Archive for January 18th, 2009

Can Nokia make it in America?

Nokia is the world’s largest mobile phone maker, the world’s largest smartphone maker, and according to one accounting, the world’s largest computer maker, but there is one locale that Nokia can’t seem to gain a foothold. World wide Nokia has nearly 40% market share, but in the good ole’ USA they barely crack 7%. What makes the American market so hostile to Nokia? I think it is a combination of factors that keep Nokia from gaining a prominent position in America. With America using a combination of GSM and CDMA technologies, only half the US market is available to Nokia since they don’t really make many CDMA devices. Nokia also fought a fierce battle with Qualcomm for most of this decade which prevented Nokia from making devices with US 3G built in. Those two factors kept the hottest Nokia S60 devices out of American hands until recently.

Nokia N97 coming to the UK in March?

UK online retailer Play.com has the Nokia N97 up for pre-order with an availability  date of March 31. Nokia’s new flagship phone includes a high quality camera, touchscreen input (though it is disappointingly a resistive touchscreen), and a sliding qwerty keyboard. This release is for the European variant, a North American version is promised to come a few weeks after the Euro version is released. Nokia, like all mobile manufacturers, are notorious for letting release dates slip. So take this with a grain of salt.

Source: Symbian-Guru

Palm Pre to be Vodafone UK exclusive?

Vodafone could be Palm’s official carrier partner for the Palm Pre in the UK, according to the latest rumors.  While unconfirmed by either the carrier or Palm themselves, a member of Vodafone’s customer service team has revealed that they are “in early negotiation” regarding the Pre, although “nothing is solid”.  The device in question could be the first GSM 3G HSPA Pre available, given that Sprint’s version of the smartphone uses CDMA EV-DO Rev.A.