Nokia defies downturn with US and enterprise moves
Published: 27 November, 2008
In the face of downturn, some vendors are scurrying back to their comfort zones to ride out the storm, but not Nokia. The market leader is chasing one brand new market after another in a quest to balance decline in its core businesses with growth elsewhere - software, web services, pushing the performance boundaries in enterprise phones, and even launching a renewed assault on the US. Having outlined plans to create 'mixed reality' devices at its new Hollywood-based lab, and to accelerate its roll-out of mobile internet services, Nokia's Thanksgiving messages focused on Symbian and enterprise handsets, both weapons in its fight to win over the US market at last.
This week, Nokia's chief development officer Mary McDowell - who used to run the US operation - said the acquisition of the Symbian company was on track. Once the transaction is finalized, Nokia will put the operating system and its related Series 60 software platform into an open source Foundation, and regards this as a key product to tap into the US' first moves towards open access systems, delivering an open platform that will be more advanced than the nascent Android.
McDowell said the open source system would increase Nokia's appeal to global markets, beyond its traditional strongholds. The company is already beefing up Symbian in readiness for its transfer to open source. In particular, it is porting its Qt cross-application framework, which it acquired earlier this year with Trolltech, and which will enhance Nokia's credentials as a company that can support multiple technologies and devices, spanning Windows, Mac, Linux and embedded Linux. McDowell said the first production release of Qt for Series 60 was scheduled for the second quarter of 2009. Qt developers can create applications and user interfaces once and then deploy them across multiple operating systems without needing to rewrite sourcecode.
Over in the enterprise market, which Nokia also sees as a soft route into the US, the company has announced the latest 6260, its first smartphone with support for the fastest available iteration of HSPA, 10.2Mbps download and 2Mbps upload. Before this, the fastest Nokia phone delivered 3.6Mbps and 384Kbps, but now the operators are upgrading their networks and business users are demanding true broadband speeds. Handsets that have already beefed up their ratings include the T-Mobile G1, RIM BlackBerry Storm and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.
In the US, there is no carrier deal for the 6260 but Nokia does tap into other business focused channels, such as its close relationship with IBM Global Services, which recently resulted in long awaited mobile support for IBM's Lotus Notes. The 6260 is a slider phone with an impressive HVGA screen and 5-megapixel camera, and its European pricing is set at €299, shipping in the first quarter of 2009. It runs Nokia's Series 40 software rather than the more media-driven S60, and offers simple access to search engines from the homescreen, as well as Wi-Fi and Assisted GPS.
More NOKIA News
More US News
More HANDSET News
COMMENTS
Carrier Broadband Performance: Africa & Middle East
Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. This...
Voice over LTE: Market Analysis and Forecasts
VoLTE offer unique advantages in lowering a carrier's voice infrastructure economics and promises to improve voice quality, device...
Satellite Phones: Will Dual Mode Help the Phoenix Rise from the Ashes?
Satellite phones have followed an arduous path since their much-hyped launch more than a decade ago. The hype was followed by an e...
