Nokia has announced their Calling all Innovators Contest which is divided into four categories:
Eco/Being Green Like its name implies, this category challenges developers to help save the planet with innovative, eco-friendly applications for use on Nokia devices.
Entertainment Here’s your chance to submit apps that rock, and show off the coolest multimedia features that are available on the latest Nokia mobile devices. This includes music, multimedia and games.
Productivity This category seeks mobile applications that make consumer’s daily lives easier and help them to be more efficient, such as utilities, business, or personal finance applications.
Life Improvement This category seeks applications that positively affect the daily lives of people living in developing countries, and may include education, agriculture, health and more.
This year, the contest also has a fifth category that truly stands alone:
Growth Economy Venture Challenge Nokia’s Calling All Innovators competition has always been about trying to find the best big ideas for mobile applications from developers around the world.
There is a special call to Pakistani innovators. The site states:
The 2010 Calling All Innovators contest has a special prize for developers who submit locally relevant applications and content for use on Nokia devices by consumers living in Pakistan. The best entry by a developer based in Pakistan will receive a special prize of 1,000,000/- PKR in cash. Additionally, two runners-up will get 500,000/- PKR in cash and 300,000/- PKR in cash respectively. And remember, this is an additional incentive – you could still be a global winner in one of the four categories!*
It seems like a new Nokia Phone is rumoured to be launched this MWC 2010.
Named “Nokia 8-00“, this device will run on Symbian^3 and boasts of a 3.5″ fully touch screen with support for Multitouch (Wow!). The device will also feature a 12 megapixel camera and support HD (720p) Video Recording.
Another Interesting feature which is rumoured to get launched is the new Ovi webTV feature. In partnership with many operators, Video On Demand will be available through Ovi Store, through which the user can download episodes of any television series or documentary movies.
However, how far this rumour is true, is yet to be seen.
Nokia plans to launch a bunch of “C-series” Mobile during the Mobile World Congress 2010 held in Barcelona. Few days ago, we saw Nokia C5 getting pictured. Today, we have Nokia C6, which is rumored to be launched during the Mobile world congress.
Nokia C6 is a S60 3rd edition touch screen phone which also sports QWERTY keypad. It comes with a 5-megapixel camera and features high speed HSDPA connectivity. It looks like Nokia is trying to target budget conscious audience. The Nokia C6 reportedly carries a price tag of approximately €200 (approx $ 274).
DENVER (Billboard) - It's been more than six years since then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates admitted that Apple caught the company "flat-footed" in the digital music market and directed his team to make up for lost ground, according to recently surfaced internal e-mails.
To date, Microsoft's effort to address the digital music market has largely focused on its Zune player and Zune Pass subscription service, which have won favorable reviews but few customers. But with the recent unveiling of its Windows Phone 7 Series operating system at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Microsoft hopes to reboot its struggling digital music strategy.
Even the well-received Zune HD device, introduced last fall, hasn't been enough to convince music fans to convert to the Zune Pass. The company says it has sold only 3.8 million players since 2006, and NPD Group estimated in November that it has a 2 percent share of the U.S. portable media player market, compared with 70 percent for Apple's iPod.
So Microsoft has made it a priority to expand the Zune service to other platforms. In November, it added the Zune's video service to its Xbox Live network, consisting of more than 20 million worldwide users of the Xbox 360 gaming console. Since then, Zune communications director Jose Pinero says the number of daily HD video downloads and streams has doubled. Now, Microsoft plans to use its Windows Phone 7 platform to bring Zune to mobile customers.
"Anybody who gets a Windows Phone 7 Series phone is going to get a Zune within that device," Pinero says.
INTERNATIONAL PUSH
The most immediate impact this has is to expand the Zune service to countries outside of the United States and Canada, which are the only markets where the Zune is sold. While Microsoft will continue to sell the original Zune player in the States, Pinero says it doesn't plan to expand it to other countries, instead relying on the mobile phone software to bring the Zune service to those markets.
For this strategy to work, Microsoft will have to turn around its equally struggling mobile phone business. According to technology research and consulting firm Gartner, Windows Mobile handsets rank fourth in worldwide smart-phone sales, at 7.9 percent, as of third-quarter 2009, down from 11 percent a year earlier and behind Nokia, BlackBerry parent Research in Motion and Apple.
But those rankings remain fluid, as analysts expect global smart-phone sales to double in the next three years.
"There's certainly opportunity for Microsoft and other players in this market to grab share in the smart-phone space," says Sue Kevorkian, an analyst at tech market research firm
IDC.
Early reviews of Windows Phone 7 have been positive, with its simple interface and clean design winning high marks. But handsets featuring the new technology aren't expected to hit the market until the 2010 holiday season. By that time, Apple is expected to release an updated iPhone.
Zune will need to do more than piggyback on an innovative new mobile phone platform to generate the kind of momentum needed to elevate itself from the status of also-ran. It must compete with rival mobile music services sure to be created for handsets using Windows Phone 7, and the company hasn't yet detailed how developers will be able to integrate Zune functionality into their applications, if at all. Answers to those questions are expected in March at Microsoft's annual Web developer conference, Mix.
Zune will also need to increase its footprint to encompass more than mobile technology. That includes adding the music service to the Xbox Live network, as well as taking a larger stake of the subscription market and expanding that lackluster model beyond its current state.
Forrester Research analyst Sonal Gandhi estimates the entire U.S. music subscription market totals just 2.5 million users, and that includes not only Zune, Rhapsody, Napster and MOG, but also eMusic and those paying for the premium tiers of such streaming services as Pandora and Live365.
While Microsoft's recent moves may lend an important boost to Zune, the company will have to look beyond the subscription model if it is to have much of an impact on overall digital music revenue.
Good news for all the Google Earth fans, who also happen to own an Android phone. Google has finally unveiled and made available the Android version of Google Earth which is now available on Android Market.
This latest addition takes advantage of Android phones multitouch capabilities and is a treat to have on your phone, especially Nexus One. You will not feel a difference in the look and feel and it is really fun when you can have the world dancing on your finger tips (literally)
Sizzledcore.com has done some good job in posting some neat screenshots. In case you want to have a look before download then do visit the site. As for me, I still have to install the screenshot app in my new desktop so it will take me a while to upload the screens.
Good news for HTC HD2 users as the new ROM is now available on Vodafone’s website for download and update your HTC HD2. This ROM was much awaited after the announcement of Windows Phone 7 Series but unfortunately this is not the WP7 update.
It is update to existing functions plus some bug fixes. One thing is for sure that by using this new ROM, the HTC users will not void their phone’s warranty.
Vodafone claims that this ROM will help improve the efficiency of HD2, but results and user opinions will only show how much it is of an improvement over the last version.
Microsoft was on the seventh heaven when it announced its latest OS, Windows Phone 7 Series in Mobile World Congress last week. The world and enthusiasts alike have taken a look at the OS and most of them are giving out mixed reviews.
Mobiletechworld.com has explained the entire OS very thoroughly and I think to day this is the best explanation of how WP7 works or will work and what sort of market shift we can expect out of this new player in the Mobile OS town.
The article goes in depth with the technicalities and functionalities of what happened in the past with Windows OS on Mobiles and what makes WP7 the choice platform for users and developers a like.
Without further delay, click on the following link to read in detail about Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Series.
Apple has redesigned the home page of Me.com for iPhone and iPod Touch , and has added a bunch of options you will seriously admire and love. One of them happens to be the ability to use the Find my iPhone service right from your mobile gadget.
Prior to this refresh, it only provided you with instructions you to setup Mail, Contacts, Calendars and Find My iPhone on an iPhone/iPod Touch. But now, it brings three new options which are:
Install iDisk app.
Install Gallery app.
Use Find my iPhone.
Once you select the iPhone locating option, you will be prompted to enter a your MobileMe credentials. Once logged in, you can now see the iPhone on the map and send messages, play sound or lock/wipe your device.
All in all, a useful redesign since it allows users to access the service right from their mobile phone.
The screen-lock (device unlock) passcode for iPhone/iPod Touch isn’t the most secure method out there. The reason behind this is of course the limitation of a numeric based 4 digit code. 9 to5 Mac have realized that and have done something about it. Yup they have made it possible for you to set a 6 digit alpha numeric pass-code for unlocking your device.
This is how they did it : They created a profile out of Apple’s corporate development kit that makes the alphanumeric flavor of passcode a possibility.
Ok Ok, here is how you set the pass-code. Open http://9to5mac.com/9to5mac.mobileconfig on your iDevice. Enter a new passcode once prompted. You might want to bear in mind that while this allows for alphanumeric codes. You aren’t allowed to use consecutive digits. For e.g. you can’t have gw5678 as your pass-code, gw5791 will do the trick. In case you want to revert back to the same old pass-code scheme, then all you need to do is follow this path Settings/General/Profiles/9to5mac/ and then select the remove option.
As always, you will be doing this at your own risk and will and no one else would be held responsible for it. So do you intend to use the alphanumeric code as your screen lock pass-code.
Here comes another round of rumor for the next major update for iPhone OS, iPhone 4.0. The latest rumor which comes via an anoymous tweet shared with Redmond Pie suggests that iPhone OS 4.0 is expected to go live on 14th March. Hold onto your horses, 14th March happens to be a Sunday which says that this news will remain a rumor. But hey haven’t you heard nothing is impossible in the IT world.
This is not the first iPhone OS 4.0 rumor that has emerged onto the scene. Previously it was rumored to be coming on 27th Jan, i.e. on the iPadlaunch day, but it wasn’t announced was it.
In terms of the likely or should I say speculated features, iPhone 4.0 is believed to bring multi-tasking for iPhone and much more which you can see here.
Google Mobile app for iPhone and iPod Touch has been updated. The update which takes the app version number to 0.4.5.3281 brings voice search awesomeness for iPod Touch 2G or higher. Besides this impressive addition, it also brings its fair share of fixes and improvements which are listed after the jump.
Google Mobile for iPhone 0.4.5.3281 features
Here is what you will be getting by downloading the latest update:
Add support for Search by Voice for iPod touch (2G or newer).
Improved stability when using Voice Search on restrictive networks.
Fix crashes when searching for @.
Fix pasting into search box.
Improvements to Search by Voice completion detection.
Just to refresh your memory, here are the general features of the app
Search by voice – speak your queries in American, British, Indian or Australian English accents, also supports Mandarin Chinese and Japanese
Just talk – Simply hold your iPhone to your ear and say your query
My Location – avoid typing your current location when searching for nearby businesses (e.g. “pizza” or “starbucks”)
Google Suggest – tap suggested web search queries and local businesses that appear as you type
Search history – quickly search again for queries you recently performed
Contact search – search your phone’s contacts.
Vertical search – search Google Maps, Images, News, and Shopping.
To use this app, you need to have iPhone or iPod Touch running on iPhone 3.0 or higher.
I can say without any doubts that iPod Touch users will be excited about this latest update since it brings the cool voice search feature. Am I right ? Let me know using the comments power vested in you.
HP continued its leadership in the high-growth thin and light notebook category by introducing new Ultra-slim Notebooks in Pakistan today at its media event in Karachi titled, “See Thin in a whole new Light”.
The comprehensive new notebook portfolio from HP includes HP Pavilion dm3, the HP Pavilion TM2 Tablet Notebook, the Mini311 slim and the already launched AMD Based DV2, stylish consumer notebooks that deliver an optimal balance of mobility.
Philip Lau, GM AEC & Pakistan HP said that “The consumer notebook market is red hot right now,” and HP’s Thin and attractively priced notebooks have the potential to resonate with consumers in Asia and become a major driver for the overall PC market in the process.
HP is well positioned to take advantage of this growth with its portfolio of thin and light notebooks that address both businesses and consumers’ computing needs, he opined.
Chua Hwee Koon, vice president, Mobile Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP Asia Pacific and Japan said that “HP pioneered the ‘thin and light’ category with the introduction of the HP ENVY 133 notebook in June 2008, which was followed by the ‘affordable thin and light’ HP Pavilion dv2 notebook introduced at CES 2009,”. “The addition of these new thin and light notebooks further validates HP’s position as an undisputed leader in notebook design and raises the bar to a new level for the entire thin and light category.”
HP, the world’s largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure.
Nokia being one of the world’s biggest phone manufacturer was considerably quiet in the recently concluded Mobile World Congress 2010. The silence took many fans and industry enthusiasts by sort of a surprise thinking Nokia may have resorted back to the drawing board for a better competitive phone.
Wait no more, Nokia’s new phone in development, named X10, has been leaked out in the wild along with the specs and a video. We are not sure whether it is actually true because the leaked document has a bar code on it thus indicating that it has already gone into works and is in their ERP systems for identification.
The Specs of Nokia’s X10 S^3 (Symbian version 3?) are (not drool worthy btw):
Honestly speaking, I really like Apple products as they are innovative and fun to have and not for forget, productive. But recently some news about Apple’s behavior has compelled me to think about what the company culture is and what are they actually promoting.
As we already know that Steve Jobs locked out Adobe from iPhone and now iPad for the reason only known to him but 2 news pieces caught my eye and now I am actually thinking about getting into more details of how Apple not only treats their own employees but also their customers.
First one is what happened 2 days ago when a Reuters reported was captured by Foxconn’s facility guards because he was taking pictures of the facility standing on a public road. This facility is known to manufacture Apple’s products and parts. Although Police was called but the guards could not prove their actions being legit so the reported was let go. It was fortunate of them that the reported did not press charges. But then again, what the hell? How can someone or some corporation guards can take the law in their own hands and treat anyone like this. I know it might have been wrong on the reporter’s part too but dragging him out of his cab and then calling in the Police, for what? Click here if you want to read more of this story.
Second is when a customer was asked to hand over his Jail Broken iPod touch by Apple Store employees, including the Store Manager. Now this is really f’d up. If a customer has bought a product, then he / she owns the right to do whatever he / she wishes to and all the manufacturer can do is to void his warranty. But they did not, they too called in the Police claiming that the device customer was carrying was ILLEGAL. After the Police was told by the customer about his rights of suing Apple’s behind for harassing him, they let him go (well they did not have a case in the first place). The store manager and another employee did not argue more and let the customer go as Police told them they did not have a chance to make a case in the first place after talking to the customer. Read the full story here.
Now you tell me, if I buy a PC, mod it, over clock my CPU or RAM and then use it then would Intel or AMD come to my house telling me that it is ILLEGAL. You’re damn right they won’t. So why does Apple (as a company including their CEO) have an attitude of dissing anyone they don’t like or they feel is not right.
Search the Internet, you will find many more stories, including the one in which an employee was beaten to death just because he leaked some info or another one in which an employee committed suicide just because he lost the prototype device.
Is it that scary to work for Apple or even being associated with the company? I know competition is tough but its not worth lives of people who make the company what it is by buying their products.
HTC has been the talk of the town ever since it made a come back last year with back to back phone releases. The company started 2010 with a bang by launching Nexus One, in collaboration with Google. Now in the second month, it seems like HTC now wishes to take the Nexus One fame to the next level and it has announced another (sort of) variant of N1 by the name of HTC Desire.
The fun part about this new phone is the HTC Sense. A feature which makes the user experience entirely different from any other phone, an HTC hold the credit to introduce it to the world. What Nexus One does not have and it should have in the first place (smart move on HTC part) was when Google was preparing itself for the only Android 2.1 OS phone, HTC simple took out Sense from it, thus keeping the propriety feature for its own line up.
Now you have a chance to have HTC Sense on your Nexus One and we have found a solution for you.
xda-developers.com made the new ROM and Redmondpie.com posted a comprehensive guide on how to make it available on your Nexus One by using HTC Desire ROM. I must add here that before proceeding to root your phone with the new ROM, you must back up everything on your phone just in case of an unexpected event (and don’t say we didn’t warn you).
Without much delay, please click on the following link to go through the comprehensive guide to run HTC Desire ROM on HTC Nexus One.
Samsung came huge this Mobile World Congress , with ads covering the whole front facade of Avenues de Barcelona , a former Bull Fighting Arena at Espanya right in front of the Fira Barcelona . If that was not enough , everywhere we went there were huge Samsung Bada / Samsung Wave .
Intrigued I went to see the Samsung Wave and Guess what Samsung Wave has a big problem .
Tilt the phone with Camera On and the screen will start flickering , same as when you are making a video of TV Screen , make it upright the flickering stops .
I tried three phones and they all had the same problem , the spokes person with me was like well it’s a prototype but still if it’s the inherited problem it’s going to be a big fail
Watch the video below to check it out
I hope Samsung will fix the issue before making Bada the Bad Ass OS of Mobile World
As we talked about the Nokia Calling All Innovators 2010 contest’s introduction, and now we are moving to the specific countries which are discussed by the Nokia on the site. There are three countries which are listed on the site including Belgium , Pakistan and Netherlands. We are going to discuss the contest details about regarding Pakistan.
nok_countriesNokia wants to encourage the developers of Pakistan , Nokia wants the applications with respect to the local needs , content as well .In this sense , they have announced the prize money of 1,000,000/- PKR in cash for the best entry by a developer in Pakistan , and runners-up will receive 500,000/- PKR in cash , 300,000/- PKR in cash respectively.
nok_pakOn the other side, Nokia also offering the developers of Pakistan to participate in five categories to become a global winner, following are the five categories:
1. Eco/Being Green 2. Entertainment 3. Productivity 4. Life Improvement 5. Growth Economy Venture Challenge
If you want to participate in this contest so you need to follow the following steps:
1. Choose category from the contest categories. 2. You can create an application, a piece of content or a web runtime widget that works on Nokia mobile devices and also relevant to your local market as mention before. One thing which make me surprised that you can develop application in both English and Urdu languages. 3. You can submit your application/content/web runtime widget before 18th May 2010.You should submit all the important documents related to your entry in which you have to tell Nokia about your entry, advantages of it, its uniqueness and why it is appealing for the consumer of the local market and also for the global market too.
nok_submitFollowing are the date’s details of the whole contest:
* Deadline for submissions: 18 May 2010. * Announcement of finalists: June 2010. * Announcement of winners: September 2010.
So, why are you waiting for? Start developing and make your way to the prize. The submission period ends on 18 May 2010.Kepp visiting Progmic for more details about the contest’s updates.
This is the latest in the information and rumors being received on Apple’s next OS & phone update. Recently Apple did launch iPhone OS 3.03 along with SDK 3.2 but now the latest hint towards release of the next OS upgrade comes from 2 (somewhat) credible resources. Redmondpie and 9to5Mac. Although it was only a tip which both sites received but then again, you never know.
The anticipation has now turned towards Apple again as the word has been wondering into the Internet circles about the expected launch of next generation iPhone handset, dubbed as iPhone 4. With the fierce competition coming up with HTC and Microsoft, Apple really really needs to have something new to come up with its iPhone, otherwise, the front runner might end up being lost in the middle of this race.
Here is the Day 3 round-up of World Mobile Congress 2010. Some new phones announced along with latest alliances and news.
HTC & Telefonica Strike Deal for Affordable Smartphone World’s fastest growing smartphone maker HTC has struck an exclusivity deal with European service provider Telephonica to introduce affordable smartphones for the masses. Targeted towards teens and youth, the new handsets will be running on Qualcomm’s Brew platform. At the moment the prices is expected to be around 120 Euros. Both companies aim to tap into wider youth market as this segment is perceived to be away from moving to smartphones due to higher price brackets.
Alcatel Jumps on Android Bandwagon The latest OEM to port its devices towards Google’s Android OS is Alcatel. The new device, OT-980, will be based on Android OS and will be priced below 200 Euros. Alcatel, primarily known for producing low cost devices manufactured by Asia’s TCT mobile shipped 16 Million devices in 2009. The new range of Alcatel smartphones will feature not only touch screen but will also have full QWERTY keyboards. The new devices are expected to be available around June 2010.
Opera Demonstrates Fastest iPhone Browser Announced recently, Opera demonstrated the multifunctional capabilities of the latest browser for iPhone users. The tests and demonstration showed Opera Mini to be at 5 times faster than iPhone’s native Safari browser. The company did not let the audience take pictures of make movies of the demonstration. Although Safari claims the majority traffic from Mobiles to Internet but keeping in view the latest demonstration, Opera may have a winner.
Puma Launches Its Own Phone Puma joined hands with Sagem to bring their first of many smartphones. A Palm-Pre look alike, Puma phone is targeted towards youth and people who want to have fun with their devices. With a focus on sports and entertainment, Puma device comes with 2.8 inch QVGA capacitive touch screen and 3.2 Mega Pixel camera with 6X zoom and LED flash. Packed with solar cell it also has integrated battery indicator for knowing how much battery life is left. The Puma phone is expected to be available in Europe by the end of April 2010.
Google has launched a new app for Android users by the name of Google Shopper. This app is somewhat an extended and much refined version of Google Goggles.
What Android users will be able to do is to search for products just by scanning them, their bar code or any other identification mark and Google will provide them with details on price, availability, reviews, etc.
This is a neat application but would be beneficial in countries where online shopping is pretty much part of day to day activities.
Here’s a video by Google demonstrating how the app works. It is available through Android Market Place on Android based handsets.
It was anticipated, a move which could change the landscape of online music and content market altogether. I came across a very interesting piece of news which might be nothing but it could also be everything.
Apple has been on the move for acquiring companies and expanding its cloud computing analogy but what everyone else did not see coming was if Apple was actually planning to move its iTunes Store on the Internet. So it is the next step towards actually moving iTunes into cloud computing, that is, you can make a purchase on the web and then download the content on any of the Apple devices you own, anywhere. It is more like carrying all your collections and downloads all the time.
At the moment, except for the final purchase, everything else can be done through Apple’s web site. Selecting the content, previewing it and then either using iTunes or any of your devices to download but if you are able to make a purchase online, then you won’t need iTunes application and you can be free of worries about when to download or where to download your content.
For the information, Getmo, part of Arvato, which is part of Sony-BMG is already doing similar for mobile content, but is limited to carriers only.
If you need to quickly and easily duplicate hard drives for your backup purposes or recovery. Then the Aleratec 1:1 HDD PortaCruiser portable hard drive duplicator could help. It lets you clone 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch hard drives with ease and supports both IDE and SATA I/II HARD disk drives. Portable Hard Drive Duplicator You can also set up access your drives via a USB 2.0 connection to your computer with RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD Spanning or Normal disk configuration. Its compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista & 7 together with the support for Linux and Mac 10.3 or later.
Available to purchase from Aleratec’s website directly for $249.
Nokia has announced the results of the Nokia N86 8MP Click it! Competition and distributed prizes to the lucky winners of the competition.
Nokia N86 8MP Click it! Competition was launched by Brandsynario in collaboration with Nokia on 23rd November 2009 and closed off on 23rd January, 2010. The competition kicked-off from Brandsynario platform simultaneously in the three metros of Pakistan: Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The one of its kind online photography competition invited university going youth of Pakistan to upload photos depicting the theme “Jawan Pakistan” on www.brandsynario.com and get a chance to win Nokia N86 8MP camera.
Adeel Hashmi, Communications Manager, Nokia Pakistan & Afghanistan presented Nokia N86 8PM cell phone to the three happy winners of the competition. The winners of the competition were selected through mass sms and online voting. The three winners who got the highest votes were declared the winners of the competition; Mr. Hanif Haroon , age 25 from CTTC Institute got the highest number of votes – 5467, followed by Mr. Ahsan Ali, age 21, from (Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology) SZABIST and Mr. Imran Shah, age 22 from Karachi University.
Speaking on the occasion, Adeel Hashmi said, “We are delighted with the overwhelming response we received from the participants as well as the audience. Sharing moments through mobile phone has seen an upward trend among Pakistani youngsters. Today’s Pakistani generation is intelligent as well as socially active. They value the time they spend with friends and family and prefer sharing their activities with friends through their mobile phones. Nokia has made sharing fun for young generation through its mobile devices such as Nokia N86 and services like Ovi Share that make quick and easy sharing possible with favourite contacts. Nokia is the biggest manufacturer of mobile phone camera in the world. In year 2008-09 alone, Nokia shipped approximately 200 million camera devices. A wonderful combination of digital camera technology is the new Nokia N86. Pakistani youth’s passion and interest for the Digital Photography clearly depicts that they are transforming with the world. It is heartening to see that so many people have become part of this digital change!”
Ali Reza Merchant, Executive Director, Brandsynario said, “I want to take this opportunity to thank Nokia for being our brand partner for Nokia N86 Click it! Competition and Mobilius for handling sms voting to finalize the competition results. This was a unique venture and a great learning experience for Brandsynario to engage Pakistani youth on such a large scale. We received a variety of captivating photos for the competition which provided us valuable insight about the way today’s Pakistani youth perceives the world around them.”
Nokia has always believed in supporting the young talent in Pakistan and will continue to move forward in that direction to bring more opportunities for Pakistan’s youth in future.
The present day gadgetry scene is so much rewarding for us that we can effortlessly think and get anything we want, the way we want! Thanks to major gadget makers of the likes of Apple which has taken a big stride ahead to bring the most powerful contraptions for you. After doing it big in the software industry, now is the time for Apple iPhone, an all-in-one gadget for communication and entertainment needs. The Apple iPhone has the best of communication features complemented with an integrated camera (2MP), built-in musing player, sufficient memory rooms in GB, MS office, Bluetooth etc. In terms of connectivity, the device has functions like WLAN, Wi-Fi and GPRS. For whom getting extra with the iPhone means a lot, for them, additional iPhone web applications can do the needful. These applications are available on the web at reasonable rates and they can be easily installed onto the device without any technical knowledge or prior experience. The website of the application development company has all the tips on how to download apps and then install them.
The Apple iPhone is not just a mobile phone. It’s in fact one among those priceless possessions that anyone and everyone should have. A real ease to use it, the device offers true spirit of music on the move through its iPod quality music player. Today, the number of additional iPhone application users has gone up rapidly. The number of application developers is also on the rise. These developers are catering to the needs of users by offering them standard as well as customized application under different packages. Customized applications for iPhone are usually a set of applications which are exclusively developed for someone for special purposes. Almost all iPhone application development companies now have customized application development solutions under different price ranges. An iPhone applications development India can also be considered if your aim is to avail the most reliable customized iPhone application development services. Already extending their services to a good number of domestic as well as international clients, the Indian developers have earned a big reputation in a global environment.
Mozila has scheduling to release Firefox 4.0 this year. It can be used on Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. The new function introduced in this browser is GUI a users can install different themes to change the look of their browser. Firefox 4.0 also has multi touched gesture support. There is an indication that firfox 4.0 will see 64bit browser appearing. Firefox scheduled to use Gecko 1.9.4 rendering engine.
You get the whole world in your hand with the launch of the new model of the big selling PSP system. It gives you both the PSP Slim & Lite stunning looks and functions and also two amazing new features.
Thanks to the built-in microphone on the PSP-3000, you can say goodbye to cords and headsets and chat online with your friends with Skype - the only thing you need is a wireless connection. Make sure you are connected wherever you find yourself, with Skype on the PSP. Call an unlimited number of free voice and video calls to anyone on Skype, wherever he or she is present. With Skype you can also save money on calls to landlines and mobiles by subscribing to one of Skype's popular unlimited subscriptions or purchase Skype credit. Now you can not only communicate with the world - will now also your whole world on the PSP will be even nicer. The screen on the PSP-3000 may produce even more colors, giving you higher resolution, in addition, the anti-glare technology that gives you a better experience with your PSP, even in bright sunlight and crisp indoor lighting.
In a recent interview with X-bit labs, GM of Nvidia Rene Hass, he told that company is focusing on golden opportunity of preparing external graphics adapter for notebooks as no one is doing such thing.
"I think it is a big opportunity. We have two strategies at Nvidia: one is to put graphics everywhere; the other one is to find more ways to integrate discrete chips into the box. I think there is definitely a place forexternal graphics cards for notebooks”.
It is for user convenience that, external graphic adapter allows the user to plug in the adapter when ever it is required. Although ATI has introduced external graphic cards and port technology in 2008 but it didn’t work good for them and now no external graphic solution is available today.
Rene concluded;
"I think the pricing issue that has to be solved for something like that is the right price-point that hits the right segment. There is definitely a lot of interest in it and this is something we are keeping our eye on to be able to offer something there."
Vopium beat all mobile VoIP apps and proved to be the best application to provide cheapest calling solution around the world. After Skype Vopium was second to launched IM. It is good to stay connected with your friends with one application. I suggest Truphone who is another major player of mobile VoIP industry to also look into it.
vopiumVopium supports upto 900 mobile devices from Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericssion, HTC, Blackberry and others but initially IM is launched only for iPhone. Now you can make FREE calls to Skype, Gtalk and other Vopium users when they are online. You can chat with your friends on Skype, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ and MSN and you can follow them on Twitter.
Download Vopium via iTunes
The new iPhone app also includes a number of cool new features. For example it is easier to send SMS and you can check and transfer balance to other users directly from your iPhone. Read more and download the new Vopium app for iPhone here
Vopium Official said that very shortly IM on Android, Nokia, Blackerry, Windows Mobile and Java will available.
Vopium is a free piece of software, which you download to your mobile phone. It is easy to install and through our least cost routing it helps you saving money on international calls and SMS. For More about Vopium visit: www.vopium.com
Here are some of the highlights of the first day of Mobile World Congress 2010, in Barcelona, Spain.
Microsoft Launches Windows Phone 7 Series After a month of rumors and speculations, Microsoft has finally unveiled the next generation of Windows Mobile by the name of Windows Phone 7 Series. Based on the recently launched Windows 7, this latest Mobile OS gives the perfect blend to the user between online and offline activities. Keeping in view the growing demand of online applications, WP7 takes advantage of Microsoft’s cloud computing along with partners applications and provide a one stop solution to the end users. More details…
Mobile Operators Unit on Global Apps Platform 15 of the world’s top cellular service providers joined forces and agreed upon launching a single applications platform for mobiles. This platform will provide the developers to work with a single platform for all mobiles for apps development, thus making it a fierce competition for Apple’s iTunes and Google’s Market Place. Although it will take some time for it to finally come through but industry pundits are already skeptical about the fate of this joint venture. More details…
Motorola Launches Android Powered Quench Smartphone After the success of Motorola Droid, the mobile phones pioneers are on a roll to get out of the “Razr Curse”. Launching Goolge’s Android based smartphone one by one might give Motorola a piece of mind of coming back into the mobile phones market. The phone features Motorola’s trademark MotoBlur, which syncs all the social and person contacts and details at one place for convenience. The phone will have built-in 5MP camera with auto flash along with 3G and Wi-Fi access. More details…
Samsung Launches “Bada”, its own OS with Phone World’s second largest mobile phone manufacturer has launched its own OS by the name of “Bada”. Announced last year, Samsung now is concentrating promoting its own OS on the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft, the three leaders in mobile phone OS. The latest phone comes up with 5MP camera and 1.0 Snapdragon CPU. More details…
Nokia & Intel Team up for New OS Two of the world’s biggest technology companies have joined hands together to build an entirely new Operating System. “Meego” is the name of the joint OS in discussion. Based on Unix platform, it will be an amalgamation of Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin platform. Both companies are pretty excited about this new venture and they are looking forward to expand it to Netbooks and tablets as well in near future. More details…
MeeGo* enables an open ecosystem for rapid development of exciting new user experiences
Espoo, Finland and Santa Clara, CA, USA - In a significant development in the convergence of communications and computing, Intel Corporation and Nokia are merging their popular Moblin and Maemo software platforms. This will create a unified Linux-based platform that will run on multiple hardware platforms across a wide range of computing devices, including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems. Called MeeGo, the open software platform will accelerate industry innovation and time-to-market for a wealth of new Internet-based applications and services and exciting user experiences. MeeGo-based devices from Nokia and other manufacturers are expected to be launched later this year.
This announcement strengthens the Nokia and Intel relationship, and builds on the companies' broad strategic collaboration announced in June 2009. Intel and Nokia now invite participation in MeeGo from existing Maemo and Moblin global communities and across the communications and computing industries.
"Our vision for seamlessly communicating between computing devices from the home, auto, office or your pocket is taking a big step forward today with the introduction of MeeGo," said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini. "This is a foundational step in our evolving relationship with Nokia. The merging of these two important assets into an open source platform is critical toward providing a terrific experience across a variety of devices and gaining cross- industry support."
"MeeGo will drive an even wider range of Internet computing and communication experiences for consumers, on new types of mobile devices," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO, and Nokia. "Through open innovation, MeeGo will create an ecosystem that is second to none, drawing in players from different industries. It will support a range of business models across the value chain, building on the experience and expertise of Nokia, Intel and all those who will join us. Simply put, MeeGo heralds a new era of mobile computing."
MeeGo blends the best of Maemo with the best of Moblin to create an open platform for multiple processor architectures. MeeGo builds on the capabilities of the Moblin core OS and its support for a wide range of device types and reference user experiences, combined with the momentum of Maemo in the mobile industry and the broadly adopted Qt application and UI framework for software developers.
MeeGo also unites the robust worldwide Maemo and Moblin applications ecosystems and open source communities. For developers, MeeGo extends the range of target device segments for their applications. Using Qt for application development means that they can write applications once and easily deploy them on MeeGo and across other platforms, for example, on Symbian.
The Ovi Store will be the channel to market for apps and content for all Nokia devices, including MeeGo and Symbian-based, with Forum Nokia providing developer support across all Nokia device platforms. The IntelAppUpSMCenter will be the path to market for Intel-based MeeGo devices from other device manufacturers, with the Intel® Atom(TM) Developer Program providing support for applications targeting devices in a variety of categories.
The MeeGo software platform, running on high-performance devices, will deliver a range of Internet, computing and communication experiences, with visually rich graphics, multitasking and multimedia capabilities and the best application performance. Since MeeGo runs on multiple device types, people can keep their favorite applications when they change devices, so they are not locked into one kind of device or those from any individual manufacturer.
MeeGo Hosted by the Linux Foundation
The MeeGo software platform will be hosted by the Linux Foundation as a fully open source project, encouraging community participation in line with the best practices of the open source development model. Intel and Nokia invite the respective members of Maemo.org and Moblin.org to join the combined community at MeeGo.com, as well as encouraging wider participation from the communications, computing and related industries. Developers can begin writing applications for MeeGo in Qt immediately. The first release of MeeGo is targeted for the second quarter of this year.
Barcelona, Spain - With a great user experience, an aggressive global rollout plan and a focus on local relevance, Nokia truly put its services on the map - and the strong momentum continues.
"Our recipe for success has some pretty simple ingredients: delighting consumers. Yes, we are in more places, serving more people, with more great content and services. True, more than a million apps are being downloaded a day from our store; Comes with Music is now available in over 25 markets; and every second of the day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, another person downloads our new Ovi Maps app. These are great achievements, but our goal is to delight hundreds of millions of consumers around the world - and we are well on our way," says Niklas Savander, head of Nokia's services business.
"Our global footprint means we have scaled fast, reaching a really significant number of people using a variety of different phones and smartphones. We started the year with a bang with our free Ovi Maps navigation launch and we have just announced the pilot of Nokia Money running in one of India's largest metropolitan areas. Going forward, we are increasing the speed and concentrating on developing a magic experience for the people that use our services."
Nokia highlighted landmark achievements for its key service areas:
Location: Launched in late January, the new Ovi Maps features drive and walk navigation in 74 countries and 46 languages, as well as traffic information in many. All new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include this great service - at no extra cost.
- More than 3 million Ovi Maps downloaded to date
- More than one download per second, 24 hours a day; around 100,000 downloads a day
- Rich functionality and the best mobile maps coverage in the world
Music: Last week, Comes With Music grew to 27 markets with its arrival in the Middle East. People that own a Comes With Music device can download as much free music as they want from Ovi Music and, unlike other online music services, can keep them on their device forever. Music downloaded from the Ovi Music à la carte menu is also DRM-free.
- Ovi Music is in 33 markets, making Nokia the world's most scaled global digital music provider
- The average person using Comes With Music downloads 500 free songs in the first few weeks of using the service, which would cost about EUR 450 from iTunes
- More than nine million tracks in the Ovi Music catalogue
Store: Launched in May 2009, multiple upgrades and experience improvements have improved the browsing and search experience, leading to a significant increase in the number of downloads. In 2010, Ovi Store will have more languages, billing support, improvements and of course, lots more apps.
- More than one million downloads a day
- The number of people shopping on the store doubles every month
- Fully localized store in 18 countries supporting 30 languages, and serving 90 percent of Store visitors with their local language
- Integrated mobile billing from 60 operators in 18 countries
Messaging: A million people a month open an Ovi Mail account, often their first online identity, bringing the total number of accounts created to more than six million in just over a year. Working closely with operators, Nokia Messaging, Nokia's push email service, is now signed up with over 70 operators.
Nokia Money: Global financial services initiative starts in India
In partnership with YES BANK, a commercial pilot of the global mobile financial services initiative has started in Pune, one of the largest metropolitan areas in India. The service in Pune, called Mobile Money Services by YES BANK, brings financial services to the consumers' mobile devices.
"The Nokia Money initiative based on Obopay's platform is initially targeted at growth markets and designed to work in partnership with multiple network operators and banks, involving distributors and merchants in a dynamic open ecosystem to seamlessly provide the new services. YES BANK is our first partner in India to bring this service to market," said Teppo Paavola, VP and general manager of Mobile Financial Services at Nokia.
- Initial phase: consumers will be able to transfer money to another person just by using the person's mobile phone number, pay utility bills as well as recharge their prepaid SIM cards (SIM top-up).
- Later, consumers will also be able to pay merchants for goods and services.
Nokia Life Tools:
Nokia Life Tools is providing rural subscribers with livelihood and life improvement services, including agriculture and education services. Subscribers primarily depend on the agriculture trade and live around the poverty threshold - which makes parting with one or two dollars each month for a mobile service a substantial investment. Since its launch in mid-2009, around one million people have already subscribed to the service. Nokia Life Tools is available in India and Indonesia, and will roll out to more markets this year.
Nokia has announced their Calling all Innovators Contest which is divided into four categories:
Eco/Being Green Like its name implies, this category challenges developers to help save the planet with innovative, eco-friendly applications for use on Nokia devices.
Entertainment Here’s your chance to submit apps that rock, and show off the coolest multimedia features that are available on the latest Nokia mobile devices. This includes music, multimedia and games.
Productivity This category seeks mobile applications that make consumer’s daily lives easier and help them to be more efficient, such as utilities, business, or personal finance applications.
Life Improvement This category seeks applications that positively affect the daily lives of people living in developing countries, and may include education, agriculture, health and more.
This year, the contest also has a fifth category that truly stands alone:
Growth Economy Venture Challenge Nokia’s Calling All Innovators competition has always been about trying to find the best big ideas for mobile applications from developers around the world.
There is a special call to Pakistani innovators. The site states:
The 2010 Calling All Innovators contest has a special prize for developers who submit locally relevant applications and content for use on Nokia devices by consumers living in Pakistan. The best entry by a developer based in Pakistan will receive a special prize of 1,000,000/- PKR in cash. Additionally, two runners-up will get 500,000/- PKR in cash and 300,000/- PKR in cash respectively. And remember, this is an additional incentive – you could still be a global winner in one of the four categories!*
It seems like a new Nokia Phone is rumoured to be launched this MWC 2010.
Named “Nokia 8-00“, this device will run on Symbian^3 and boasts of a 3.5″ fully touch screen with support for Multitouch (Wow!). The device will also feature a 12 megapixel camera and support HD (720p) Video Recording.
Another Interesting feature which is rumoured to get launched is the new Ovi webTV feature. In partnership with many operators, Video On Demand will be available through Ovi Store, through which the user can download episodes of any television series or documentary movies.
However, how far this rumour is true, is yet to be seen.
Nokia plans to launch a bunch of “C-series” Mobile during the Mobile World Congress 2010 held in Barcelona. Few days ago, we saw Nokia C5 getting pictured. Today, we have Nokia C6, which is rumored to be launched during the Mobile world congress.
Nokia C6 is a S60 3rd edition touch screen phone which also sports QWERTY keypad. It comes with a 5-megapixel camera and features high speed HSDPA connectivity. It looks like Nokia is trying to target budget conscious audience. The Nokia C6 reportedly carries a price tag of approximately €200 (approx $ 274).
DENVER (Billboard) - It's been more than six years since then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates admitted that Apple caught the company "flat-footed" in the digital music market and directed his team to make up for lost ground, according to recently surfaced internal e-mails.
To date, Microsoft's effort to address the digital music market has largely focused on its Zune player and Zune Pass subscription service, which have won favorable reviews but few customers. But with the recent unveiling of its Windows Phone 7 Series operating system at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Microsoft hopes to reboot its struggling digital music strategy.
Even the well-received Zune HD device, introduced last fall, hasn't been enough to convince music fans to convert to the Zune Pass. The company says it has sold only 3.8 million players since 2006, and NPD Group estimated in November that it has a 2 percent share of the U.S. portable media player market, compared with 70 percent for Apple's iPod.
So Microsoft has made it a priority to expand the Zune service to other platforms. In November, it added the Zune's video service to its Xbox Live network, consisting of more than 20 million worldwide users of the Xbox 360 gaming console. Since then, Zune communications director Jose Pinero says the number of daily HD video downloads and streams has doubled. Now, Microsoft plans to use its Windows Phone 7 platform to bring Zune to mobile customers.
"Anybody who gets a Windows Phone 7 Series phone is going to get a Zune within that device," Pinero says.
INTERNATIONAL PUSH
The most immediate impact this has is to expand the Zune service to countries outside of the United States and Canada, which are the only markets where the Zune is sold. While Microsoft will continue to sell the original Zune player in the States, Pinero says it doesn't plan to expand it to other countries, instead relying on the mobile phone software to bring the Zune service to those markets.
For this strategy to work, Microsoft will have to turn around its equally struggling mobile phone business. According to technology research and consulting firm Gartner, Windows Mobile handsets rank fourth in worldwide smart-phone sales, at 7.9 percent, as of third-quarter 2009, down from 11 percent a year earlier and behind Nokia, BlackBerry parent Research in Motion and Apple.
But those rankings remain fluid, as analysts expect global smart-phone sales to double in the next three years.
"There's certainly opportunity for Microsoft and other players in this market to grab share in the smart-phone space," says Sue Kevorkian, an analyst at tech market research firm
IDC.
Early reviews of Windows Phone 7 have been positive, with its simple interface and clean design winning high marks. But handsets featuring the new technology aren't expected to hit the market until the 2010 holiday season. By that time, Apple is expected to release an updated iPhone.
Zune will need to do more than piggyback on an innovative new mobile phone platform to generate the kind of momentum needed to elevate itself from the status of also-ran. It must compete with rival mobile music services sure to be created for handsets using Windows Phone 7, and the company hasn't yet detailed how developers will be able to integrate Zune functionality into their applications, if at all. Answers to those questions are expected in March at Microsoft's annual Web developer conference, Mix.
Zune will also need to increase its footprint to encompass more than mobile technology. That includes adding the music service to the Xbox Live network, as well as taking a larger stake of the subscription market and expanding that lackluster model beyond its current state.
Forrester Research analyst Sonal Gandhi estimates the entire U.S. music subscription market totals just 2.5 million users, and that includes not only Zune, Rhapsody, Napster and MOG, but also eMusic and those paying for the premium tiers of such streaming services as Pandora and Live365.
While Microsoft's recent moves may lend an important boost to Zune, the company will have to look beyond the subscription model if it is to have much of an impact on overall digital music revenue.
Good news for all the Google Earth fans, who also happen to own an Android phone. Google has finally unveiled and made available the Android version of Google Earth which is now available on Android Market.
This latest addition takes advantage of Android phones multitouch capabilities and is a treat to have on your phone, especially Nexus One. You will not feel a difference in the look and feel and it is really fun when you can have the world dancing on your finger tips (literally)
Sizzledcore.com has done some good job in posting some neat screenshots. In case you want to have a look before download then do visit the site. As for me, I still have to install the screenshot app in my new desktop so it will take me a while to upload the screens.
Good news for HTC HD2 users as the new ROM is now available on Vodafone’s website for download and update your HTC HD2. This ROM was much awaited after the announcement of Windows Phone 7 Series but unfortunately this is not the WP7 update.
It is update to existing functions plus some bug fixes. One thing is for sure that by using this new ROM, the HTC users will not void their phone’s warranty.
Vodafone claims that this ROM will help improve the efficiency of HD2, but results and user opinions will only show how much it is of an improvement over the last version.
Microsoft was on the seventh heaven when it announced its latest OS, Windows Phone 7 Series in Mobile World Congress last week. The world and enthusiasts alike have taken a look at the OS and most of them are giving out mixed reviews.
Mobiletechworld.com has explained the entire OS very thoroughly and I think to day this is the best explanation of how WP7 works or will work and what sort of market shift we can expect out of this new player in the Mobile OS town.
The article goes in depth with the technicalities and functionalities of what happened in the past with Windows OS on Mobiles and what makes WP7 the choice platform for users and developers a like.
Without further delay, click on the following link to read in detail about Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Series.
Apple has redesigned the home page of Me.com for iPhone and iPod Touch , and has added a bunch of options you will seriously admire and love. One of them happens to be the ability to use the Find my iPhone service right from your mobile gadget.
Prior to this refresh, it only provided you with instructions you to setup Mail, Contacts, Calendars and Find My iPhone on an iPhone/iPod Touch. But now, it brings three new options which are:
Install iDisk app.
Install Gallery app.
Use Find my iPhone.
Once you select the iPhone locating option, you will be prompted to enter a your MobileMe credentials. Once logged in, you can now see the iPhone on the map and send messages, play sound or lock/wipe your device.
All in all, a useful redesign since it allows users to access the service right from their mobile phone.
The screen-lock (device unlock) passcode for iPhone/iPod Touch isn’t the most secure method out there. The reason behind this is of course the limitation of a numeric based 4 digit code. 9 to5 Mac have realized that and have done something about it. Yup they have made it possible for you to set a 6 digit alpha numeric pass-code for unlocking your device.
This is how they did it : They created a profile out of Apple’s corporate development kit that makes the alphanumeric flavor of passcode a possibility.
Ok Ok, here is how you set the pass-code. Open http://9to5mac.com/9to5mac.mobileconfig on your iDevice. Enter a new passcode once prompted. You might want to bear in mind that while this allows for alphanumeric codes. You aren’t allowed to use consecutive digits. For e.g. you can’t have gw5678 as your pass-code, gw5791 will do the trick. In case you want to revert back to the same old pass-code scheme, then all you need to do is follow this path Settings/General/Profiles/9to5mac/ and then select the remove option.
As always, you will be doing this at your own risk and will and no one else would be held responsible for it. So do you intend to use the alphanumeric code as your screen lock pass-code.
Here comes another round of rumor for the next major update for iPhone OS, iPhone 4.0. The latest rumor which comes via an anoymous tweet shared with Redmond Pie suggests that iPhone OS 4.0 is expected to go live on 14th March. Hold onto your horses, 14th March happens to be a Sunday which says that this news will remain a rumor. But hey haven’t you heard nothing is impossible in the IT world.
This is not the first iPhone OS 4.0 rumor that has emerged onto the scene. Previously it was rumored to be coming on 27th Jan, i.e. on the iPadlaunch day, but it wasn’t announced was it.
In terms of the likely or should I say speculated features, iPhone 4.0 is believed to bring multi-tasking for iPhone and much more which you can see here.
Google Mobile app for iPhone and iPod Touch has been updated. The update which takes the app version number to 0.4.5.3281 brings voice search awesomeness for iPod Touch 2G or higher. Besides this impressive addition, it also brings its fair share of fixes and improvements which are listed after the jump.
Google Mobile for iPhone 0.4.5.3281 features
Here is what you will be getting by downloading the latest update:
Add support for Search by Voice for iPod touch (2G or newer).
Improved stability when using Voice Search on restrictive networks.
Fix crashes when searching for @.
Fix pasting into search box.
Improvements to Search by Voice completion detection.
Just to refresh your memory, here are the general features of the app
Search by voice – speak your queries in American, British, Indian or Australian English accents, also supports Mandarin Chinese and Japanese
Just talk – Simply hold your iPhone to your ear and say your query
My Location – avoid typing your current location when searching for nearby businesses (e.g. “pizza” or “starbucks”)
Google Suggest – tap suggested web search queries and local businesses that appear as you type
Search history – quickly search again for queries you recently performed
Contact search – search your phone’s contacts.
Vertical search – search Google Maps, Images, News, and Shopping.
To use this app, you need to have iPhone or iPod Touch running on iPhone 3.0 or higher.
I can say without any doubts that iPod Touch users will be excited about this latest update since it brings the cool voice search feature. Am I right ? Let me know using the comments power vested in you.
HP continued its leadership in the high-growth thin and light notebook category by introducing new Ultra-slim Notebooks in Pakistan today at its media event in Karachi titled, “See Thin in a whole new Light”.
The comprehensive new notebook portfolio from HP includes HP Pavilion dm3, the HP Pavilion TM2 Tablet Notebook, the Mini311 slim and the already launched AMD Based DV2, stylish consumer notebooks that deliver an optimal balance of mobility.
Philip Lau, GM AEC & Pakistan HP said that “The consumer notebook market is red hot right now,” and HP’s Thin and attractively priced notebooks have the potential to resonate with consumers in Asia and become a major driver for the overall PC market in the process.
HP is well positioned to take advantage of this growth with its portfolio of thin and light notebooks that address both businesses and consumers’ computing needs, he opined.
Chua Hwee Koon, vice president, Mobile Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP Asia Pacific and Japan said that “HP pioneered the ‘thin and light’ category with the introduction of the HP ENVY 133 notebook in June 2008, which was followed by the ‘affordable thin and light’ HP Pavilion dv2 notebook introduced at CES 2009,”. “The addition of these new thin and light notebooks further validates HP’s position as an undisputed leader in notebook design and raises the bar to a new level for the entire thin and light category.”
HP, the world’s largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure.
Nokia being one of the world’s biggest phone manufacturer was considerably quiet in the recently concluded Mobile World Congress 2010. The silence took many fans and industry enthusiasts by sort of a surprise thinking Nokia may have resorted back to the drawing board for a better competitive phone.
Wait no more, Nokia’s new phone in development, named X10, has been leaked out in the wild along with the specs and a video. We are not sure whether it is actually true because the leaked document has a bar code on it thus indicating that it has already gone into works and is in their ERP systems for identification.
The Specs of Nokia’s X10 S^3 (Symbian version 3?) are (not drool worthy btw):
Honestly speaking, I really like Apple products as they are innovative and fun to have and not for forget, productive. But recently some news about Apple’s behavior has compelled me to think about what the company culture is and what are they actually promoting.
As we already know that Steve Jobs locked out Adobe from iPhone and now iPad for the reason only known to him but 2 news pieces caught my eye and now I am actually thinking about getting into more details of how Apple not only treats their own employees but also their customers.
First one is what happened 2 days ago when a Reuters reported was captured by Foxconn’s facility guards because he was taking pictures of the facility standing on a public road. This facility is known to manufacture Apple’s products and parts. Although Police was called but the guards could not prove their actions being legit so the reported was let go. It was fortunate of them that the reported did not press charges. But then again, what the hell? How can someone or some corporation guards can take the law in their own hands and treat anyone like this. I know it might have been wrong on the reporter’s part too but dragging him out of his cab and then calling in the Police, for what? Click here if you want to read more of this story.
Second is when a customer was asked to hand over his Jail Broken iPod touch by Apple Store employees, including the Store Manager. Now this is really f’d up. If a customer has bought a product, then he / she owns the right to do whatever he / she wishes to and all the manufacturer can do is to void his warranty. But they did not, they too called in the Police claiming that the device customer was carrying was ILLEGAL. After the Police was told by the customer about his rights of suing Apple’s behind for harassing him, they let him go (well they did not have a case in the first place). The store manager and another employee did not argue more and let the customer go as Police told them they did not have a chance to make a case in the first place after talking to the customer. Read the full story here.
Now you tell me, if I buy a PC, mod it, over clock my CPU or RAM and then use it then would Intel or AMD come to my house telling me that it is ILLEGAL. You’re damn right they won’t. So why does Apple (as a company including their CEO) have an attitude of dissing anyone they don’t like or they feel is not right.
Search the Internet, you will find many more stories, including the one in which an employee was beaten to death just because he leaked some info or another one in which an employee committed suicide just because he lost the prototype device.
Is it that scary to work for Apple or even being associated with the company? I know competition is tough but its not worth lives of people who make the company what it is by buying their products.
HTC has been the talk of the town ever since it made a come back last year with back to back phone releases. The company started 2010 with a bang by launching Nexus One, in collaboration with Google. Now in the second month, it seems like HTC now wishes to take the Nexus One fame to the next level and it has announced another (sort of) variant of N1 by the name of HTC Desire.
The fun part about this new phone is the HTC Sense. A feature which makes the user experience entirely different from any other phone, an HTC hold the credit to introduce it to the world. What Nexus One does not have and it should have in the first place (smart move on HTC part) was when Google was preparing itself for the only Android 2.1 OS phone, HTC simple took out Sense from it, thus keeping the propriety feature for its own line up.
Now you have a chance to have HTC Sense on your Nexus One and we have found a solution for you.
xda-developers.com made the new ROM and Redmondpie.com posted a comprehensive guide on how to make it available on your Nexus One by using HTC Desire ROM. I must add here that before proceeding to root your phone with the new ROM, you must back up everything on your phone just in case of an unexpected event (and don’t say we didn’t warn you).
Without much delay, please click on the following link to go through the comprehensive guide to run HTC Desire ROM on HTC Nexus One.
Samsung came huge this Mobile World Congress , with ads covering the whole front facade of Avenues de Barcelona , a former Bull Fighting Arena at Espanya right in front of the Fira Barcelona . If that was not enough , everywhere we went there were huge Samsung Bada / Samsung Wave .
Intrigued I went to see the Samsung Wave and Guess what Samsung Wave has a big problem .
Tilt the phone with Camera On and the screen will start flickering , same as when you are making a video of TV Screen , make it upright the flickering stops .
I tried three phones and they all had the same problem , the spokes person with me was like well it’s a prototype but still if it’s the inherited problem it’s going to be a big fail
Watch the video below to check it out
I hope Samsung will fix the issue before making Bada the Bad Ass OS of Mobile World
As we talked about the Nokia Calling All Innovators 2010 contest’s introduction, and now we are moving to the specific countries which are discussed by the Nokia on the site. There are three countries which are listed on the site including Belgium , Pakistan and Netherlands. We are going to discuss the contest details about regarding Pakistan.
nok_countriesNokia wants to encourage the developers of Pakistan , Nokia wants the applications with respect to the local needs , content as well .In this sense , they have announced the prize money of 1,000,000/- PKR in cash for the best entry by a developer in Pakistan , and runners-up will receive 500,000/- PKR in cash , 300,000/- PKR in cash respectively.
nok_pakOn the other side, Nokia also offering the developers of Pakistan to participate in five categories to become a global winner, following are the five categories:
1. Eco/Being Green 2. Entertainment 3. Productivity 4. Life Improvement 5. Growth Economy Venture Challenge
If you want to participate in this contest so you need to follow the following steps:
1. Choose category from the contest categories. 2. You can create an application, a piece of content or a web runtime widget that works on Nokia mobile devices and also relevant to your local market as mention before. One thing which make me surprised that you can develop application in both English and Urdu languages. 3. You can submit your application/content/web runtime widget before 18th May 2010.You should submit all the important documents related to your entry in which you have to tell Nokia about your entry, advantages of it, its uniqueness and why it is appealing for the consumer of the local market and also for the global market too.
nok_submitFollowing are the date’s details of the whole contest:
* Deadline for submissions: 18 May 2010. * Announcement of finalists: June 2010. * Announcement of winners: September 2010.
So, why are you waiting for? Start developing and make your way to the prize. The submission period ends on 18 May 2010.Kepp visiting Progmic for more details about the contest’s updates.
This is the latest in the information and rumors being received on Apple’s next OS & phone update. Recently Apple did launch iPhone OS 3.03 along with SDK 3.2 but now the latest hint towards release of the next OS upgrade comes from 2 (somewhat) credible resources. Redmondpie and 9to5Mac. Although it was only a tip which both sites received but then again, you never know.
The anticipation has now turned towards Apple again as the word has been wondering into the Internet circles about the expected launch of next generation iPhone handset, dubbed as iPhone 4. With the fierce competition coming up with HTC and Microsoft, Apple really really needs to have something new to come up with its iPhone, otherwise, the front runner might end up being lost in the middle of this race.
Here is the Day 3 round-up of World Mobile Congress 2010. Some new phones announced along with latest alliances and news.
HTC & Telefonica Strike Deal for Affordable Smartphone World’s fastest growing smartphone maker HTC has struck an exclusivity deal with European service provider Telephonica to introduce affordable smartphones for the masses. Targeted towards teens and youth, the new handsets will be running on Qualcomm’s Brew platform. At the moment the prices is expected to be around 120 Euros. Both companies aim to tap into wider youth market as this segment is perceived to be away from moving to smartphones due to higher price brackets.
Alcatel Jumps on Android Bandwagon The latest OEM to port its devices towards Google’s Android OS is Alcatel. The new device, OT-980, will be based on Android OS and will be priced below 200 Euros. Alcatel, primarily known for producing low cost devices manufactured by Asia’s TCT mobile shipped 16 Million devices in 2009. The new range of Alcatel smartphones will feature not only touch screen but will also have full QWERTY keyboards. The new devices are expected to be available around June 2010.
Opera Demonstrates Fastest iPhone Browser Announced recently, Opera demonstrated the multifunctional capabilities of the latest browser for iPhone users. The tests and demonstration showed Opera Mini to be at 5 times faster than iPhone’s native Safari browser. The company did not let the audience take pictures of make movies of the demonstration. Although Safari claims the majority traffic from Mobiles to Internet but keeping in view the latest demonstration, Opera may have a winner.
Puma Launches Its Own Phone Puma joined hands with Sagem to bring their first of many smartphones. A Palm-Pre look alike, Puma phone is targeted towards youth and people who want to have fun with their devices. With a focus on sports and entertainment, Puma device comes with 2.8 inch QVGA capacitive touch screen and 3.2 Mega Pixel camera with 6X zoom and LED flash. Packed with solar cell it also has integrated battery indicator for knowing how much battery life is left. The Puma phone is expected to be available in Europe by the end of April 2010.
Google has launched a new app for Android users by the name of Google Shopper. This app is somewhat an extended and much refined version of Google Goggles.
What Android users will be able to do is to search for products just by scanning them, their bar code or any other identification mark and Google will provide them with details on price, availability, reviews, etc.
This is a neat application but would be beneficial in countries where online shopping is pretty much part of day to day activities.
Here’s a video by Google demonstrating how the app works. It is available through Android Market Place on Android based handsets.
It was anticipated, a move which could change the landscape of online music and content market altogether. I came across a very interesting piece of news which might be nothing but it could also be everything.
Apple has been on the move for acquiring companies and expanding its cloud computing analogy but what everyone else did not see coming was if Apple was actually planning to move its iTunes Store on the Internet. So it is the next step towards actually moving iTunes into cloud computing, that is, you can make a purchase on the web and then download the content on any of the Apple devices you own, anywhere. It is more like carrying all your collections and downloads all the time.
At the moment, except for the final purchase, everything else can be done through Apple’s web site. Selecting the content, previewing it and then either using iTunes or any of your devices to download but if you are able to make a purchase online, then you won’t need iTunes application and you can be free of worries about when to download or where to download your content.
For the information, Getmo, part of Arvato, which is part of Sony-BMG is already doing similar for mobile content, but is limited to carriers only.
If you need to quickly and easily duplicate hard drives for your backup purposes or recovery. Then the Aleratec 1:1 HDD PortaCruiser portable hard drive duplicator could help. It lets you clone 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch hard drives with ease and supports both IDE and SATA I/II HARD disk drives. Portable Hard Drive Duplicator You can also set up access your drives via a USB 2.0 connection to your computer with RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD Spanning or Normal disk configuration. Its compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista & 7 together with the support for Linux and Mac 10.3 or later.
Available to purchase from Aleratec’s website directly for $249.
Nokia has announced the results of the Nokia N86 8MP Click it! Competition and distributed prizes to the lucky winners of the competition.
Nokia N86 8MP Click it! Competition was launched by Brandsynario in collaboration with Nokia on 23rd November 2009 and closed off on 23rd January, 2010. The competition kicked-off from Brandsynario platform simultaneously in the three metros of Pakistan: Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The one of its kind online photography competition invited university going youth of Pakistan to upload photos depicting the theme “Jawan Pakistan” on www.brandsynario.com and get a chance to win Nokia N86 8MP camera.
Adeel Hashmi, Communications Manager, Nokia Pakistan & Afghanistan presented Nokia N86 8PM cell phone to the three happy winners of the competition. The winners of the competition were selected through mass sms and online voting. The three winners who got the highest votes were declared the winners of the competition; Mr. Hanif Haroon , age 25 from CTTC Institute got the highest number of votes – 5467, followed by Mr. Ahsan Ali, age 21, from (Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology) SZABIST and Mr. Imran Shah, age 22 from Karachi University.
Speaking on the occasion, Adeel Hashmi said, “We are delighted with the overwhelming response we received from the participants as well as the audience. Sharing moments through mobile phone has seen an upward trend among Pakistani youngsters. Today’s Pakistani generation is intelligent as well as socially active. They value the time they spend with friends and family and prefer sharing their activities with friends through their mobile phones. Nokia has made sharing fun for young generation through its mobile devices such as Nokia N86 and services like Ovi Share that make quick and easy sharing possible with favourite contacts. Nokia is the biggest manufacturer of mobile phone camera in the world. In year 2008-09 alone, Nokia shipped approximately 200 million camera devices. A wonderful combination of digital camera technology is the new Nokia N86. Pakistani youth’s passion and interest for the Digital Photography clearly depicts that they are transforming with the world. It is heartening to see that so many people have become part of this digital change!”
Ali Reza Merchant, Executive Director, Brandsynario said, “I want to take this opportunity to thank Nokia for being our brand partner for Nokia N86 Click it! Competition and Mobilius for handling sms voting to finalize the competition results. This was a unique venture and a great learning experience for Brandsynario to engage Pakistani youth on such a large scale. We received a variety of captivating photos for the competition which provided us valuable insight about the way today’s Pakistani youth perceives the world around them.”
Nokia has always believed in supporting the young talent in Pakistan and will continue to move forward in that direction to bring more opportunities for Pakistan’s youth in future.
The present day gadgetry scene is so much rewarding for us that we can effortlessly think and get anything we want, the way we want! Thanks to major gadget makers of the likes of Apple which has taken a big stride ahead to bring the most powerful contraptions for you. After doing it big in the software industry, now is the time for Apple iPhone, an all-in-one gadget for communication and entertainment needs. The Apple iPhone has the best of communication features complemented with an integrated camera (2MP), built-in musing player, sufficient memory rooms in GB, MS office, Bluetooth etc. In terms of connectivity, the device has functions like WLAN, Wi-Fi and GPRS. For whom getting extra with the iPhone means a lot, for them, additional iPhone web applications can do the needful. These applications are available on the web at reasonable rates and they can be easily installed onto the device without any technical knowledge or prior experience. The website of the application development company has all the tips on how to download apps and then install them.
The Apple iPhone is not just a mobile phone. It’s in fact one among those priceless possessions that anyone and everyone should have. A real ease to use it, the device offers true spirit of music on the move through its iPod quality music player. Today, the number of additional iPhone application users has gone up rapidly. The number of application developers is also on the rise. These developers are catering to the needs of users by offering them standard as well as customized application under different packages. Customized applications for iPhone are usually a set of applications which are exclusively developed for someone for special purposes. Almost all iPhone application development companies now have customized application development solutions under different price ranges. An iPhone applications development India can also be considered if your aim is to avail the most reliable customized iPhone application development services. Already extending their services to a good number of domestic as well as international clients, the Indian developers have earned a big reputation in a global environment.
Mozila has scheduling to release Firefox 4.0 this year. It can be used on Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. The new function introduced in this browser is GUI a users can install different themes to change the look of their browser. Firefox 4.0 also has multi touched gesture support. There is an indication that firfox 4.0 will see 64bit browser appearing. Firefox scheduled to use Gecko 1.9.4 rendering engine.
You get the whole world in your hand with the launch of the new model of the big selling PSP system. It gives you both the PSP Slim & Lite stunning looks and functions and also two amazing new features.
Thanks to the built-in microphone on the PSP-3000, you can say goodbye to cords and headsets and chat online with your friends with Skype - the only thing you need is a wireless connection. Make sure you are connected wherever you find yourself, with Skype on the PSP. Call an unlimited number of free voice and video calls to anyone on Skype, wherever he or she is present. With Skype you can also save money on calls to landlines and mobiles by subscribing to one of Skype's popular unlimited subscriptions or purchase Skype credit. Now you can not only communicate with the world - will now also your whole world on the PSP will be even nicer. The screen on the PSP-3000 may produce even more colors, giving you higher resolution, in addition, the anti-glare technology that gives you a better experience with your PSP, even in bright sunlight and crisp indoor lighting.
In a recent interview with X-bit labs, GM of Nvidia Rene Hass, he told that company is focusing on golden opportunity of preparing external graphics adapter for notebooks as no one is doing such thing.
"I think it is a big opportunity. We have two strategies at Nvidia: one is to put graphics everywhere; the other one is to find more ways to integrate discrete chips into the box. I think there is definitely a place forexternal graphics cards for notebooks”.
It is for user convenience that, external graphic adapter allows the user to plug in the adapter when ever it is required. Although ATI has introduced external graphic cards and port technology in 2008 but it didn’t work good for them and now no external graphic solution is available today.
Rene concluded;
"I think the pricing issue that has to be solved for something like that is the right price-point that hits the right segment. There is definitely a lot of interest in it and this is something we are keeping our eye on to be able to offer something there."
Vopium beat all mobile VoIP apps and proved to be the best application to provide cheapest calling solution around the world. After Skype Vopium was second to launched IM. It is good to stay connected with your friends with one application. I suggest Truphone who is another major player of mobile VoIP industry to also look into it.
vopiumVopium supports upto 900 mobile devices from Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericssion, HTC, Blackberry and others but initially IM is launched only for iPhone. Now you can make FREE calls to Skype, Gtalk and other Vopium users when they are online. You can chat with your friends on Skype, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ and MSN and you can follow them on Twitter.
Download Vopium via iTunes
The new iPhone app also includes a number of cool new features. For example it is easier to send SMS and you can check and transfer balance to other users directly from your iPhone. Read more and download the new Vopium app for iPhone here
Vopium Official said that very shortly IM on Android, Nokia, Blackerry, Windows Mobile and Java will available.
Vopium is a free piece of software, which you download to your mobile phone. It is easy to install and through our least cost routing it helps you saving money on international calls and SMS. For More about Vopium visit: www.vopium.com
Here are some of the highlights of the first day of Mobile World Congress 2010, in Barcelona, Spain.
Microsoft Launches Windows Phone 7 Series After a month of rumors and speculations, Microsoft has finally unveiled the next generation of Windows Mobile by the name of Windows Phone 7 Series. Based on the recently launched Windows 7, this latest Mobile OS gives the perfect blend to the user between online and offline activities. Keeping in view the growing demand of online applications, WP7 takes advantage of Microsoft’s cloud computing along with partners applications and provide a one stop solution to the end users. More details…
Mobile Operators Unit on Global Apps Platform 15 of the world’s top cellular service providers joined forces and agreed upon launching a single applications platform for mobiles. This platform will provide the developers to work with a single platform for all mobiles for apps development, thus making it a fierce competition for Apple’s iTunes and Google’s Market Place. Although it will take some time for it to finally come through but industry pundits are already skeptical about the fate of this joint venture. More details…
Motorola Launches Android Powered Quench Smartphone After the success of Motorola Droid, the mobile phones pioneers are on a roll to get out of the “Razr Curse”. Launching Goolge’s Android based smartphone one by one might give Motorola a piece of mind of coming back into the mobile phones market. The phone features Motorola’s trademark MotoBlur, which syncs all the social and person contacts and details at one place for convenience. The phone will have built-in 5MP camera with auto flash along with 3G and Wi-Fi access. More details…
Samsung Launches “Bada”, its own OS with Phone World’s second largest mobile phone manufacturer has launched its own OS by the name of “Bada”. Announced last year, Samsung now is concentrating promoting its own OS on the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft, the three leaders in mobile phone OS. The latest phone comes up with 5MP camera and 1.0 Snapdragon CPU. More details…
Nokia & Intel Team up for New OS Two of the world’s biggest technology companies have joined hands together to build an entirely new Operating System. “Meego” is the name of the joint OS in discussion. Based on Unix platform, it will be an amalgamation of Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin platform. Both companies are pretty excited about this new venture and they are looking forward to expand it to Netbooks and tablets as well in near future. More details…
MeeGo* enables an open ecosystem for rapid development of exciting new user experiences
Espoo, Finland and Santa Clara, CA, USA - In a significant development in the convergence of communications and computing, Intel Corporation and Nokia are merging their popular Moblin and Maemo software platforms. This will create a unified Linux-based platform that will run on multiple hardware platforms across a wide range of computing devices, including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems. Called MeeGo, the open software platform will accelerate industry innovation and time-to-market for a wealth of new Internet-based applications and services and exciting user experiences. MeeGo-based devices from Nokia and other manufacturers are expected to be launched later this year.
This announcement strengthens the Nokia and Intel relationship, and builds on the companies' broad strategic collaboration announced in June 2009. Intel and Nokia now invite participation in MeeGo from existing Maemo and Moblin global communities and across the communications and computing industries.
"Our vision for seamlessly communicating between computing devices from the home, auto, office or your pocket is taking a big step forward today with the introduction of MeeGo," said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini. "This is a foundational step in our evolving relationship with Nokia. The merging of these two important assets into an open source platform is critical toward providing a terrific experience across a variety of devices and gaining cross- industry support."
"MeeGo will drive an even wider range of Internet computing and communication experiences for consumers, on new types of mobile devices," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO, and Nokia. "Through open innovation, MeeGo will create an ecosystem that is second to none, drawing in players from different industries. It will support a range of business models across the value chain, building on the experience and expertise of Nokia, Intel and all those who will join us. Simply put, MeeGo heralds a new era of mobile computing."
MeeGo blends the best of Maemo with the best of Moblin to create an open platform for multiple processor architectures. MeeGo builds on the capabilities of the Moblin core OS and its support for a wide range of device types and reference user experiences, combined with the momentum of Maemo in the mobile industry and the broadly adopted Qt application and UI framework for software developers.
MeeGo also unites the robust worldwide Maemo and Moblin applications ecosystems and open source communities. For developers, MeeGo extends the range of target device segments for their applications. Using Qt for application development means that they can write applications once and easily deploy them on MeeGo and across other platforms, for example, on Symbian.
The Ovi Store will be the channel to market for apps and content for all Nokia devices, including MeeGo and Symbian-based, with Forum Nokia providing developer support across all Nokia device platforms. The IntelAppUpSMCenter will be the path to market for Intel-based MeeGo devices from other device manufacturers, with the Intel® Atom(TM) Developer Program providing support for applications targeting devices in a variety of categories.
The MeeGo software platform, running on high-performance devices, will deliver a range of Internet, computing and communication experiences, with visually rich graphics, multitasking and multimedia capabilities and the best application performance. Since MeeGo runs on multiple device types, people can keep their favorite applications when they change devices, so they are not locked into one kind of device or those from any individual manufacturer.
MeeGo Hosted by the Linux Foundation
The MeeGo software platform will be hosted by the Linux Foundation as a fully open source project, encouraging community participation in line with the best practices of the open source development model. Intel and Nokia invite the respective members of Maemo.org and Moblin.org to join the combined community at MeeGo.com, as well as encouraging wider participation from the communications, computing and related industries. Developers can begin writing applications for MeeGo in Qt immediately. The first release of MeeGo is targeted for the second quarter of this year.
Barcelona, Spain - With a great user experience, an aggressive global rollout plan and a focus on local relevance, Nokia truly put its services on the map - and the strong momentum continues.
"Our recipe for success has some pretty simple ingredients: delighting consumers. Yes, we are in more places, serving more people, with more great content and services. True, more than a million apps are being downloaded a day from our store; Comes with Music is now available in over 25 markets; and every second of the day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, another person downloads our new Ovi Maps app. These are great achievements, but our goal is to delight hundreds of millions of consumers around the world - and we are well on our way," says Niklas Savander, head of Nokia's services business.
"Our global footprint means we have scaled fast, reaching a really significant number of people using a variety of different phones and smartphones. We started the year with a bang with our free Ovi Maps navigation launch and we have just announced the pilot of Nokia Money running in one of India's largest metropolitan areas. Going forward, we are increasing the speed and concentrating on developing a magic experience for the people that use our services."
Nokia highlighted landmark achievements for its key service areas:
Location: Launched in late January, the new Ovi Maps features drive and walk navigation in 74 countries and 46 languages, as well as traffic information in many. All new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include this great service - at no extra cost.
- More than 3 million Ovi Maps downloaded to date
- More than one download per second, 24 hours a day; around 100,000 downloads a day
- Rich functionality and the best mobile maps coverage in the world
Music: Last week, Comes With Music grew to 27 markets with its arrival in the Middle East. People that own a Comes With Music device can download as much free music as they want from Ovi Music and, unlike other online music services, can keep them on their device forever. Music downloaded from the Ovi Music à la carte menu is also DRM-free.
- Ovi Music is in 33 markets, making Nokia the world's most scaled global digital music provider
- The average person using Comes With Music downloads 500 free songs in the first few weeks of using the service, which would cost about EUR 450 from iTunes
- More than nine million tracks in the Ovi Music catalogue
Store: Launched in May 2009, multiple upgrades and experience improvements have improved the browsing and search experience, leading to a significant increase in the number of downloads. In 2010, Ovi Store will have more languages, billing support, improvements and of course, lots more apps.
- More than one million downloads a day
- The number of people shopping on the store doubles every month
- Fully localized store in 18 countries supporting 30 languages, and serving 90 percent of Store visitors with their local language
- Integrated mobile billing from 60 operators in 18 countries
Messaging: A million people a month open an Ovi Mail account, often their first online identity, bringing the total number of accounts created to more than six million in just over a year. Working closely with operators, Nokia Messaging, Nokia's push email service, is now signed up with over 70 operators.
Nokia Money: Global financial services initiative starts in India
In partnership with YES BANK, a commercial pilot of the global mobile financial services initiative has started in Pune, one of the largest metropolitan areas in India. The service in Pune, called Mobile Money Services by YES BANK, brings financial services to the consumers' mobile devices.
"The Nokia Money initiative based on Obopay's platform is initially targeted at growth markets and designed to work in partnership with multiple network operators and banks, involving distributors and merchants in a dynamic open ecosystem to seamlessly provide the new services. YES BANK is our first partner in India to bring this service to market," said Teppo Paavola, VP and general manager of Mobile Financial Services at Nokia.
- Initial phase: consumers will be able to transfer money to another person just by using the person's mobile phone number, pay utility bills as well as recharge their prepaid SIM cards (SIM top-up).
- Later, consumers will also be able to pay merchants for goods and services.
Nokia Life Tools:
Nokia Life Tools is providing rural subscribers with livelihood and life improvement services, including agriculture and education services. Subscribers primarily depend on the agriculture trade and live around the poverty threshold - which makes parting with one or two dollars each month for a mobile service a substantial investment. Since its launch in mid-2009, around one million people have already subscribed to the service. Nokia Life Tools is available in India and Indonesia, and will roll out to more markets this year.
