We live in interesting times. Nokia and Symbian (in particular) are regularly savaged in the tech press, yet managed to turn in (on Thursday) a surprisingly positive set of results, with over a billion Euros profit in Q4 2009 and with their smartphone market share up (not down, as the analysts would have you believe) 5%, worldwide. Read on for my thoughts on how Nokia has managed this particular feat and on why Symbian's market share is also not going away anytime soon - it's all a question of RANGE.
Standing up in front of the world’s press, or quietly letting the numbers be published and just nudging people to draw their own conclusions? In their own ways, both Apple and Nokia this week laid claim to be the “the biggest company in mobile devices.” Steve took the stage, and Olli-Pekka left it to the annual results. And they were both right. Read on.
Nokia has released their Q4 2009 results, reporting an operating profit of EUR 1.141 billion, with net sales EUR 12 billion (down 5% YoY). Nokia's device and service division's profits were EUR 1.14 billion, up 130% year on year. Margins in devices and services were 14.9% (up 5.5% YoY and 3.5% QoQ). Converged devices sales (smartphone) were 20.8 million, compared with 15.1 million units in Q4 2008 and 16.4 million units in Q3 2009. As such, worldwide converged device ('smartphone') marketshare increased from 35% to 40% sequentially.
Coming on the eve of Apple's big tablet release and Nokia's Q4 09 results announcement, IDC gathered all their numbers, analysts and (ahem) runes and produced a forecast for the smartphone market in 2013. Unusually, for an American data analysis firm, there's surprising understanding of the worldwide scene, with the headline stat being that the smartphone market will exceed 390 million units per year by 2013, with Symbian holding on to its world marketshare lead over the next three years. Quotes from the IDC press release and my own predictions below.
In All About Symbian Insight 102 (AAS Podcast 166), the team start with news of Sony Ericsson's Vivaz and its continuous focus HD video capture capabilities. We move on to an in-depth discussion of Nokia's Ovi Maps announcement last week. The final item in this weeks podcast is a quick mention for the new beta version of Ovi Suite. You can listen to AAS Insight 102 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Ewan takes a sideways look at the addition of Lifecasting to Ovi Maps this morning - what implications are there for bringing this social element into a mapping and navigation product? And what challenges remain in this area for Nokia? How will this release change the world? Read on in his Lifecasting editorial.
Nokia today announced that it is releasing a new version of Ovi Maps with free walk (pedestrian) and driving (car) turn-by-turn, voice guided navigation functionality. Ovi Maps has global coverage, with 74 countries covered by its navigation services. Maps for all regions will be available, for free, for loading over the air or pre-loading via a desktop computer. Traffic information and city guides, from Lonely Planet and Michelin, will also be made available at no extra cost. There's an initial set of devices, in terms of availability, with more compatible devices to follow. See below.
This is an industry-shifting move; Nokia is essentially changing the economics of the consumer GPS navigation market overnight. It will give its phones a significant differentiator on shop shelves and has long term strategic implications for the future of location services. Read on for further details and analysis.
When launched in early 2009, the Samsung i8910 HD (a.k.a. Omnia HD in some markets) had eye-watering specifications, certainly ahead of anything else in the Symbian world and, arguably, ahead of anything in the world in general. Bit by bit the wider market is embracing the same technology though, with Google's new Nexus One offering an almost identical specification and form factor. Which can only mean one thing: - time to get them both in-house, photographed and tested, head to head.
In All About Symbian Insight 101 (AAS Podcast 165), we round up the weeks news including updates to Ovi Suite, Samsung's 32 GB microSD card announcement, firmware updates for the 5800, N86, E72 and E75 and the release of Betalab's Gig Finder. We also discuss the UI concept proposal from Nokia for Symbian^4, before Ewan gives us some concluding thoughts on the X6. You can listen to AAS Insight 101 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
In another of my periodic hardware head-to-heads, I pitch a variety of full-screen, full-qwerty hybrid smartphones against each other, ranging from the 3 year old Nokia E90, still supported but hard to find for sale now, through to the N97 mini, the HTC Touch Pro 2 and the spanking new Motorola Milestone. Which devices punch the heaviest when the rubber really hits the road?
I want to take a little break away from the major Nokia X6 review I'm doing just now to directly address one of the issues that I'm seeing in the comments both of the X6 review and in other products that are reviewed both here on AAS and on other tech sites: the use of third party software to compensate for a manufacturer's omissions.
In All About Symbian Insight 100 (AAS Podcast 164), we first look back at the decade just gone and consider how far we've come, before looking ahead to what will happen in the next decade. Steve brings news of an i8910 firmware update, Ovi Maps Racing and more and the teams answer questions relating to N97 Exchange support and briefly discuss what to expect at MWC You can listen to AAS Insight 100 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
A snow-bound look around the phone world at what's popular and what's hot - and my annoyance that yet again Form is leading Function (e.g. "I just want something that's pretty and with a touchscreen"). Mind you, I'm a self-confessed geek and I don't have any clothes sense, so what do I know? Read on for a Steve rant...
