Video: Ramadan apps up close and explained

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Earlier today we brought you word on the entire new stable of free Ramadan-related mobile software that has just been released and made accessible via nokia.com/ramadan. Created and championed by the Nokia team in Dubai, this morning I chatted to Mohamed El-Sheakh, Business Manager of software and services for Nokia Middle East and Africa, who sent us a great little video they shot outlining the vision for the services and highlighting a couple of the key apps in action.

INTERNATIONAL – You might expect us to blindly champion Nokia Maps 2.0 over Google Maps, but here on Conversations we’re all about getting fired up about any apps out there that help push the boundaries of how we behave with our mobiles and ultimately how they can improve our lives. Plus, of course, healthy rivalry is one of the key ingredients that fuels innovation, especially location-based services, where we’re soon set to become overwhelmed with applications, given the ongoing meteoric rise of GPS and high-speed connections facilitating this rapid evolution.

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Location based services still do not measure up? Or do they?

SOMEWHERE – The term, Location Based Services, or LBS, has been kicking around for a long time. Like many terms full of baggage (WAP comes to mind), there are lots to like and lots to dislike. A comment by Alfie Dennen a week or two back has been bouncing in my head. So, today I did a perusal of some posts on LBS to see what the sentiment is.

Overall, LBS is still viewed as a failed promise. But I get a feeling that, unlike many years ago, we seem to have a better grasp of what we want (or not) out of it. Also it has faded into the background as an enabler, hence we don’t see it for what it is (’LBS is dead. Long live LBS’?). Read my take in the post below.

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Adapting at speed

ESPOO, Finland – Switching from a hardware manufacturer to one that doesn’t just “do” software and services, but leads the way with them, takes some doing. Rapid innovation, constant reinvention and a fearless quest for the future all sound good, but what’s the reality like?

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Growing Together 2008

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Over the next two days, over 100 journalists from all over the world will see how mobile devices and services are changing people’s lives across Africa.