Sulake, best known for their Habbo Hotel online community for PCs, have now launched a new online community for S60 devices called Bobba. It's still in beta testing so there may be some bugs, but you can download the Bobba application free from the Bobba.com website, and there are no charges for using the service either (though of course you may have to pay data charges to your phone network). Bobba is compatible with all S60 3rd Edition and S60 2nd Edition devices, including all N-Gage-compatible phones.
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.
Launched today is The Really Mobile Project. Rising from the ashes of the Mobile Industry Review, the familiar faces of Ben Smith, Dan Lane and James Whatley, joined by Vikki Chowney. They're promising a video-heavy look at the mobile world, mixed in with the usual writing we have come to expect from them.
One of the biggest developers for UIQ, DreamSpring, has followed up its commitment to porting its software to S60 with the announcement of DreamConnect. Think of this as a contact manager on steroids, with with an 'innovative business card layout', plus 'hierarchical categories that let you organise your contacts to accurately reflect your real life relationships'. Sounds interesting - hopefully, given the UIQ heritage, there's a touch version coming for S60 5th Edition.
Symbian World are running an interview piece with Boris Raczynski, founder of Mojo's Studio and the man behind Twittix (reviewed here on AAS). He talks about the Studio, upcoming plans for Symbian OS applications and where he sees Symbian going in the next three years.
There's a nice piece by Chris Meadows here talking about the future for Mobipocket and its previously ubiquitous ebook reader software, now that Amazon have not only bought Mobipocket but are competing against it vigorously with its own Kindle hardware and software. In fact, it's looking increasingly as if Amazon bought Mobipocket simply to put paid to a competitor. Yet there's nothing else decent to fill the vacuum on S60 and Symbian. Read on for some thoughts and links.
Ah yes, the orphan N96, the N95 replacement that was in turn maligned by reviewers and then ignored by Nokia themselves (in terms of firmware updates) - it's been a sorry year for the device and CJ sums things up well here in an illustrated post mortem. With a little love, the N96 could have been so much more, I feel....
Good news for climbers this morning, as Nepal Telecom announce their plans to extend mobile phone coverage to the peak of Mount Everest. Due for completion by the middle of June, climbers will be able to ditch the heavy (and expensive) satellite phones for the latest light and svelte models... assuming they can handle the temperature.
According to a report in the Finnish national daily Helsingin Sanomat, the Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo estimates that the 5800 XpressMusic now accounts for "1 in 5 of all touchscreen phone sales worldwide". This figure was also mentioned in Nokia's Q1 results conference call and was repeated today at Nokia's AGM. It's a pretty good start for S60 5th Edition...
Nokia has launched (via Beta Labs) a new web-based service and Web Runtime widget, entitled Green Explorer, aiming to help you live and travel in more eco-friendly fashion through tie-ins with green organisations and community involvement. See below for some screens, notes and links.
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.
In a move that will surprise absolutely nobody, Nokia's Java-based proto-widget system Widsets is to be closed and the widgets rolled into more generalised form as part of Ovi Store (for both S60 and Series 40 phones). June 1st is given as the Widsets closure date. This move follows similar announcements about Nokia's MOSH file sharing service and (implied) the Download! client on every device.
Nice find by Mike Macias here - FreeTimeBox is a Symbian Signed utility that adds the current time to the E71's menu bar, E71x-style. You can also apparently blacklist certain apps where you don't want the time to appear at this location on the screen, thankfully.
A couple of quick links to desk clock utilities that have cropped up in the last few days: DesignClock offers, time, a background, a calendar and message counts, and works on both S60 3rd Edition and 5th. While Desk Flicker Clock is exactly as it sounds, running on S60 5th Edition only.
Nokia's Ovi team are looking for independent voices to give them direct feedback about what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong with Ovi. With research centres in New York, London and Helsinki, anyone in the USA, UK or Finland can apply to be considered. If picked, Nokia will pay travel to the centre within your country and $100 on top.
