Nokia outgoing CEO to move into oil business.
How soon before we see this guy holding a 770 on an oil rig?
Mike Cane points to a Business 2.0 interview of Nokia CTO by Om Malik. Pertti Korhonen talks about the current problems of phone usability - keeping the devices simple yet functional:
User experience is really Nokia’s strength, and we are working on that all the time. I think our Series 60 platform is a good example of that simpler, easier interface.
According to Parks Associates survey, users are pretty vocal in pointing out they want few functions, but the ones that are most important to them. Notice how a lot of features, like PC synchronization, Internet browsing and photo capabilities arte actually getting more negative votes than positive.
Russell Beattie got a Sony PSP, but what he has to say is relevant to the 770 market as well, and he mentions 770 as another exciting development in the mobile gadget world. He’s not exactly happy about the $350 price sticker, but here’s what he has to say:
There are tons of opportunities here! Just like when the Wipeout Pure browser hack was first found, people started automating a bunch of household stuff to make the PSP into a sort of universal remote. This is a great idea: Anything with a web front end can now suddenly be “remotely controlled” by this device and others like it. I envision that Web Tablets are going to replace the “laptop on the lap on the couch” and the morning newspaper quickly. It’s just a REALLY convenient way to read the web without the bulk of even a Tablet PC - it’s so light and convenient and quick to pick up and start using. This is soooo key.
All about Symbian:
ARCchart do allow that the porting process would be possible if technically not an easy feat. This rather understates the difficulty involved. The strength of Symbian is and always has been the fact it has been designed as a mobile OS from the beginning of its life. From release 6 onwards it has been designed with mobile telephony at the heart of the OS. As a result the Symbian OS is structured is some fundamentally different ways to other OS’s. Power and performance management are key considerations in design from the kernel upwards. As a result the Symbian OS is the most powerful mobile OS available. It would require fundamental changes in Linux’s core to achieve similar specifications.
The Guardian analyzes some business decisions behind Nokia’s move into the non-phone business, such as 770.
The problem isn’t that Nokia’s not shipping enough phones - it sold 61 million units last quarter, that’s around a third of all new phones around the world - but that the price of phones is coming down. Nokia have intrinsic benefits over their rivals: long-standing domination thanks to durable products with familiar and intuitive interfaces. They’re putting a lot more emphasis on 3G and smartphones these days, in a market where (particularly in developing countries) the demand is for low-cost handsets.
MobileRead says the tutorial for using Plucker on Nokia 770 has been updated.
Look at the picture from PhoneMag, who’s asking what could be the next device that requires a stylus and fits into the N series. The comment here says it’s just another concept phone.
It’s pretty obvious that one can watch television on the Nokia 770 Internet tablet, and if one were to spend $70 on TurboLinux 10F with licensed Windows Media support for Linux, you can get the WMV files to play. However, this one is different. Sharp is making a television set (15′’, so it’s unlikely to be a big hit) that consists of WiFi transmitter and the monitor itself.
The Wireless AQUOS uses Sharp’s SmartLink wireless digital audio video transmission system. The theory is that you connect the transmitter to something like your DVD player, then watch the show from anywhere in the house. The transmitter uses the 2.4 GHz band and operates under the Wi-Fi standard of 802.11 b. The transmitter is about the size of a small VCR and you plug your cable and components into it. Then you can take the monitor for a walk and watch TV.
However, unless Sharp uses an encrypted signal and they’re not willing to talk about the specifics, the beauty of this product is ability to use a WiFi TV signal on any one of your wireless devices, including, of course, Internet tablets. It’s not quite obvious from the Canada.com article whether the wireless transmitter is capable of receiving several television channels simultaneously and broadcasting them on different WiFi channels (without clogging up the home network, if one exists), but ability for each member of the family to watch their own channel on a wireless tablet is pretty impressive.
Interesting quote coming from Nokia leadership regarding company’s future directions:
“The number of new mobile users in fast growing markets continues to rise dramatically and nowhere is the rate of growth more evident than in Africa. By the end of this year, Nokia anticipates Africa will be home to 100 million subscribers and expects the African subscriber base to double to 200 million by 2009. Nokia has been instrumental in propelling the industry towards the goal of 3 billion people connected globally by 2010 because mobility offers so many benefits, such as creating employment, opening new channels of communication for social services and even helping to stimulate economies,” said Juha Pinomaa, Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia.
With MP3 support and cameraphone sales the company is becoming more of a major player in the entertainment industry. Perhaps with the development of IPTV and video-on-demand Nokia is planning something more than Internet tablet? Perhaps a mobile audio-, video- and gaming appliance, which would combine the features of TiVo-to-Go and Tablet PC?
Forbes magazine says Nokia’s strategy impressed Bank of America, who put a price target of $23 on Nokia stock.
Nokia stressed that it was not pursuing the all-inclusive “Swiss Army knife” approach to designing handsets. Instead the company plans to implement six elements into its new products: photography, music, media, connectivity, productivity, and add-on software.