Nokia has released its Q4 2010 results, reporting an operating profit of €884 million (down 23% Year-on-Year), with net sales of €12.65 billion (up 6% YoY). Nokia's device and service division's profits were €1090 million, up 10% from Q3. Margins in devices and services were 11.3% (down 4.1% YoY and up 0.9% QoQ).
Nokia sold more than 5 million Symbian^3 devices. Total converged devices sales (mainly Symbian-powered smartphones) were up, at 28.3 million, compared with 20.8 million units in Q3 2009 (up 36% YoY) and compared with 26.5 million units in Q3 2010 (up 7%, QoQ). Worldwide smartphone market share was 31%, down 6% sequentially and 9% year on year, due to the overall smartphone market growth, estimated up by a huge 63% YoY. [Post updated with extra charts and quotes]
O2 has launched "O2 WiFi", offering free WiFi to anyone, whether or not they are an O2 customer. O2 now takes the view that the service can be better paid for by advertising on the hotspot landing pages rather than getting revenue from specific subscribers. In Q1, 2011, O2 is rolling out 450 free hotspots and by 2013 they 'aim to have approximately 15,000 hotspots'.
Gizmodo, famously, refused to even review the Nokia N8 because it was so 'irrelevant'. Thankfully, most other sites actually have brains behind them and are prepared to put in a little work. Fellow USA-based, and renowned, tech site AnandTech has put together a wonderfully comprehensive eight-part review of the N8, complete with multiple tables and galleries. And comes out the other end recommending the N8, with the usual caveats about needing the imminent browser (etc) update.
Nokia's Social application for Symbian^3 phones (Nokia N8, C6-01 and C7) has been given a big update, to version 1.3. The new version has improved Contacts application integration (status updates in Contacts Cards), improved share capabilities (max image size increased to 4MB, uploaded at full resolution, and ability to add an optional caption) and a retweet option has been added to the Twitter module. Much more detail below.
Our very own Rafe Blandford joined Tim Salmon and I (about 25 minutes into the 80 minute show) yesterday to record Phones Show Chat 72, worth a listen if you'd like to hear Rafe talking about not just Symbian, but all platforms and all phone tech. There's plenty of Symbian content in Phones Show 130 too, released this morning - skip over the Dell Streak review and you'll get a peek at my 'gear', plus a short spot about the 'gone but not forgotten' Nokia 7710 - remember that?
Nokia Reader, a simple RSS reader, was released today on Nokia Beta Labs as an experimental prototype. The application features push notifications (making use of Nokia's new notification service API), a content directory and homescreen widget integration. It provides a clean and efficient way to consume and be notified of updates to your favourite feeds while on the move. The application is available for most S60 5th Edition and Symbian^3 phones.
Mobile Roadie is coming to Nokia, announced their CEO Michael Schneider at the recent MIDEM conference (reports Mobile Entertainment). If you’ve not come across their apps on iOS, Android and Blackberry, then you won’t have seen one of the music industry’s quiet successes. Providing a turn-key environment for groups, bands and performers to create their own applications, Mobile Roadie has helped 1,500 applications reach smartphones around the world. Now the biggest platform, target-wise, beckons them.
Nokia have released a set of fourteen support videos, embedded below, to show users how to get the most out of their Nokia C6-01. Ranging from basic things like how to use the buttons and touchscreen, to more sophisticated topics like planning a road trip and editing photos. This is a great resource for anyone new to Symbian^3. While the video titles are aimed at the C6-01, these instructions apply to any Symbian^3 handset. Click through to view our indexed list of videos. Thanks to Clinton Jeff at ZOMGITSCJ for spotting these.
What happens when you hand Aardman Animations, the Oscar winning company behind Wallace and Gromit (and other childhood delights like Morph and Creature Comforts), a Nokia N8? The HD Camera is attractive for a lot of reasons, and I think the Bristol based team have found another one with a fantastic piece of art. Called Nokia 'Dot' this is far away from "making a phone call" but still a wonderful achievement.
There's an interesting article over on The Wall Street Journal trying to explain why Angry Birds has been such an amazing hit in the gaming world. Their thesis looks at the idea that we humans are hard wired to enjoy solving parabolas, the trajectories made by something propelled against the influence of gravity. Video games have long exploited our bias for ballistics; for example, look back at the hit series of PC games, "Worms". Read on for quotes and comments.
In late December an updated version, 1.08 (206), of the Ovi Store client for S60 5th Edition phones was made available. This version should now be available in all markets. To encourage users to upgrade Nokia is offering a number of free gifts when you upgrade. These gifts include free copies of Shazam Encore (music recognition) and Doodle Jump (platform game).
Nokia's DAB radio headset, for Symbian^3 phones (Nokia N8, C7, C6-01 and E7), is now available in the UK for £45. The headset, which uses Symbian^3's USB OTG technology and therefore plugs into the microUSB/Micro-AB port, allows you to listen to and control, via companion software, DAB radio. The UK is one of the leading DAB markets with more than 250 different stations spread over the country. Sales of DAB radio units now outnumber those of FM radio units, thanks, in part, to government subsidies. Around 25% of radio listening in the UK is via DAB.
Nokia today announced the release of the Qt 1.1 SDK Technology Preview. The new SDK, based on Qt 4.7, is a merge of the Nokia Qt SDK 1.0 and the previous Qt SDK. The release gives developers an early opportunity to familiarise themselves with the next version of the SDK. A key theme of the release is to allow developers to easily get started with Qt Quick development on Symbian, Maemo 5 and the desktop. The new SDK also makes it easier for Symbian developers to use native APIs in their code.
The Nokia C5-03, launched back in October 2010, is now available from the Nokia Online Shop, priced at £189 SIM-free. The C5-03 is billed as "a stylish and affordable 3G touch smartphone" and has the usual Ovi Maps/navigation, Nokia Email and comes bundled with a range of extras, including Doodle Jump, Shazam Encore, ESPN and Real Football Mini Edition, so should get new smartphone users off to a good start. More below.
As part of the current North American Calling All Innovators competition, Nokia have published 18 training videos for developing in the Qt framework. Due to high demand for entrants to the competition, Nokia (partnered by AT&T) have extended their deadline for entry to the 31st of March 2011. There are many prizes up for grabs, ranging from a top prize of $250K (US) with $2M in marketing for the winning applications, to a wide range of smaller cash prizes, and there are also 500 Nokia phones up for grabs too. Entrants are asked to develop their applications in Qt for the N8, and to that end, the previously mentioned training videos are available to help developers get started.
