By Mike on 02 January 2009
INDIA – As we watch and experience first-hand the evolution of mobile technology, the focus naturally falls on how improved hardware and smarter software push the envelope and attempt to improve our lives on the go.
The thing about Nokia Life Tools, and why we’ve selected it in our Best of 2008 list, is that it defies this tradition, instead harnessing existing technology (SMS in this case), but uses it in an innovative fashion to offer a new breed of service that is easily accessible, valuable and simple to use. Surely the core ingredients of any of the best services out there.
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By James on 02 January 2009
LONDON, England – Comes with Music is a brilliant idea. Is that because it suits my music consumption perfectly? Perhaps, but from what I can tell, the service isn’t even necessarily designed for people like me. Regardless, it’s significance here relates more to Nokia’s approach to new businesses. Rather than jumping on the bandwagon and following everyone else, it has taken a bold new step and that I think, one that has to be admired.
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By Charlie on 02 January 2009
GLOBAL – It always felt to me that we just weren’t getting it right with mobile email. Well, that was before this year, a year when Nokia really grasped the mobile email beast by the neck and wrestled it into something really good.
To start with, there has been a long beta period around Nokia Email before it went open, studying how folks use the service and providing a better mobile mail experience. We caught up with the product folks to learn more about this.
But there were a lot more shifts at Nokia around email, with far-ranging repercussions.
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By James on 31 December 2008
LONDON, England – Never before had I been excited about an Eseries device. Even the prospect of being at the E71’s launch in June, left me unexcited – initially. But then I started using one. Oh Boy. What a device. My favourite Nokia ever made – even more preferable to my previous favourite, the N95. And I don’t think I’m alone in that opinion.
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By Charlie on 31 December 2008
ESPOO, Finland – The Nokia 5800 had at least two interesting things going for it this year, 1) it was leaked long before launch (when it was known as “Tube”), and 2) it was Nokia’s latest touchscreen device and there were some expectations that it would go head-to-head with the Apple iPhone.
Despite this, the Nokia 5800 hit the world on its own terms. It was clear to the public that it was not going head-to-head with the iPhone. The 5800 came in at a different price point, different set of features, and targeted at a different segment. Yup, the touch-screen commonality was not enough to lump the whole 5800 into the same iPhone niche.
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By Mike on 31 December 2008
NEW DELHI, India – Polar opposite to the other two handsets we picked as Best of 2008 in Products (the E71 and 5800 XpressMusic), the Nokia 1202 shook things up and innovated without breaking the technology barrier, much like Nokia Life Tools in the Services stakes.
No, instead here is a handset that ignited a hugely positive global response because it was proof that a company could build and sell an extremely capable device tailored to the needs of local communities in emerging markets for a relatively tiny cost – at 25 Euros, the Nokia 1202 is the cheapest phone Nokia has ever created. But perhaps even more significant was the fact that it was made to be shared by up to five people, as it features multiple phone books and time and pre-paid tracker, so if bought by a group in a small community it becomes a 5 Euro phone.
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By Charlie on 30 December 2008
ESPOO, Finland – OK. Leaks have dominated our device launches this year, stealing, with different lead times, the thunder from the Nokia E71, Nokia E63, and Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. But, it’s been interesting to watch, as well, how folks have been misled by fake-fakes, real-fakes, and what ever else the nasty cunning crafty Chinese counterfeiters can throw our way.
But will anything change for 2009?
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By Mike on 30 December 2008
GLOBAL – It’s been a milestone year in Nokia’s evolution with CEO and President, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, announcing a fresh direction for Nokia that has already seen it beginning to move from being a handset company to an Internet services company.
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By James on 30 December 2008
LONDON, England – Early on the morning of June 26 this year I got a call. “Be at Somerset House first thing, there’s a big announcement happening”. What’s this, a new phone? A new service? No, something much bigger, and infinitely more significant. Nokia’s decision, along with the other interested parties to package up Symbian into a single foundation and make it open source. Throwing the baby out with the bath-water? Unlikely, that doesn’t happen at this level. Exciting stuff indeed.
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By Mike on 29 December 2008
GLOBAL – Morph managed to capture the imaginations of so many us when it was first unveiled as a concept device back in March 2008, showcased at the The Museum of Modern Art “Design and The Elastic Mind” exhibition. By boldly waving a red rag of future mobile possibilities in front of our eyes and we collectively rushed towards it intensely intrigued.
It was a glimpse at a future, and not necessarily the future, nonetheless, looking forward inspired reaction, contemplation and an air of positivity and promise.
Something we reckon that is worth championing.
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INDIA – As we watch and experience first-hand the evolution of mobile technology, the focus naturally falls on how improved hardware and smarter software push the envelope and attempt to improve our lives on the go.
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