Mobilityfeeds

Nokia was right to shift to Windows Phone

This week’s news from Nokia, including corporate restructuring, lowered income projections, and losses for Q2 2012 expected to be in the hundreds of millions, would not have made comfortable reading for the Finnish company.

Switching to a new mobile Operating System (OS) was always going to cause a lot of necessary financial pain, the question for CEO Stephen Elop and the Nokia Board is simple.
Will they be able to follow their chosen strategy, and will Microsoft's Windows Phone deliver for them?

It’s important to remember just how bad the market perceptions of Nokia were on 10^th February 2011, the day before Stephen Elop announced the new direction for the Finnish company. 

There is more in the mobile world than the 'great four' operating systems

Presenting our new infographic – the Clash of Ecosystems.

Google's Android, Apple's iOS, Microsoft Windows Phone, Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry, Samsung bada, Nokia Symbian and others are locked in a winner-takes-all battle – and everything revolves around an ecosystem.

This infographic presents key figures for each of our competing platforms, smartphone penetration per region – but it also shows what happened to platforms that didn’t make it.

Which platform has the largest sales base?
Which has the largest app store, with the most downloads?

Check out the answers in the Clash of Ecosystems infographic after the break.
As well as the mural of dead (or dying) platforms, our Dead Platform Graveyard.

Nokia plans to cut 10,000 jobs by the end of 2013

Finland's Nokia, one of the world's biggest mobile phone makers, announced on Thursday that it plans to cut up to 10,000 jobs by the end of next year due to massive additional cost-savings measures.

"These planned reductions are a difficult consequence of the intended actions we believe we must take to ensure Nokia's long-term competitive strength," company Chief Executive Stephen Elop said in a statement.

Nokia was earlier this year bumped from the world's biggest mobile phone maker spot it had held for 14 years.

Nokia could soon have to face a takeover

Nokia, the mobile-phone maker struggling to recover lost market share, jumped the most in five months as investors speculated the company may receive a takeover bid.

The stock advanced 6%, the most since 5^th January 2012, to close at €2.36 (US$3.79) in Helsinki.

Nokia had declined 41% this year before today as consumers snapped up Apple iPhones and smartphones running on Google's Android Operating System (OS).
Finland-based Nokia is rebuilding its smartphone business around the Windows Phone platform from Microsoft, which has been speculated to be a possible acquirer, according to Exane BNP Paribas.

Nokia launches three Asha feature 'smartphone-like' devices to regain low-end market lead

Nokia has launched the Asha series of advanced feature phones with touchscreens offering a "smartphone-like" experience.

Nokia is trying to make the low end of its portfolio more competitive; during the first three months of 2012 it suffered not just because slow sales of its Windows Phone and Symbian-based smartphones, but also because its feature phone portfolio hadn't kept up with the competition's.

The company needs to do a better job with the feature-phone business, CEO Stephen Elop said while announcing the first quarter results, and vowed to launch full touch products.

Elop has kept that promise, adding the Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311 to Nokia's portfolio.
All are based on the S40 platform.

Nokia might get financial stability back as early as Q4 2012 - Report

While some analysts have suggested Nokia will have spent all of its money by 2013, one company believes the Lumia range will help stabilise the company's revenues by as early as the end of 2012.

The report, which was compiled by credit rating assessment company S&P, said:

'Smartphone revenues could start rising by the end of 2012, and contribute to a stabilization of revenues in the Devices and Services division toward the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013 because Lumia devices are higher-priced.'

Apple's iOS counts globally more ads impression than Google's Android

Apple's iOS is responsible for the largest proportion of ad impressions globally.

However, while in Europe iOS has is the strongest platform for ad impressions, in the US Google's Android is in pole position.

iOS gains 45% while Android achieves 38% of ad impressions globally.
Per device, the iPhone gains 30% of ad impressions and the iPad achieves 7%, as does the iPod Touch (7%).

Android, followed by Apple, rules the global smartphone market, while RIM witnesses its sharper fall ever

Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry platform dropped from 13.6% of the world's smartphones in the first quarter of 2011 to just 6.4% of the world's smartphone in the first quarter of 2012, according to numbers released by IDC.

The new stats show RIM's share dropping precipitously, while its competitors grow stronger and stronger.

Google's Android Operating System (OS) is the top platform worldwide, with 59.0% of market thanks to 89.9 million units shipped during the first quarter.
Android grew an astonishing 145% year-over-year.
Much of that growth can be attributed to the never-ending onslaught of new devices that range from entry-level handsets to flagship hero devices.

Nokia 808 PureView in-the-making videoed

Nokia has unveiled a Behind the Music-style video detailing how it conceived, developed and built the Nokia 808 PureView.

The Nokia 808 PureView was unveiled at MWC 2012 where the Finnish company demoed just how good its 41-megapixel really was.
The device, which runs on Symbian, represents a massive leap in mobile imagining technology and should be something we see inside a Microsoft's Windows Phone device in the not too distant future.

Over 400 Nokia staff worked on creating the 808 PureView during the past five years.
Apparently the inspiration for the 808 PureView’s 41-megapixel sensor initially took hold in a bar in Japan.

Nokia worked with tons of professional photographers and aimed to create a smartphone camera that could beat any compact device.

Global mobile phone sales drop for the first time - Report

Retail sales of mobile phones have dropped for the first time in almost two years, according to Gartner.

The analyst house said on Wednesday that sales for the first quarter of 2012 totalled 419.1 million units, down two percent year-on-year.
It said it was likely to have to adjust its forecasts for the whole of 2012 down by around 20 million units.

"Global sales of mobile devices declined more than expected due to a slowdown in demand from the Asia/Pacific region," principal research analyst Anshul Gupta said in a statement. "The first quarter, traditionally the strongest quarter for Asia — which is driven by Chinese New Year, saw a lack of new product launches from leading manufacturers, and users delayed upgrades in the hope of better smartphone deals arriving later in the year."

Gartner's figures confirmed recent suggestions that Samsung is now the top handset vendor in the world.

European carriers want Microsoft and Nokia to build public interest for Windows Phone and the Lumia line

It's been a little over a year since Nokia announced plans to adopt Microsoft's Windows Phone, which was a major departure from the company's previous Symbian-only strategy.

In the last 12 months, Nokia has launched a fistful of Windows Phone-powered devices under the Lumia brand with offerings that range from the low-end Lumia 710 to the high-end Lumia 900.

However, it seems European carriers aren't impressed with Nokia's efforts.

In China, even Symbian is ahead of iOS

There are many reasons why we love the little green robot.

But if there is something we can (and do) brag about is its market dominance.

In just a few years, our favorite mobile Operating System (OS) has taken over the market.
It seems China’s Android market share has gone to a whole other level, though.Analysys International’s studies show that Android numbers have doubled in 2011.
Google’s OS went from a 33.6% market share to a whopping 68.4% in China.

But we know that Android is booming all over the place, right?
What is more surprising is the Apple's iOS market share in the same country.

Microsoft Office Mobile now available for selected Nokia Symbian smartphones

Nokia’s Lumia line of Windows Phones aren’t the only Nokia phones that can run the full mobile version of Microsoft Office.

A number of the latest Nokia Symbian phones can, now, as well.

From a 10^th April 2012 posting on the Nokia Conversations blog:

“Until now you could only get the full Microsoft Office Mobile app on Windows Phone, but not anymore. We are happy to announce that from today, the Nokia 701, Nokia 700, Nokia 603, Nokia E7, Nokia X7, Nokia C7, Nokia Oro, and Nokia C6-01 will also get this much sought after collection of productivity apps. You can get them using the Nokia Software Update tool on your smartphone, or connecting your phone to the Nokia Suite on your PC.
“Office Mobile apps will also be available from the Nokia Store in just a few weeks.”

Android leads the Chinese market in 2011 well ahead of iOS and Symbian - Report

Google's Android mobile Operating System (OS) was the top smartphone platform in China last year, growing its market share by about 35% in the world's largest market for mobile phones, a Chinese technology research firm said.

At the end of 2011, Android had 68.4% of the smartphone OS market by the number of smartphones sold, up from 33.6% at the end of the first quarter of last year, Beijing-based research firm Analysys International said in a report on Tuesday.

The cementing of Android's dominance in China came at the expense of Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia whose Symbian OS saw its market share more than halve to 18.7% last year.

Nokia leads the Middle East market, Android and RIM follow; iPhone stays behind - Report

Contrary to public perception that the Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry lead the pack in the Middle East region as the preferred choices for smartphone buyers, Gartner figures show that Nokia sold more smartphones than any other manufacturer in 2011.

Gartner gathers its numbers from each phone manufacturer independently and then crunches the numbers for analysis.

"Nokia is still the leader in smartphones as well as all total handsets in the region due to the strong brand recognition it has enjoyed over the past years and good value for money it has to offer," said Annette Zimmermann, Principal Analyst, Consumer Markets & Technology at Gartner .

Tom Farrell, Vice-president of Nokia Middle East, said Middle East customers are very sophisticated about mobility and they love innovation and the latest gadgets.
He said:

"We plan to introduce and bring to markets new and more affordable products with more modern user experiences with [Microsoft] Windows Phone in 2012."

Nokia's Elop meets the press in China

On 28^th March 2012, joining hands with China Telecom Ltd., Nokia launched the Lumia 800C — its first Windows Phone in China.

Before its debut in China, the Lumia line of Microsoft's Windows Phone was first released in London at the end of last October.
The United States, most of the European countries, Singapore, Hong Kong - most recently the Middle East - and other countries and areas have also witnessed its release.

The conference for its debut was held in Beijing Yongding Gate - a historic relic and landmark architecture.
With a history from the Ming Dynasty, Yongding Gate was once destroyed but was rebuilt in 2004.

The reason why they chose such a place for the launch of Lumia, said Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, was that the reconstruction of Yongding Gate symbolized the revival of Nokia itself.
In front of Yongding Gate, Elop was interviewed by China’s press.

Nokia's new Lumia smartphone loaded with Windows Phone 8 Apollo will be 'incredible', 'unbelievable'

One Nokia fan who has had access to a Nokia employee says that the employee tells him that the company’s efforts with Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 will be ‘incredible.’

The phone is described as ‘unbelievable’ and ‘nothing the current Lumia line could compare to.’

Given Nokia’s accolades with the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 900 for the devices’ features and design, Nokia is really trying to outdo itself with the next-generation crop of Windows Phone.

All current Nokia phone releases today are based on the same version of the Windows Phone 7 platform, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.
With the next-generation Operating System (OS) speculated to arrive later this year, Windows Phone 8 will bring new capabilities and functionality to Nokia and other Windows Phone hardware manufacturers.
That OS has been codenamed as 'Apollo'.

Microsoft and Nokia joint forces to create AppCampus, a mobile application university for developers

Microsoft and Nokia are planning to invest a combined US$24 million in a mobile-application “university” for developers.

This “AppCampus” program, based out of Aalto University in Finland, will launch in May 2012.

The program will offer facilities, coaching services, and access to “academic and business networks,” according to Microsoft’s 26^th March 2012 press release.
AppCampus will not only support development of apps for Windows Phone, but also Symbian and Series 40.  

While this announcement necessarily appears Europe-centric, as opposite to the usual US-centric, it nonetheless emphasizes Microsoft’s fervent need to build a robust apps ecosystem for Windows Phone, which it hopes will one day challenge both Apple’s iOS and Google Android on a worldwide scale (but we should keep in mind that Windows Phone Marketplace was launched years after its Apple and Google counterparts).

Nokia's Asha 302 Symbian feature phone review

You’ve probably read a lot about Nokia’s Windows Phones high-end smartphones recently – but let’s remember that the majority of Nokia’s customers and would-be customers are still after basic handsets.

So here comes the Nokia Asha 302, which runs on the Symbian Series 40 Operating System (OS) – that will be the grid interface that anyone who’s ever had a Nokia handset will be familiar with.

However, Nokia has tried to bring it out of the basic market by adding in some new offerings.
There is a new browser for instance, to help make the most of Websites when viewed on lower-end devices, as well as some clever features designed to help you cut your data charges.

However, while it may appear to be trying to save you money, is it really such a bargain?
Read on after the break to find out…

Windows Phone overpasses for the first time Symbian in UK - Report

Figures from a 12-week research recently conducted by Kantar Worldpanel show that the Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform is outdoing Nokia's Symbian-run devices in terms of sales in the United Kingdom.

Although still a far cry from the market share of Google's Android and Apple's iOS smartphones, the Microsoft platform is yielding positive results compared to its Symbian counterpart.

These figures, compiled from a study that culminated on 19^th February 2012, illustrate the decrease in market share of mobile Operating Systems (OS) Symbian, Research In Motion (RIM, maker of BlackBerry) and bada (by Samsung).
This year’s gainers remain to be Android and Apple’s iOS, while Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 recently joined for the first time ever the ranks.