Split Screen is a love story about two beautiful cities – Paris & New York. Shot entirely on a Nokia N8, the video is essentially a side by side comparison of the two cities, their inhabitance and the energy they both possess. Winner of the Nokia Short Competition 2011.
While the NokiSoft (Nokia+Microsoft) partnership has enabled Microsoft to build better hardware and Nokia has gained an OS that can at least play with the big boys – it looks like Nokia hasn’t learned from past Microsoft marketing failures. The current marketing campaign against front runner Apple is Smart Phone Beta Test – a series of behind the scene clips that are ment to show the weaknesses of the iPhone.
Fragile: “If you drop the phone, it might break.” I’m certain that this effects all phones, regardless of brand but I guess if you own the new Nokia Lumia 900, you can drop it as many times as you want.
Microsoft and Nokia are taking CES 2012 and America by storm – specifically with the Nokia Lumia 900. Nokia’s new handset is set to sell (AT&T) the 900 in the states, sporting Windows Phone 7.5 Mango. Possibly Nokia’s best handset in years, the 900 is going to be one of the best LTE devices on AT&T and their emerging LTE market. Here are the specs:
Source: Nokia
Nokia World has come and gone and while some tech writers were underwhelmed by the Lumia 710 & 800 – Nokia’s Kinetic Device was widely under reported. Essentially, the tech is a gorgeous screen that can be twisted across its horizontal axis, as well as its vertical axis. The applications here are endless, especially for situations calling for high tech equipment that are durable and which can withstand torquing - such as a smartphone in my jean pocket. While we don’t have release dates or much information regarding the mythical Kinetic Device - it does remind us of another device we covered earlier this year – check it out.
We were all waiting to see what NokiSoft would do and it looks like their first collaboration into the smartphone space are two beautiful, somewhat low priced – unique looking handsets. The Lumia 710 and its more sophisticated older brother, the Lumia 800 seem like rushed pieces of hardware from Nokia but I believe the goal was to release a viable smartphone in 2011 (for presence) and really enter the markt in the first half of 2012. Specs: 3.7″ 480×800 TFT display – 1.4Ghz Single Core Snapdragon+512MB RAM – 5 MegaPixels Camera – 16Gb Storage – Weight 126g – Price: €270 Full Specs
Those looking for a better camera and the all familiar N9 design, should consider the Lumia 800 and while looking the same externally, they are somewhat different on the inside. Still, I don’t blame Nokia for keeping with the N9′s unique design – it was one of the best things to come out of Nokia in the last years, except for the OS it was running. So, what are the main differences between the Lumia and the N9? The Lumia 800 has a single core 1.4 Ghz Snapdragon processor instead of a single core 1Ghz – 512MB of Ram instead of 1GB – 16GB Storage instead of 64GB. Additionally, the Lumia 800 comes with a 3.7″ TFT Display – 8 MegaPixel Camera – weight 142g – Price: €420 – Full Specs Interestingly, no front facing camera on either the Lumia 710 nor the 800 but still a good showing.
“They are coming!” Could the smartphone market be going where the PC market went 10 years ago? Gartner’s latest prediction, as to the future of mobile OS saturation and dominance, hints at the democratization of smart-phones but also to the shifting of powers. The Chart above says it all but essentailly, Gartner predicts that Android will rule the future, in terms of OS marketshare, with Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 taking second and iOS coming in third – all this by 2014.
Gartner goes on to say that it believes Apple will fall into this third place position because it is unlikely to lower its margins per phone, allowing competitors to sell their phones at cheaper prices, thus gaining market share. This is what we saw in the pc market, where Apple hold a 15% market share in the US but its profits (due to high margins) out weigh its competitors.
Personally, I believe Apple will combate this trend by releasing a cheaper version of the iphone because unlike the pc market, Apple makes tons of cash from the whole itunes ecosystem. Hardware sales are their cash cow but their vast saturation of iOS devices, also allows them to rake in billions from music/movie/app sales.
Gartner may say they predict the future but the tech industry evolves faster than their current statistical analysis allows – essentially they are predicting the future with present data – good luck with that.
Source: AppleInsider.com
Less than a week after Nokia’s first round of patent complaints against Apple were turned down by the U.S. International Trade Commission, Nokia has fired back with a second round of complaints, this time essentially targeting all of Apple’s products. From iPhones, Ipads, Ipods all the way to actual Macs – Nokia is taking aim at everything and all!
Specifics for the second round are as follows: Nokia is stating that Apple has infringed on Bluetooth, hand set voice quality, geo positioning, syncing of data and of course multitasking patents – of which have come from countless years of R&D – specifically $43 Billion worth! Oh Nokia, if that 43 billion number is right, I feel really bad for you. You should have spend more cash on design and marketing – you wouldn’t be in the situation you’re in now – Microsoft’s play toy.
So, how does this end? Like most patent lawsuits and complaints - either nothing will happen, there will be some kind of out of court settlement or licensing agrement but you can bet that Apple will buy Nokia before it gives in to licensing.
Source: AppleInsider.com