Recent News Headlines - Industry
Analyst sees Symbian shipments reaching 180m by 2014
Juniper Research, a telecoms analyst firm, recently released a report on Mobile Open Source Operating Systems, which predicts open source platforms will remain predominant and that, by 2014, Symbian handset shipments will increase from 87 million to 180 million per year, with Android and Limo adding 40m/year extra and taking the open source total to 220 million/year. Such analyst reports are educated guesses, but it does provide an antithesis to the 'Symbian is doomed' line that was popular, in some quarters, earlier this summer and a good jumping off place for some further platform thoughts. Read on for more.
Symbian Foundation's presentation on Open Source and the User Experience
Rafe and I attended the Over the Air mobile developer conference this past weekend (expect to hear more about this on the next Insight Podcast) and a number of the presentation made are now online. Scott Weiss of the Symbian Foundation talked about "Open Source and the User Experience" which can now be found here.
Dopplr: Why is Nokia continuing to buy small companies for their portfolio?
With the news now official that Nokia has accquired Dopplr Oy, the company behind the social media atlas site Dopplr, the Finnish company has added yet another small niche service to their diverse range of companies. Dopplr (which allows users to say where they are travelling and see who lives there or is visiting at the same time, allowing for more serendipitous connections to be made) joins services such as Plum and Plazes in Nokia's store chest. Why?
AAS Insight 88 - Nokia 5730, Ovi Developer Day, Vodafone 360
In All About Symbian Insight 88 (AAS Podcast 150), Rafe and Steve talk about the release dates for some upcoming devices and preview the Nokia 5730. Rafe reports back from the Ovi Developer Day and Steve shares news of the latest Nokia 5800 firmware and upcoming firmware for the N86. There's also discussion about the Ovi Store and Vodafone 360. You can listen to AAS Insight 88 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Comes With Music subs extended
Following on from Ewan's musings as to what would happen when the first Comes with Music subscriptions came to an end, pointing out some of the complications and pitfalls, Music Ally is reporting that Nokia is emailing people offering a free extension by up to 3 months, taking them potentially into 2010. This is likely because licensing terms and arrangements (amazingly) haven't been finalised yet - so Nokia seems to be taking the financial hit. Watch this space.
Giffgaff breaks cover - will it succeed?
Breaking cover yesterday was the UK's newest MVNO (mobile virtual network organisation), Giffgaff. Piggybacking on the infrastructure of O2, it's going to be publicly available before Christmas and promises to be the first “people powered mobile network.” I sat down with the 'gaffer' of Giffgaff, Mike Fairman, to find out a little bit more, starting with that idea of being people-powered. Read on.
Nokia #5 in the Top Global Brands
Business Week have released their latest "Top 100 Global Brands" and not surprisingly telecommunications and IT companies are riding high in the list. Nokia is in fifth place and the highest placed non-US company, just behind IBM (#2) and Microsoft (#3), while Google has climbed up to #7 while Apple pops in to #20.
Nokia named as "world's most sustainable technology company"
Nokia has been named as the world's most sustainable technology company according to the 2009/10 edition of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Already rated for several years as the leader within the Europe and Communications categories, this year Nokia was also chosen as "World Technology Supersector Leader", making it number one across the entire global technology sector. See below for extracts from the press release.
Symbian says can keep half of smartphone market
There's an interesting piece over on Reuters today, interviewing Symbian's David Wood and summarising the current smartphone market rather well. David is (understandably) optimistic that Symbian can hang onto its 50% market share in the coming years. Worth a five minute read.
Contrary to reports, the iPhone is good for everyone
In a report surely to be widely read by networks around the world, Strand Consulting have summed up the iPhone effect on a network's bottom line, but I think it goes a lot deeper. The standout line is "Not one (operator) has increased its market share, revenue or earnings as a result of introducing the iPhone." But then networks have never been about one product. They've been about offering the right device, to the right people, at the right time, for the right price. Let me explain.
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