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).
Pocketgear today announced that it had acquired Handango for an undisclosed sum. Both are well known for their roles as application aggregators and electronic software distributors (ESDs) and run application stores for all the major mobile platforms. Many Symbian developers have used the companies as distribution channels for their software, although recently attention has switched to manufacturer stores such as Sony Ericsson's PlayNow and Nokia's Ovi Store.
Entertainment is a strong brand story for Sony Ericsson. Announced today, Sony Ericsson Creations leverages that brand story, with the goal of transforming the creative entertainment process into a community. A key facilitator in Sony Ericsson’s new community will be applications to enable the citizen entertainer.
Nokia has begun the process of rolling out a series of updates for its Nokia Messaging for Email service. The first update available is for the S60 5th Edition Nokia Messaging client. It is available in the SW Update application and is labelled 'Nokia Messaging 10.2'. Further updates, including an updated client for S60 3rd Edition devices and server side updates will be made available over the next few weeks. Read on for further details.
In All About Symbian Insight 104 (AAS Podcast 168), Rafe and Steve start with a quick look ahead to Mobile World Congress and then round up a number of small news items, including multiple firmware updates (N97 mini, X6, 5730, E52), details of a new version of the Ovi Store client, information on Greystripe and the Ovi Store and the lowdown on 1.4 million Ovi Maps downloads. In the second half of the podcast we discuss the big news that the the open sourcing (EPL) of the Symbian platform (40 million lines of code) has been completed four months ahead of schedule. You can listen to AAS Insight 104 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Nokia has today announced that the new version of Ovi Maps, which was announced on Thursday 21st January, has been downloaded 1.4 million times. The 1 million downloads figure was reached just one week after the launch. The new version of Ovi Maps offers worldwide pedestrian and car navigation, along with other premium features including traffic information, city guides and more, all for free, forever.
Today Greystripe, a mobile advertising network, announced ad network support for Nokia's Ovi Store. Greystripe enables developers to automatically add pre-load and exit 'screen' rich media adverts to their games applications via a self-service web portal. This should result in an increased number of ad-supported (free) games and applications in the Ovi Store. Additionally Greystripe is migrating 1,200 Gamejump.com Java titles into Ovi Store.
In All About Symbian Insight 103 (AAS Podcast 167), the team start with news of Nokia's Q4 results, which saw an encouraging 5% upswing in smartphone market share (QoQ). We then discuss the Apple iPad news, which leads into a discussion of the importance of service ecosystems. Finally there's news of Skyfire and listener questions on advertising subsidies and dual boot devices. You can listen to AAS Insight 103 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
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.
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.
Ovi Prime Places, a free service which allows businesses to add their details and meta data to Ovi Maps, has been quietly launched by Nokia. Ovi Prime Places should help improve Ovi Maps PoI (point of interest) database and related location / place search. For businesses it is an opportunity to reach 'users on millions of devices'. Read on for further details.
Nokia Music (PC Client), Nokia's software for managing and transferring music to Nokia devices, has been renamed Nokia Ovi Player. With the name change comes a small update: there's official support for Windows 7 and the addition of 'Recent' to the navigation/filter tabs (joining the existing Albums, Artists and Genre tabs). Nokia Ovi Player is a relatively resource hungry application, but it does offer a one-stop-solution for managing, buying (from the Nokia Music Store), and importing (burning from CD) music as well as transferring music to MTP compatible mobile devices.
EyeMags, a service for generating personal content applications for mobile phones, has today added support for S60 5th Edition phones such as the Nokia 5800, Nokia N97 and Sony Ericsson Satio. EyeMags, using a web-based creator, allows anyone to create their own cross platform (JME, iPhone and Symbian) 'snackable' mobile content application containing a mixture of text and pictures. Read on for further details.
Nokia is continuing to evolve the desktop version of its Ovi Maps service: the latest 'release' sees the ability to add 'Good Things' (user generated Points of Interest - PoIs) to the map. The functionality is aimed at allowing you to share interesting locations with the world, be it the location of your favourite coffee shop of the venue for an upcoming gig. In order to see and to add your own Good Things you will need to upgrade to the latest version of the Ovi Maps browser plug-in (via Symbian-Guru). Read on for more.
