All About Symbian - News Headlines

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HP set to acquire Palm in $1.2 billion deal

While outside the Symbian world, the news that the returning warhorse of Palm has been bought by HP could be good news for the industry as a whole. The merger values Palm at $5.70 per share, which works out to be around $1.2 billion. There’s been a huge amount of chatter online as to a suitor for Palm, with HTC, Lenovo or even Research in Motion, but the HP name is a bit out of left field. But there does seem to be some sense in this move.

# Posted by Ewan in Links of Interest, Industry at 23:05 BST, Apr 28th || 14 Comments

AAS Insight 115 - Nokia C5-01 and X5 and Nokia Q1 2010

In All About Symbian Insight 115 Ewan, Steve and Rafe share their thoughts on the China bound Nokia C5-01 and Nokia X5 (TD-SCDMA handsets for China Mobile). We also take a detailed look at Nokia's Q1 2010 financial results with discussion of Nokia's Symbian^3 plans. Finally we cover Offscreen's 25 million Ovi Store downloads. You can listen to AAS Insight 115 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.

# Posted by Rafe in Software, Hardware, Developer, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 7:09 BST, Apr 26th || 8 Comments

Ultra-low-power Bluetooth on the way

The Bluetooth SIG has announced that the 'much anticipated' v4.0 update to the Bluetooth protocol (incorporating the Bluetooth low energy technology pioneered by Nokia in Wibree) will be finalized and sent to manufacturers by the end of June. Bluetooth 4.0 could theoretically be powered for years by a coin-celled battery, has faster transfer rates, and has an increased range that can extend up to 200 feet and beyond (at higher power, obviously). Bluetooth v4.0-enabled devices should come on sale around the end of 2010.

# Posted by Steve in Links of Interest, Industry at 18:12 BST, Apr 25th || 8 Comments

Nokia Q1 2010 results, smartphone growth with cautious outlook

Nokia has released their Q1 2010 results, reporting an operating profit of €488 million, with net sales €9.5 billion (up 3% YoY). Nokia's device and service division's profits were €831 million, up 52% year on year. Margins in devices and services were 12.1% (up 1.3% YoY and down 5% QoQ). Converged devices sales (smartphones) were 21.5 million, compared with 13.7 million units in Q1 2001 (up 57% YoY) and 20.1 million units in Q4 2009 (up 3%). As such, worldwide smartphone marketshare was 41%, up 1% sequentially and 3% year on year. Full story and comments below.

# Posted by Rafe in Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 12:27 BST, Apr 22nd || 43 Comments

You don’t want to do that with our OS

What if the Symbian handset manufacturers followed the lead of Microsoft? Slashgear picks up on a Windows 7 architecture guide that gives [proposed] information on what customisations hardware manufacturers and networks can add to the new range of Windows Phone 7 phones. In short, not a lot. Which got me thinking about why the open principles of the Symbian Foundation are in opposition to this rush for conformity.

# Posted by Ewan in Software, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 11:31 BST, Apr 20th || 10 Comments

Why size matters

No, not a cheap attempt at Google search traffic on male enhancements, but another serious look at the ever changing, ever growing statistic that is phone screen size. Steve Litchfield looks at devices and use cases past and present, from Psion Series 5 to Apple Newton to Dell Axim to Nokia 7710 and through to the Samsung i8910 HD in the current day. Initially cautious over whether phones might get too big, Steve points out that a 4" display is more a 1995 phenomenon than a 2010 one....

# Posted by Steve in Hardware, Miscellaneous, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 7:33 BST, Apr 20th || 20 Comments

AAS Insight 114 - Nokia E5 and C6, Sports Tracker and more

In All About Symbian Insight 114 Ewan, Steve and Rafe share their thoughts on Nokia's announcement of the Nokia C6 and Nokia E6. We also shares news of Sony Ericsson's Q1 2010 results, the renewal of Sports Tracker, firmware updates for various phones and Numo Solution's Ovi Store success. You can listen to AAS Insight 114 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.

# Posted by Rafe in Software, Hardware, Miscellaneous, Industry, Editorial Thoughts, Services at 15:54 BST, Apr 19th || 10 Comments

Sony Ericsson reports Q1 2010 profit

On Friday Sony Ericcsson announced its Q1 2010 results, which saw the company reports its first profitable quarter since Q2 2008. While sales fell 19%, to €1.4 billion, the average selling price increased to €134 (from €120 a year ago). Bert Nordberg, President of Sony Ericsson, highlighted the positive impact of the company's cost cutting program and the launches of the Symbian powered Vivaz and Android powered Xperia X10.

# Posted by Rafe in Links of Interest, Industry at 13:00 BST, Apr 19th || 3 Comments

Go green to win a 5630 with Nokia

Nokia are pushing their green ambitions again, and this time are looking to the public for ideas that can help the environment and be used in the mobile world. Come up with the best mobile eco idea, and you could win an example of eco-mobile in the form of a Nokia 5630 XpressMusic device.

# Posted by Ewan in Links of Interest, Industry at 11:31 BST, Apr 16th || 12 Comments

Unlimited calls, texts and data from Giffgaff

The UK virtual network Giffgaff (who we’ve written about previously) has announced the prices of the various bundles to go along with the Pay as you Go standard networks. Alongside that they’ve declared that unlimited really is unlimited… as long as it’s for personal use and you don’t tether the mobile to a deskbound computer.

# Posted by Ewan in Links of Interest, Industry at 14:23 BST, Apr 15th || 9 Comments

Symbian platform leads mobile ad performance charts

With the same caveats as always, mobile advertising company Smaato have released numbers on their mobile advertising platform that show Symbian leading the click through rates of the leading mobile operating systems, and performing well above the average rate.

# Posted by Ewan in Links of Interest, Developer, Industry at 10:42 BST, Apr 15th || 4 Comments

Nokia strike a blow for reasonably priced smartphones

David Gilson looks at Nokia's new C6 and E5 smartphones in the light of the models they either replace or will be compared to. What's outstanding is, naturally enough, the prices, though David goes into significant technical detail in justifying the comparisons and conclusion.

# Posted by Steve in Hardware, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 16:26 BST, Apr 14th || 40 Comments

It's raining QWERTYs - market zeitgeist

In an editorial double header from Steve and Ewan, we put today's C3, C6 and E5 announcements in their context. Steve explains how they fit into the rising trend of QWERTY-phillia and also set new pricing ground. Ewan argues that today's announcement makes a 'strong statement of how Nokia read the market for people communicating on the move' and how the messaging emphasis underlines the trend that 'you don't just buy the phone, you buy a solution'. Read on for the full editorials.

# Posted by Steve in Hardware, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 14:35 BST, Apr 13th || 21 Comments

Nokia acquires MetaCarta

Last Friday, Nokia announced that it had acquired MetaCarta Inc, a privately owned firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which specialises in 'geographic intelligence solutions'. MetaCarta is best known for its geosearch and geotagging products (e.g. NewsMap, which allows publishers to automatically created a map tagged with their news stories) and has partnerships with a number of leading technology firms. MetaCarta's technology will help Nokia improve its social location services, such as local search.

# Posted by Rafe in Software, Industry, Services at 14:15 BST, Apr 12th || 1 Comment

The future of the (mobile) operating system

Our very own Rafe is the author of a thought provoking editorial today over on Nokia Conversations, musing over the future of the (mobile) operating system and covering intelligence, location awareness and social nature. Comments welcome if you think he is, or isn't, on the right track!

# Posted by Steve in Links of Interest, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 19:04 BST, Apr 8th || 3 Comments

Nokia's Comes with Music launches DRM-free in China

Nokia has announced the launch of Comes with Music, its unlimited music service, for China. The service, which will be DRM-free, will be available across eight Nokia devices with a starting price point of €140 (£123 / $187). The cost of music is bundled into the price of the device; subsequently, users can download as much music as they like, with no additional charges, for the duration of the Comes with Music subscription (usually 12 months).

# Posted by Rafe in Industry, Editorial Thoughts, Services at 7:01 BST, Apr 8th || 11 Comments

comScore data shows smartphone situation in Europe

comScore have recently published a couple of press releases which contain interesting statistics about smartphone market penetration and mobile platform market share. For example, people are twice as likely to buy a smartphone in Italy than they are in Germany. Symbian's strong position in Europe is shown by market share figures of 47%, 55% and 74% in the UK, Germany and Spain respectively. The figures provide a contrast to the frequently reported US market share figures and demonstrate the degree of regional differentiation.

# Posted by Rafe in Developer, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 14:48 BST, Apr 1st || 24 Comments

Answering those Admob stats - more to smartphones than RIM and iPhone

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In which case it would be helpful if, sometimes, Tomi Ahonen actually did a few diagrams, to keep general article length down(!) His latest missive, "Repeat After Me: The Rival to the Blackberry is NOT the iPhone" is still well worth a read though, aimed at putting some much needed perspective into the tech world's obsession over each month's rather misleading Admob phone-browser-ad stats.

# Posted by Steve in Links of Interest, Industry at 14:37 BST, Apr 1st || 6 Comments

Real life: Not your run of the mill, every day April Fools Story

It's all very well making up ridiculous, improbable stories to accompany April 1st each year, but what of the real stories that have surprised us in the past, any of which might well have made a decent April Fools story in their own right? Below, Ewan and I list a number of contenders. You won't be an April Fool for reading!

# Posted by Ewan, Steve in Miscellaneous, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 10:12 BST, Apr 1st || 11 Comments

Ian Hutton on the Symbian Foundation's roadmap

In our latest video Ian Hutton (Technology Management at the Symbian Foundation and chair of the Feature and Roadmap Council) explains how the Symbian Foundation's roadmap is put together. We learn about how its community driven nature is directed and driven through external package owners and internal technology managers. Ian also talks us through some of the big themes for the next few releases of the Symbian platform including improvements to the user, developer and device manufacturer experiences. Watched as a whole it is also a great introduction to how Symbian is seeking to shape the future of mobile.

# Posted by Rafe in Software, Miscellaneous, Developer, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 14:14 BST, Mar 31st || 3 Comments