BOSTON, USA – One of the benefits of knowing the unknowns, the things that are unknown to the public, but known to the company, is that it gets exciting when folks start speculating – about launches, devices, direction, moves. And I like speculating as much as the next guy.
Of course, we don’t substantiate rumors or talk about those known unknowns (that’s usually called a leak). And it’s a hard balance to say enough to show where we are going, without giving the game away. In some cases this can put us in an unfavorable light. For example, it’s sometimes foolish to suggest we released a solution in response to a competitor device or service, when in actuality, solution timelines were long set before the competitor revealed its solution. Or, all of us have to wear a Finnish poker-face, because we can’t really to talk about a leaked product everyone is excited about.
Today, there are some links we’d like to share. In the past week, we’ve had more than enough concrete stuff to be excited about. But here are three articles that are examples of the hopeful speculation we usually like to read. There is also one, to remind us that even when we do reveal something, it might not be so exciting in the end.
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STUTTGART, Germany – Following in the footsteps of its bigger, older brother, the Nokia N97 mini was unveiled this morning at Nokia World 09. Sporting new homescreen widgets and a host of usability improvements, the N97 mini still packs 8GB of storage, a 3.2-inch touchscreen and full QWERTY keyboard into its 14.2mm thin frame. It’s also the first Nokia device to sport Lifecasting with Ovi – a new partnership with the world’s largest social network, Facebook. The N97 mini is based on the same tilt display design of its N97 big brother, built into a smaller body complete with new design touches.
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STUTTGART, Germany – On the eve of Nokia World 09 the winners of the Calling All Innovators developer competition were announced. Three winners were revealed for the three main categories covering Internet Innovation, Flash and Emerging Markets (Apps on Maps winners will be announced later in the week). Over 1,700 submissions were made for Calling All Innovators from developers representing 85 countries. But that’s hardly a surprise, given the $250,000 prize purse on offer.
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BOSTON, USA – One would think that very little is going on this week, what with Nokia making three device announcements in three business days. And all that a week before Nokia World 09. But we’ve managed to find a string of interesting things going on that are not directly related to the Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, the Nokia 5230, or the Nokia Booklet 3G.
Below we have links to a few articles that are mostly a hard look at Nokia products and solutions. But if you read all the way to the end, we’ve also linked to a few good tips.
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BOSTON, USA – A scan of the web keeps not only revealing new apps coming to Ovi Store (Shazam is one of the more recent biggies), but that whole new markets are showing up. Inside I have three sets of apps recently added to the Ovi Store that suggest that a nice range of choices is starting to evolve and emerge out of the pool.
I’ll then wrap up this post with a new Nokia tips and tricks site and a bonus – gripes.
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GLOBAL – Each week we’ll be nudging a shy Ovi Store app into the limelight, kick-started last week with the smart I Parked Here app that recently came to our attention. This week, I stumbled across an intriguing software nugget called eyeCall – it’s particularly interesting from a gesture control point of view (Nokia gesture design has been a hot topic on Conversations lately). See, eyeCall is a simple third party app that lets you silence incoming calls and send an automated text message with a couple of easy-to-remember hand gestures. I’ve just downloaded it to N97 and given it a go, so read on to find out how it works.
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BOSTON, USA – One thing every company in the world believes that what they do is the greatest and the whole world wants them. There’s nothing wrong with that. Indeed, companies pop up to meet a gap in the market, or to try to make something better than the incumbent. Just look at the number of mobile phones and manufacturers out there.
But I think there are times when you can have a great product, offer it the way the market demands you to offer it, and then nothing happens. It’s like building the best mouse trap and no one beats a path to your door. Or, more often, you take the time and effort to create something and folks use it in ways you never expected. Sometimes that’s a delight, like SMS, and sometimes it’s an embarrassment, like, well, read on below.
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GLOBAL – This time last year we ran a piece about how excited we were to see such diversity breeding on the mobile software scene, punctuated with the emergence of the suite of Ramadan related services for Nokia devices. This year, the Holy Month of Ramadan is again being supported via a package of pocket apps, with the addition of more devices, including the Nokia N97, plus each of the apps is now available through the Ovi Store and nokia.com/ramadan.
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GLOBAL – We’ve ripped the Conversations Torch from its packaging, loaded it up with some new batteries and we’re now shining it directly at the latest and greatest from the Ovi Store. First up for the Ovi App Spotlight treatment is a handy little number dubbed I Parked Here. Now, is it me or are car parks getting bigger? All the whilst car spaces are getting smaller. I Parked Here is designed to help you around that particular problem, by showing you the way back to your parked car. Simple, but brilliantly clever at the same time.
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