Who is Ewan? | About | Advertise | Contact | Services | Newsletter | Feeds | Shop | All Categories

Posts Tagged ‘nokia’

« Older Entries

Nokia’s Maemo: 43% of mobile developers in favour

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

maemo

So it’s time for today’s survey item and I’m taking a break from Vodafone 360 — this time we’re looking at Maemo.  If you recall, we’ve been running a mobile developer sentiment survey as part of the report we’re writing for an investment bank.   The survey is aimed at measuring sentiment, nothing more. (And the sample size is 500 — I forgot to mention that in yesterday’s Vodafone post).

To the question, then.

I asked the developers to complete my sentence, thus:

Nokia’s Maemo is…

The choices I gave:

- very exciting
- irrelevant to me as a developer
- the last gasp from Finland

Remember, we wanted to measure sentiment — back of the pub commentary, if you like — which explains the series of choices I’ve provided.

A reasonable 44% reckoned that Maemo is ‘very exciting‘.  I agree with that. Provided they can get a good amount of developer attention, I think the device (and the platform) — with a fair wind — could eek out a nice percentage of the marketplace.

27% of respondents had next to no opinion of the platform, labelling it ‘irrelevant to me as a developer‘.  I can understand that if you’re exclusively an iPhone Developer, with no plans to branch out to Maemo any time soon, you’d probably select this.

Finally, just under 30% declared Maemo the, ‘last gasp from Finland‘.  I put this option in just to measure mobile developer bile — and the percentage opting for this surprised me.   I thought the majority — the iPhone fans, for example — would select the ‘irrelevant’ one.   But I had a suspicion that many developers actually had a derisory viewpoint of Maemo (and Nokia) — the ‘why bother, go home, you’ve had your shot’ opinion.  I wonder if this percentage segment is explained by that.

So there you have it.  Right now 56% of mobile developers questioned have a directly negative or irrelevant perspective on Maemo.  That’s not as bad as I thought it could be.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Poll | Comments

Nokia Siemens Networks accuses me of bias against Nokia

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

I was quite surprised this evening to receive a critical response from Reda El Khayyat from Nokia Siemens Networks accusing me of bias toward against Nokia.

You can read the comment here. I clicked through from Reda’s comment to his website and found his CV — which states that he’s the UK and Ireland Cost Manager for Nokia Siemens Networks.

I thought I should respond to Reda’s assertion of bias toward Nokia with an explanation.

Reda formlated his assertion by reading through the last 7 Nokia related posts (he even helpfully listed them in his comment). The last 7 have contained some amount of Nokia critique.

Alas Reda didn’t read on. If he did, he’d have found this post:

Absolutely blown away by the N900

That’s actually the highest trafficked post this month on the site — with thousands from Nokia’s own intranet flocking to have a read. As you might have guessed it’s rather positive.

Perhaps it’s time for a clarification of the Mobile Industry Review position on Nokia: Frustrated fanatic. Frustrated enough to tell-it-like-I-see-it, rather than sit and hope.

Indeed Reda, if you’d had a look around the site — or read some of the posts you listed — you’d have learnt that I recently invested £630 in a new 3UK contract replete with a stunning Nokia N86.

You’d also have noted that — on our Youtube channel alone this month — we’ve had 45,000 views of our thoroughly excited N900 videos. We host our own HD videos on Mobile Developer TV and Mobile Industry Review too (with Youtube being just one outlet) — so adding all the views and embeds up from there too, we’ve had just over a quarter of a million folk watch me gushing like a child over the N900 in the last 10 days or so.

So I’m not biased toward Nokia. I’m not operating some secret nail-Nokia agenda. I write as I feel here on Mobile Industry Review, Reda.

Thanks for taking the time to write Reda and good morning to everyone at Nokia Siemens Networks.

Tags:
Posted in nokia | Comments

Why the Ovi Store is still total bollocks

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Yes I’m a fan. A big Nokia fan. Using my new N86 I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the background-processing abilities with the likes of Nimbuzz running along with Google Maps, ShoZu and so on. The camera is, of course, brilliant, too.

But the Ovi Store?

Oh dear.

Here’s just one indication why it’s struggling. (more…)

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Mobile Applications, Newsletter Editorial, nokia | Comments

Nokia Video Store coming soon?

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Dan over at World of Nokia picked this one up — along with some screenshots of both the video store and what appears to be a nice new fancy Nokia 5900 device.

With the rumor just posted of a possible Nokia 5900, World of Nokia now has some screenshots from that same video which appear to leak a Nokia Video Store.

In this demo the person connects the new device to a laptop, can browse around video’s like on an App Store and download a video right to the phone.

Interesting, interesting.

I’d, obviously, have liked to have seen this about 2-3 years ago. But you know, it-could-be-good. It’s not entirely late to the party, yet.

Tags: , ,
Posted in nokia | Comments

Nokia will take 7 years to react to Apple iPhone (that’s 2014 folks)

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Fred Grott found this one and tweeted it up this evening.  It’s a fascinating perspective on how a large, integrated platform based product cycle responds to external forces.

When the iPhone was announced (January 2007), an analyst friend of mine calculated the competitive response from Nokia, based on his understanding on how companies of this size in this industry in general are able to change.

For the purposes of this article, we tried to revisit the prediction to update it with anecdotal evidence. So far there has been seemingly little activity that has affected the trajectory.

The author, Tapio Anttila, then takes us through the predictions of his analyst friend from 2007 to 2014.

2007 reads like this:

2007: There would be no response within the first year, meaning there would be no perceived threat of any kind.  Zero process change, zero roadmap changes and no business review.  Apple is not considered a competitor.

By 2010, the analyst reckons Nokia will get the message.

2010: Realization that iPhone is a threat from new dimensions (user experience).

And by 2014? It’s not looking good…

2014: First products that are roughly comparable with iPhone version 1 begin shipping.  The required software redesign started in 2010 is coupled with the integration efforts.   Nokia’s response to the iPhone has begun.

Go and read the whole thing here:

Nokia in Trouble? How Fast Can a Mobile Device Giant React? | MEOW! Blog.

I like one of his final points:

The N97 shipping in 2009 is the result of work begun in 2007, it has had no influence at all from the iPhone.

I think that much is entirely plain to see.  ;-)

For those who simply can’t fathom why Nokia would foist the likes of the Nokia N97 on an iPhone-obsessed marketplace with a straight face — and not understand the dismay of many, Tapio’s piece should be enlightening.

Whether Nokia can actually react quicker than what his analyst friend has predicted, well, that remains to be seen.  Whether the likes of Stefan agrees (“Kill Ovi, spin off the hardware unit, become a bank“), I wonder.

What’s your viewpoint of Nokia at the moment?  It is simply far too complicated for the company to change dramatically?

(You can follow Tapio on Twitter here.)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Apple, nokia | Comments

Nokia Ovi Store is open for business

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Over the weekend, Nokia Ovi Store was soft-launched in Australia this weekend to allow the team, sweat pour off the proverbial forehead, to check everything was ready for launch.

And it is.

We’re live. And the mobile industry is changed for good.

Finally you can deploy an application, easily, for Nokia customers. It used to be an absolutely torturous process — now, the discovery is much, much improved.

Similarly, if you’d like, for example, some Star Trek wallpapers on your Nokia, you can now click-click and be done. No more arsing around. Fantastic.

Here’s a screenshot from the desktop:



The store is wholly sluggish this morning because the whole world and his dog is checking in, downloading and playing around.

You can already see just how massively successful the store is going to be. I’m looking at a ‘futuristic‘ Star Trek Ringtone — that’s priced free. On the right hand side I’ve got these options:

And it’s free? I’ll have that.

As for billing, well your operator will take care of your purchase processing in Australia, Britain, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Singapore and Spain. So it’s just one click to buy. Magic from a mobile developer standpoint. I’m going to give it a try in a few minutes.

And for revenue sharing? Well 30% revenue share is fast becoming standard across the app store world and Nokia is keeping to that — there are a few questions over exactly how the splits will work but I’m sure we’ll see some further clarification on this soon.

Here’s what store.ovi.com looks like on my Nokia N82 browser:

I’ll download the app and take you on a tour shortly.

For now… the Ovi Store is live… let’s see what everyone thinks about it!

The address you need: http://store.ovi.com

Share/Save/Bookmark

Originally published on Mobile Developer TV and automatically republished here on Mobile Industry Review. View the original post.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Hot, Mobile, MobileDeveloperTV, nokia | Comments

Android cometh: Sony Ericsson confirms Android 2.0 handsets

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Goodness me it’s getting interesting in the mobile industry.

For years I’ve been screaming with utter annoyance at the absolute rubbish Sony Ericsson has been vomiting into the marketplace. Their devices are amongst the nicest engineered on the planet. They’re well built, stylish, reliable and the cameras are simply amazing.

But the dumb operating system (or, more accurately, the stupidly limited UI) is — literally — from the 1990s.

I positively loved their K800i handset — a class leading device in it’s time — and I’ve continued to admire the workmanship of their more recent models — but actually using a Sony Ericsson is akin to jumping in an Ashes to Ashes style timewarp back to 1990.

It’s pretty accurate to refer to a Sony Ericsson user as a Mobile Caveman. Just like a human caveman, a Mobile Caveman (”MobCav, anyone?”) is able to manage life’s various transactions (fire, food, sex) but when it comes to anything more enlightened or connected, no dice.

Your Sony handset will browse the ‘mobile web’. Cool. It will — with quite a bit of persuasion — synchronise your address book. You can play music on it. You can even play game(s) on it.

But put a top of the range Sony handset next to other class leaders (iPhone, G1/G2, Palm Pre, Nokia N-Series) and it’s immediately clear it’s not in the same league.

Don’t get me started on developing for a Sony Ericsson.

Besides from a degree in Nuclear Physics (with hons and some fannying about with the Dean’s List), you’ll need a massive budget and the patience of a demigod to develop for the current range of Sony Ericssons.

The Xperia device is … well, let’s put it this way, have you seen anyone with an Xperia recently? Hobbled by a ridiculous, ridiculous Microsoft bollocks operating system, the Xperia was never, ever going anywhere.

“Why won’t they go Android?” I used to scream, “Can you imagine how brilliant a Sony Ericsson would be with Android?”

Well… it’s happening.

Finally.

It had to happen. It was inevitable. Just like Apple bringing out an iPhone (they had to make the move or surrender the mobile music market to the likes of Nokia).

Slashphone reports that at a recent showcase in Taiwan, Peter Ang, the Sony Ericsson VP of Marketing, confirmed Android is now a key operating system for the company. Along with Symbian and Windows. Gah.

Sony’s Android handset(s) are due to arrive with Android 2.0 — and there’s speculation (from Chris Davies over at Android Community.com) that the devices will sport a proprietary UI along the lines of the Xperia UI.

The upshot?

Upgrade Android in your estimations. With the consumer giants such as Sony Ericsson (and Samsung) jumping in, it won’t be long before high-end (and shortly after, mid-tier and low-end) normal mobile users (”normobs”) will be shopping for their Apps via the Android Marketplace.

Exciting news.

Share/Save/Bookmark

Originally published on Mobile Developer TV and automatically republished here on Mobile Industry Review. View the original post.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Apple, Devices, Hot, Mobile, MobileDeveloperTV, News, iPhone, marketplace, nokia, samsung | Comments

Vodafone’s ‘App Store’: Mobile developers respond

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

I just published Vodafone’s news regarding their ‘app store’ initiative — and I’m already getting questions and reaction in from developers.

Here are some quotes right off the press from some mobile developers. (I have removed names).

- “I’d like to know how much of my revenues they’ll demand.”

- “I like the ease of billing and the potential of micro-payments.”

- “I suspect they’ll take 30% just like Apple / Nokia etc. I hope it’s not more than that.”

- “It’s just another App store – we WILL develop for it, obviously, but only because I’m yet to see which store will capture the minds of consumers.”

- “I very much like the concept. Especially if one SDK works across a number of MNOs. That would be really cool.”

- “Is this too good to be true? It sure looks like it.”

- “If they were REALLY thinking of developers, they’d be finding a way to reduce the amount of work we need to do across the various mobile programming languages. Perhaps they are, I can’t quite work it out yet.”

- “Interesting, interesting… that’s all I have to say until you tell us more, Ewan.”

I’m aiming to have more information soon! If you’ve got a comment or opinion, drop me a note — ewan@mobiledeveloper.tv.

(I regularly tap up people for live reaction — if you’d like to be on that list, add me at ewanmacleod@gmail.com on Google Talk or ewanjmacleod on Skype.)

[Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post 

Share/Save/Bookmark

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Originally published on Mobile Developer TV and automatically republished here on Mobile Industry Review. View the original post.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Apple, Google, Mobile, MobileDeveloperTV, News, Opinion, People, Twitter, Vodafone, ewan, nokia | Comments

« Older Entries
Powered by Interactive Energy | Sign up to The Application Review newsletter