Archive for June 25th, 2008

Nokia Uses Symbian In The Fight Against Android, iPhone

Published by Babar Bhatti on June 25, 2008 under Information Technology, Linux, Mobile Applications, Mobile Phones, Mobile Web, Smart Phones, Telecommunications, iPhone

Nokia has an answer to the recent threats from Google and Apple: transform Symbian to an open-source app platform. This is a major development for the developers of mobile applications. One thing is clear: the upcoming battle is mainly about the apps, not about handsets (or the mobile network operators) . From both technology and business perspective, application development teams have an important decision to make: Which platform is their first priority: iPhone, Windows, Android or Symbian? Whoever can convince the best developers to write the killer apps on their platform is likely to be the dominant player. The game just got more interesting!

See this post from GigaOm on this development and the comparison below from TechCrunch (would be nice to have blackberry there).

A very good article from Businessweek on Nokia’s move.

Nokia announced a plan on June 24 2008 to buy the 52.1% of shares it doesn’t already own in London-based Symbian, the leading maker of operating system software for advanced mobile phones. In an industry-shifting move, Nokia will create an open-source foundation that will give away the resulting software for free to other handset makers.

Until now, Symbian has been owned by a consortium of rivals including Nokia, Sony (SNE), Ericsson (ERIC), Panasonic (MC), Siemens (SI), and Samsung. The company was set up a decade ago to develop an independent software platform for smartphones. And indeed, Symbian software is now used in more than half of all such devices, relegating rivals such as Microsoft’s pint-size Windows Mobile to a thin slice of the market.

But in the past year, the complexion of the industry has shifted as a new crop of rivals, most using open-source Linux software, have barged in. Nokia and the newcomers are now locked in a high-stakes battle whose outcome could shape the future of mobile communication—and by extension, of the Internet, as a growing number of consumers around the world access the Web from handheld devices (BusinessWeek.com, 2/12/08).

The new Symbian Foundation will be steered by a board of 10 members: five from phone manufacturers Nokia, LG Electronics, Motorola (MOT), Samsung, and Sony Ericsson, and five from network operators and chipmakers AT&T (T), NTT DoCoMo (DCM), Vodafone (VOD), STMicroelectronics (STM), and Texas Instruments (TXN). The goal? “To be the most widely used platform in the world,” said Nigel Clifford, Symbian’s chief executive, during a London press conference on June 24.

Moving into Mass Market

But there’s more to it than that. In an era of emerging wireless applications, a platform is merely the jumping-off point. The real focus in the industry is shifting from what’s inside the phone to the snazzy online stuff a handset can access over the air—from mobile music and photo sharing to GPS and location-based services. That’s why Nokia is racing to deliver all manner of such offerings through a combination of in-house development and aggressive acquisitions. On June 23, for instance, it bought Berlin-based Plazes, which offers mobile social networking.

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Dual SIM, CDMA And GSM – Too Good To Be True?

Published by Babar Bhatti on June 25, 2008 under 3G, CDMA, GSM, Mobile Phones, Mobile Trends, SIM, Telecommunications

Dual-band, dual-SIM on the same phone? This Coolpad looks like a really cool phone for travelers and for people who love to swap out SIMs often. Lets see if it delivers as promised. As reported at CNET:

For the frequent travelers, remaining contactable via mobile is serious business. Should you use roaming to remain in contact but pay exorbitant fees just to call a local number? Or switch your SIM card to a local account and risk missing important calls? Most compromise by having two phones, which frankly, is no solution at all.

Coolpad phones claim to be the first in the market with dual-SIM devices that not only work with more than one network, but can even switch between GSM and CDMA accounts without batting an eye. Currently retailing in Indonesia, China and Africa, handsets range from US$100 to US$350, with premium models going for as high as US$1,000. Granted the only drawback we’ve seen so far is the lack of 3.5G connectivity, but Coolpad phones will save you a bundle in roaming fees.