Always interesting to see the latest figures coming out, this time from Gartner for Q1 2009. Nokia's market share in the smartphone world had fallen slightly, to 41%, but they still sold more devices (15 million) than the next four manufacturers put together. The 5800 in particular was pointed out as a success story. Behind Nokia in the stats were RIM with 20% of the market, and Apple at 11% with their iPhone. In terms of smartphone OS, Symbian powered just under 50% of devices sold. Comments welcome!
Hopefully pulling no punches, I've been mulling over all the different form factors seen in the smartphone world in the last half dozen years. Is there a common consensus 'perfect' form factor? No. Could there be one in the future? Yes, I argue in The Quest for the Perfect Form Factor. And, to the point, at least one of 2009's smartphone contenders is achingly close, at least in terms of hardware, to the ideal. This being something of a contentious subject, your comments more than welcome of course!
Many people have noted that the Download! client now gives a message saying that it will be "temporarily unavailable" today, while at the same time the Ovi Store site currently asks for a name and password to access it. Could something be stirring behind the scenes at Ovi Store?
The BBC News website today reported proposals to change EU rules governing consumer rights regarding software guarantees. In amongst the article was a gem of a statement from the Business Software Alliance which represents Microsoft, Apple, IBM and many other software giants: "(Digital content) is contractually licensed to consumers and not sold."
In All About Symbian Insight 70 (AAS Podcast 128) Rafe, Ewan and Steve talk about the recently released Nokia E52, the N96's firmware upgrade to version 20, the newly released Pandemonium and the N97's processor and specifications. Rafe also reports on UI changes proposed for Symbian^4. You can listen to AAS Insight 70 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
In All About Symbian Insight 69 (AAS Podcast 127) Rafe, Ewan and Steve talk about Bobba, operating billing on the Ovi Store, v21 firmware for the Nokia 5800 and the new N-Gage game - Age of Empires III. Rafe then reports back in detail from the Nokia Developer Summit 2009. You can listen to AAS Insight 69 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
So much for the quality stamp of being in
the good 'ol BBC. Their latest Digital Planet podcast, going out worldwide, starts with an scaremongering piece which claims that the only reason why there hasn't been a mobile phone virus pandemic is that there aren't enough Symbian OS-powered phones out there yet. Completely ignoring the fact that the viruses mentioned are ALL for really old phones and OS versions, involve manual, deliberate installation and are aimed at really naive users. The Symbian Foundation's new PR dept would do well to fire a rocket into Gareth Mitchell, Jason Palmer and self-confessed expert Prof Barasbi, who, patently, haven't a clue what they're talking about. Pah.
David Wood, writing on the Symbian Foundation Blog, about reviewing the release plans, has highlighted some details of upcoming Symbian releases. Symbian^2, the equivalent of S60 5th Edition Feature Pack 1, will be functionally complete next week and in devices early next year. Symbian^3, for which the majority of the source code should be available, enhances communication architecture, multimedia and graphics functionality, and should reach devices in the second half of 2010.
Symbian ^4 will see the full integration and optimisation of Qt into the Symbian platform. Further proposals includes the 'Orbit' extension library for Qt (replacing AVKON) and a new 'Direct UI' interaction and navigation logic. Put crudely, this means we will see an evolution of the existing S60/AVKON UI to a new Qt-based 'Orbit' Symbian UI for devices coming out in 2011. Read on for more details.
Nokia's upcoming launch of the Ovi Store in the US will not, apparently, come with carrier billing – the ability to have any purchases added to your phone bill, as opposed to inputting credit card details into the system. To be fair, no other on-device store has this facility in America, so Nokia aren't being unduly penalised in not having this feature. But it does create another step in the process for the end user, and the seamless experience Nokia were planning on isn't quite in place in that territory. Read on for more.
In All About Symbian Insight 68 (AAS Podcast 126) Rafe and Steve talk about the upcoming Ovi Store in relation to Widsets, N-Gage and uploading content, before sharing their recent device purchases. Steve explain why he prefers his device with an Xenon flash and Rafe talks about 3's and Orange's service strategy. You can listen to AAS Insight 68 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Nokia are not confirming the numbers of Comes with Music users, but in the UK at least, analysts Music Ally has come up with a number for active users... 23,000 people. It should be noted that this only represents sales of a specially branded new Series 40 handset (plus the ageing N95 8GB) in the Carphone Warehouse, but with a huge marketing campaign those numbers (which are backed up by the music labels, so it must be in the ballpark) must be seen as a disappointment. Read on for my thoughts.
Apologies to those who already know this, but it was news to me and perhaps to other people too: if you run an internet radio station you can add it to Nokia's online directory of stations for free by visiting this link. The directory is used by Nokia's Internet Radio application currently available on Symbian S60 3rd Edition phones and Maemo internet tablets, and allows people to browse and listen to listed stations on their devices through wi-fi or the phone network. The directory accepts both internet-only stations and internet streams of conventional broadcast radio stations.
How important is the OS in your smartphone? This has always been a strong discussion topic, as David Wood points out on the Symbian Foundation blog, but it's not the only issue around Operating Systems. Should we not be asking how important the perception of your OS is, to help drive the market? If that's the case, then Symbian OS and the Symbian Foundation need to make some hard business decisions in the next year to ensure the public know who they are. Read on for my analysis and suggestions.
In All About Symbian Insight 67 (AAS Podcast 127) we talk about the Nokia's Q1 results - how good/bad are they? We move on to the news that Samsung firmware updates (and a new PC Studio) are on the way, and discuss two Symbian OS topics. You can listen to AAS Insight 67 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
