Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Nokia expending its device range







Nokia Saturday announced that it is expanding its device range which enables Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to all Nokia S60 3rd Edition devices.

An announcement here said that 43 Nokia devices will now feature the Mail for Exchange mobile email application, making Nokia's device range the largest ever to enable the solution chosen by more businesses than any other messaging solution.

It said that Nokia also announced Saturday that Mail for Exchange will be available out-of-the-box in future releases of Nokia Eseries and Nokia Nseries devices.


With this announcement, Nokia is enabling about 80 million mobile phone users which is the number of Nokia S60 3rd Edition converged devices shipped globally to date to connect to their email accounts on the Exchange Server.

Exchange Server 2007 provides customers with anywhere access to information, advanced built-in protection and greater operational efficiency.

`The Nokia-Microsoft collaboration to bring corporate mobile email to businesses and mobile professionals is truly unbeatable. No other device manufacturer provides the wide range of devices that we have, which immediately mobilize the hundreds of millions of email accounts from Microsoft Exchange', said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Markets, and Nokia.

`The costs of mobility are contained as companies are able to utilize existing Microsoft Exchange infrastructure, and there is also the strong possibility that a large number of employees already have one or more of the 43 Nokia devices that enable Exchange ActiveSync'.

`Nokia is a valued partner and we are pleased they are making it easier for their approximately 80 million S60 3rd Edition customers to realize the benefits of Exchange Server', said Terry Myerson, Corporate Vice President, Exchange Server, Microsoft Corp.

`This announcement with Nokia further demonstrates the importance consumers and businesses place on accessing Exchange Server data from mobile devices in addition to traditional desktop clients. Nokia's announcement today will help give its users that access and help make them more productive'.

`We take corporate and IT security policies seriously, and a comparison study showed that the device management and security policies for devices such as the Nokia Eseries are robust', added Vanjoki.

`This should give business heads and IT managers greater confidence when choosing between device brands to mobilize their workforce'.

By connecting to the Exchange Server 2007, Mail for Exchange enables features such as Autodiscover, which drastically simplifies the set-up process by requiring the email account holder to only enter their email address, password, domain and usernames; Out of Office messaging, enabling busy professionals to set their out-of-office messages directly from their Nokia device; synchronization when roaming, a must-have feature for travelling businesspeople; and also Flag status for follow-ups.

While the Exchange ActiveSync protocol is compatible with many types of devices, Nokia device users will have access to features that are currently not available in other Exchange ActiveSync licensees' devices. Setting email priorities, alerts for meeting request conflicts, a standalone global address list application to search for a colleague's contact details quickly, downloading and editing all types of attachments, not just image files, are must-have factors that users will expect from their mobile email application.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Nokia unveils touch screen N97







Nokia, the world's largest cell phone maker, has unveiled the N97; a new flagship model with a large touch screen which it hopes will bolster its smartphone offering.

The Finnish handset giant hopes the new model will inject new life into its line-up of N-series multimedia phones, a former trademark of cutting edge technology that has seen few innovations lately.


"This is really the start of the new N-series ... really kicking off the next wave," Jonas Geust, vice president of Nokia's Devices unit, told Reuters in an interview, adding touch screens and full-qwerty keyboards will be key features in the new wave of products.

"What would there be these days without touch ... Touch for this category of devices is going to be important. Qwerty is also going to be important," he said.

The battle for a bigger share of the smartphone business has heated up since Apple introduced its iPhone last year, and all vendors are seeking a bigger slice of the market, which is set to continue growing despite gloom in the wider markets.

Nokia was the last major handset maker to introduce touch screen phones following the runaway success of iPhone. Last month Nokia started to sell its first such model and it has promised to introduce touch screen models across its portfolio.

Nokia continues to dominate the global market for smartphones -- handsets with computer-like features like e-mail -- but it sold less of them in the third quarter than a year ago, losing market share to Apple and Blackberry-maker RIM.

Nokia's ailing position in the high end of the cellphone market worries investors and analysts as this is expected to weigh on the Finnish group's profit margins.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Nokia warns of falling mobile phone demand






Despite efforts on both sides of the Atlantic to kick-start consumer spending, shoppers are holding off on non-essential purchases such as new phones, Nokia has warned.

Pointing to data that showed sales of mobile phones are shrinking faster than expected as consumers are cutting spending, Nokia issued its second warning in three weeks on the state of the market for new handsets.

"Consumers are continuing dramatically to cut back their spending," Nokia chief financial officer Rick Simonson said at the company's investor day in New York, adding that he was under "no illusions" that the market would recover any time soon. " We're facing it across the world. What's recently accelerated is the slowdown in emerging markets," he said.

Nokia said handset market volumes are expected to fall by at least five per cent next year, something many analysts were already expecting. But it sees its market share rising, helping to lift its stock four percent to €11.02 (£9.58) in Europe and $13.84 (£9.43) in the US.

Some analysts are worried, however, that handset sales could fall a lot further next year, as even Nokia acknowledged that it does not have a good view of the market for 2009. Nokia's comments echo a similar warning from Samsung.

"We're surprised they didn't cut (its forecast) more for 2009," said Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder. "I don't think we'll see February 1 without another cut."

In addition to ailing consumer demand, operator and retail distributors will go through a period of destocking, resulting in lower sales volumes of manufacturers than purchase volumes by consumers in the first half of 2009, Nokia said.

The mobile phone market has grown at well over 10 per cent for years, having dipped only in 2001, amid that year's economic downturn; but it will face a new challenge next year.

"Next year will be the most challenging year the mobile industry has ever faced," said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight.

But Nokia said it was in a good position to weather the downturn because of the large scale of its global business.

"2009 will be challenging for our industry; however we have a strong, enviable base to build on, and I believe we will continue to strengthen our position on many fronts," Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a statement.

"Building on our operational flexibility, Nokia is acting to reduce costs appropriately in the current slowing environment," he said.

But the company said that in the meantime fourth quarter earnings will suffer, as it has not been able to cut costs quickly enough in response to the rapid deterioration of the handset market in the last few weeks.

Analysts expect Nokia to fare better than its smaller rivals in the downturn.

"Despite the challenging environment, Nokia remains best positioned ... thanks to their economies of scale and channel strategy," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

Nokia cut its forecast a day after the world's fifth and sixth largest handset makers, LG and RIM, warned on sales and profit growth. Motorola and Sony Ericsson are already struggling to make a profit.

Nokia said it expects also to win back market share in smartphones, where it has lost ground to RIM and Apple. Simonson said that the smartphone market should grow in 2009, but he did not give a specific estimate.

Say goodbye to the computer mouse


It's nearly 40 years old but one leading research company says the days of the computer mouse are numbered. A Gartner analyst predicts the demise of the computer mouse in the next three to five years. Taking over will be so called gestural computer mechanisms like touch screens and facial recognition devices.. "The mouse works fine in the desktop environment but for home entertainment or working on a notebook it's over," declared analyst Steve Prentice He told BBC News that his prediction is driven by the efforts of consumer electronics firm which are making products with new interactive interfaces inspired by the world of gaming . "You've got Panasonic showing forward facing video in the home entertainment environment. Instead of using a conventional remote control you hold up your hand and it recognises you have done that," he said. "It also recognises your face and that you are you and it will display on your TV screen your menu. You can move your hand to move around and select what you want," he added.
"Sony and Canon and other video and photographic manufacturers are using face recognition that recognises your face in real time," he said. "And it recognises even when you smile." "You even have emotive systems where you can wear a headset and control a computer by simply thinking and that's a device set to hit the market in September." "This" Mr Prentice said, "is all about using computer power to do things smarter."
Greatly exaggerated:
Naturally enough those in the business of making mice are not wholly in agreement that the end is nigh. "The death of the mouse is greatly exaggerated," said Rory Dooley senior vice president and general manager of Logitech's control devices unit. Logitech is the world's biggest manufacturer of mice and keyboards and has sold more than 500 million mice over the last 20 years. "This just proves how important a device the mouse is," said Mr Dooley. But he also agreed that the number of ways people can interact with a computers were rising and that his own company was manufacturing many of them. "People have been talking about convergence for years," he said. "Today's TV works as a computer and today's computer works as a TV. "The devices we use have been modified for our changing lifestyles but it doesn't negate the value of the mouse," Mr Dooley explained.
Popularity:
The mouse was invented by Dr Douglas Engelbart while working for the Stanford Research Institute. He never received any royalties for the invention partly because his patent ran out in 1987 before the PC revolution made the mouse indispensible. With a 40 year anniversary planned for later in the year, Mr Dooley said Gartner's prediction for the mouse was too gloomy given that the developing world has still to get online. "The mouse will be even more popular than it is today as a result," he suggested. "Bringing technology, education and information to these parts of the world will be done by accessing web browsers and doing that in the ways that we are familiar with today and that is using a mouse. "There are around one billion people online but the world's population is over five billion," he said.
Gesturing
So just how ready are people to wave their hands in the air or make faces at devices with embedded video readers? Gartner's Mr Prentice says millions are already doing it thanks to machines like Nintendo's Wii and smartphones like the iPhone. "With the Wii you point and shake and it vibrates back at you so you have a two-way relationship there. "The new generation of smart phones like the iPhone all now have tilting mechanisms or you can shake the device to do one or more things. "Even the multi-touch interface is so much more powerful and flexible than in the past allowing you to zoom in, scroll quickly or contract images." For those who lament the demise of such tried and tested pieces of hardware, Mr Prentice did concede that the keyboard was here to stay for the foreseeable future. "For all its faults, the keyboard will remain the primary text input device," he said. "Nothing is easily going to replace it. But the idea of a keyboard with a mouse as a control interface is the paradigm that I am talking about breaking down."

Nokia expending its device range





Nokia Saturday announced that it is expanding its device range which enables Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to all Nokia S60 3rd Edition devices.An announcement here said that 43 Nokia devices will now feature the Mail for Exchange mobile email application, making Nokia's device range the largest ever to enable the solution chosen by more businesses than any other messaging solution.It said that Nokia also announced Saturday that Mail for Exchange will be available out-of-the-box in future releases of Nokia Eseries and Nokia Nseries devices.
With this announcement, Nokia is enabling about 80 million mobile phone users which is the number of Nokia S60 3rd Edition converged devices shipped globally to date to connect to their email accounts on the Exchange Server.Exchange Server 2007 provides customers with anywhere access to information, advanced built-in protection and greater operational efficiency.`The Nokia-Microsoft collaboration to bring corporate mobile email to businesses and mobile professionals is truly unbeatable. No other device manufacturer provides the wide range of devices that we have, which immediately mobilize the hundreds of millions of email accounts from Microsoft Exchange', said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Markets, and Nokia.`The costs of mobility are contained as companies are able to utilize existing Microsoft Exchange infrastructure, and there is also the strong possibility that a large number of employees already have one or more of the 43 Nokia devices that enable Exchange ActiveSync'.`Nokia is a valued partner and we are pleased they are making it easier for their approximately 80 million S60 3rd Edition customers to realize the benefits of Exchange Server', said Terry Myerson, Corporate Vice President, Exchange Server, Microsoft Corp.`This announcement with Nokia further demonstrates the importance consumers and businesses place on accessing Exchange Server data from mobile devices in addition to traditional desktop clients. Nokia's announcement today will help give its users that access and help make them more productive'.`We take corporate and IT security policies seriously, and a comparison study showed that the device management and security policies for devices such as the Nokia Eseries are robust', added Vanjoki.`This should give business heads and IT managers greater confidence when choosing between device brands to mobilize their workforce'.By connecting to the Exchange Server 2007, Mail for Exchange enables features such as Autodiscover, which drastically simplifies the set-up process by requiring the email account holder to only enter their email address, password, domain and usernames; Out of Office messaging, enabling busy professionals to set their out-of-office messages directly from their Nokia device; synchronization when roaming, a must-have feature for travelling businesspeople; and also Flag status for follow-ups.While the Exchange ActiveSync protocol is compatible with many types of devices, Nokia device users will have access to features that are currently not available in other Exchange ActiveSync licensees' devices. Setting email priorities, alerts for meeting request conflicts, a standalone global address list application to search for a colleague's contact details quickly, downloading and editing all types of attachments, not just image files, are must-have factors that users will expect from their mobile email application.