Last Friday, Nokia announced that it had acquired MetaCarta Inc, a privately owned firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which specialises in 'geographic intelligence solutions'. MetaCarta is best known for its geosearch and geotagging products (e.g. NewsMap, which allows publishers to automatically created a map tagged with their news stories) and has partnerships with a number of leading technology firms. MetaCarta's technology will help Nokia improve its social location services, such as local search.
Nokia has announced the launch of Comes with Music, its unlimited music service, for China. The service, which will be DRM-free, will be available across eight Nokia devices with a starting price point of €140 (£123 / $187). The cost of music is bundled into the price of the device; subsequently, users can download as much music as they like, with no additional charges, for the duration of the Comes with Music subscription (usually 12 months).
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.
Nokia and China Mobile recently announced MM-Ovi Store, a combination of the companies respective application stores. MM-Ovi Store will be pre-installed on Nokia's China Mobile handsets and enables access to a diverse range of mobile applications and games.
At the same time Nokia also unveiled the Nokia 6788i, an updated version of the Nokia 6788, which runs S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 on Symbian and features TD-SCDMA connectivity, a five megapixel camera, 4GB of internal memory and integrated GPS. The 6788i, which will arrive in April, will be the first phone with MM-Ovi Store pre-loaded.
Two years ago the Nokia N95 8GB was on top of the world, the N96 was the newest offshoot, the E61i was the best bet for the common man in the business world, and their 2.8" screens were deemed massive. And, the oddity of the E90 notwithstanding, we were happy. Weren't we? These phones did all we asked them to and the the world was good. And yet, less than 24 months later we find the smartphone world dominated by 4" screened, touch-only devices that bear little resemblance to the champions of 2008. Is it all the iPhone's fault, or is there more to the change? And where do smartphones go from here?
Shazam announced today that its music recognition application has been downloaded by over one million Nokia users from the Ovi Store since its launch in August last year. The Shazam app has been downloaded in more than 200 different markets onto over 40 different handsets. Read on for further details, a video interview and a demo with Shazam's Iain Dendle at MWC 2010, together with some additional App Store commentary.
In All About Symbian Insight 110 (AAS Podcast 174), Rafe and Steve share news of the arrival of Ovi Map's free navigation on the N86, and the release of the Silverlight for Symbian Beta. Steve tells us about a community firmware release for the Samsung i8910 and introduces a discussion on the death of Wayfinder; Rafe talks about Navteq True (next generation digital mapping data collection) and shares some initial thoughts on Windows Phone 7 Series. You can listen to AAS Insight 110 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Navteq, at Mobile World Congress 2010, showed off their new mapping collection system called Navteq True. The system, which is placed on top of a vehicle, combines a LIDAR system, multiple panoramic cameras, and positioning (GPS and IMU) sensors. Navteq is part of Nokia and its digital mapping products underlie numerous location products and services, including Ovi Maps. In this video we get a closer look at the system, see some of the data it collects and find out what implications it has for digital maps.
Our latest MWC video is a tour around the Qt stand, looking at some of the Qt-enabled devices - from phones to printers and appliances. Mobile developers and users have been hearing more and more about Qt in the last 18 months. It is the future application framework for both Symbian and MeeGo (Nokia's two open platforms going forward). However, as this video demonstrates, Qt is already a well established technology and the 'Qt everywhere' slogan has already been realised.
In All About Symbian Insight 109 (AAS Podcast 173), Rafe and Steve start off with a Sony Ericsson theme - they talk about the recent Satio firmware upgrade and some first impression views on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz. Steve then reports back on the latest release of YouTube for Symbian, Rafe shares news of Qt 4.7's preview release and the podcast concludes with a discussion of Ovi Maps' new pricing on older devices. You can listen to AAS Insight 109 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Nokia is currently transforming itself from a hardware company to a hardware+services (solutions) company. At MWC 2010, we spoke to Tero Ojanperä, EVP of Services, in order to get an insight into current progress. Over a wide-ranging interview we cover a number of topics around Nokia's service strategy including how Ovi fits into Nokia's software platform strategy, the thought processes that led to free navigation, the importance of services compared to phone hardware, getting content onto the Ovi Store, the importance of partners and much more.
In this interview, recorded in Barcelona at MWC 2010, we talk to Christof Hellmis, Director Navigation & Routing Solutions at Nokia, about Ovi Maps and Nokia's location strategy. It is clear that location has an enormously important role to play as a key enabler in the future of mobile - and this piece will give you an insight to Nokia's viewpoints and attitudes. We cover the story behind the recent release of the Ovi Maps 3.3 with free navigation, potential future improvements to Ovi Maps, the Ovi Developer SDK, future directions and much more.
Alpine Electronics today announced a strategic partnership with Nokia and Navteq to bring a new car integration technology called 'Terminal mode' to car 'infotainment' systems. It integrates Nokia smartphones with in-car systems allowing, not only the usual call functions, but also the use of smartphone-based services (e.g. Ovi Maps navigation) and content (e.g. music) via the high resolution screens and audio systems embedded in the car. The integration also offers the opportunity for automotive-specific widgets on the phone, including fuel levels and engine status.
In All About Symbian Insight 107 (AAS Podcast 171), Rafe, Ewan and Steve chat about some the information from the Anssi Vanjoki interview. We respond to some of the questions around what Nokia could have done, the implications of device families, and the awareness of the issue. Steve then reports back on Ovi Maps 3.4, before we finish with a discussion of how Nokia is like Batman (thanks Ewan). You can listen to AAS Insight 107 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
In part 3 of our MWC interview with Anssi Vanjoki, EVP of Markets at Nokia, we discuss the future. How "for the great masses of the world, the first computer they will have will be an extension of the phone based on Symbian". How MeeGo's rich contextual crossing of the real and virtual world will use a map-based user interface and will create "the possibility for people to live in the media."
In the second half, we hear about the three "buckets" (types) of competitors, the importance of open standards and ecoystems, and a three-fold answer to how we should judge Nokia's future business performance (KPIs).
