpful if, sometimes, Tomi Ahonen actually did a few diagrams, to keep general article length down(!) His latest missive, "Repeat After Me: The Rival to the Blackberry is NOT the iPhone" is still well worth a read though, aimed at putting some much needed perspective into the tech world's obsession over each month's rather misleading Admob phone-browser-ad stats.
It's all very well making up ridiculous, improbable stories to accompany April 1st each year, but what of the real stories that have surprised us in the past, any of which might well have made a decent April Fools story in their own right? Below, Ewan and I list a number of contenders. You won't be an April Fool for reading!
Furtiv, the Share Online plugin maker, recently passed its 100,000th download on the Ovi Store, and has announced the end of its beta stage. Users who installed plugins from Furtiv's mobile site over a month ago are advised to upgrade. More below...
In our latest video Ian Hutton (Technology Management at the Symbian Foundation and chair of the Feature and Roadmap Council) explains how the Symbian Foundation's roadmap is put together. We learn about how its community driven nature is directed and driven through external package owners and internal technology managers. Ian also talks us through some of the big themes for the next few releases of the Symbian platform including improvements to the user, developer and device manufacturer experiences. Watched as a whole it is also a great introduction to how Symbian is seeking to shape the future of mobile.
In All About Symbian Insight 111 (AAS Podcast 175), Rafe and Steve talk about the outstanding value provided by the Nokia 5230 (highlighting T-Mobile's recent offer). We also look at Mobile Documents, with an emphasis on its file streaming technology, as well as Shazam's 1 million downloads from Ovi Store, the Nokia 6788i and MM-Ovi Store before considering some listener questions. You can listen to AAS Insight 111 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Nokia have tweaked the Ovi Store with some changes that should prove popular to most users; clearer information about the content you are browsing, more stars when rating applications, and review devices noted. Read on for more about these changes, including screens and info on a new Ovi Store client.
“Show me the money” is a common refrain when looking at a business, and mobile is no different. Google already reckon the money is in advertising on mobile, hence their move to acquire AdMob (which is currently being scrutinised by competition agencies in the US), and Apple are expected to launch their own product for the iPhone and iPad early in May (see MediaPost for one of many pieces of speculation). So why is mobile advertising so important to the mobile eco-system? Read on for my analysis.
Opera have published their monthly look at the mobile web, which even though it has a focus on the Norwegian browser company, is a nice snapshot of growth, both their own and that of the mobile web. From their 50.5 million users, the top countries for Opera Mini, their java based browser, were Russia, Indonesia, India and China.
