Nokia - Planned actions aimed at sharpening its strategy and returning the company to profitable growth

Nokia once again speak to its audience and its investors with a new official statement that contains important updates on the business strategy that will characterize the coming months and new targets to be achieved to overcome the difficult situation. This is a very articulate statement that identifies the main area of focus is the strategy and indicates further measures to make it even more competitive production structure of the company.Not missing a reference to a renewal of the management and further staff reductions to be implemented by the end of 2012.

Nokia identifies three main areas on which we focus the new business strategy:

• The investments will be directed in the new Lumia 
• smartphone line
• Another area of ​​investment will be represented by the platform for location services
• Rounding out the picture of the main investments of Nokia feature phones that will contribute to the further step of evolution

Nokia has also clarified the objectives in the individual sectors of activity:

• Lumia smartphones will be offered at prices more affordable and will continue to differentiate itself from other Windows Phone through the integration of new technologies and new software.
• Location services will represent another important means of differentiation from competitive offerings of smartphones Lumia. The development of the City Lens app with Nokia will continue in parallel and we will try to extend the scope of use of technology developed by Nokia maps to generate new revenue
• In the field of mobile phones Nokia will try to improve the competitiveness and profitability. Nokia aims to further develop the platform, S40 and S40, investing in key areas such as web browsing. The first results of the renewed strategy are visible with the new Nokia full touch Asha.

In the coming months changes will be made ​​to the  production facilities :

• Veranno reduced research and development projects, with the closure of plants in Ulm, Germany and Canada in Burnaby
• Windows will close the plant in Salo in Finland
• Will be intensified marketing and sales priorities in key markets
• Disused activities that fall outside the core-business

The continuation of the restructuring will cost in terms of staff reductions that will be reduced by 10,000 units by the end of 2013.

This is a very complex strategy that involves measures in some cases very difficult, as mentioned cuts to personnel and facilities that were dedicated to research and development. It is hoped that all the measures just mentioned might be able to revive the company by the crisis that has gone on for many months.

Source

Nokia Asha 311 - N9 swipe style to display messages and calls (VIDEO)

The new full-touch Nokia Asha have brought a welcome breath of fresh air in the S40 platform, dedicated to entry-level end of the Finnish manufacturer. We have already begun to know in detail the renewed UI of the Nokia 311 with the first video hands-on and continue to do so discovering additional features that appear to have been directly taken from Harmattan Meego platform used by Nokia N9. 

The short video that I propose to follow, in particular, focuses on profit mechanism for reporting and display of SMS and missed calls  that was shot in a true operating system Meego. Both SMS and missed calls are listed in the home screen of the device and can be viewed immediately with a swipe on the notification message.

The mechanism will probably not be new for those who use a Nokia N9, but it does reflect the fact that the Finnish manufacturer has traposto on entry-level device based on the new version of the S40 platform functions, certainly very practical, which are currently lacking even in smartphones based on OS Nokia Fp1 Belle. It's obvious that the Finnish manufacturer is focusing the new Asha full-touch task will be to expand the installed base of Nokia devices in the entry level.

source

Rumor - Samsung wants to buy Nokia for 15 billion euros

Nokia, the company's most popular mobile division, in a couple of years has lost the world biggest phone maker title to Samsung.

And now according to the Finish site Kauppalehti.fi , Samsung intends to purchase Nokia for € 4 per share, for total amount of 15 billion euros. Currently the price of each Nokia share is about € 2.34. Currently neither company has confirmed or denied the report, although it is difficult to imagine a situation with Nokia is increasingly tied to Microsoft.



If Samsung really had intentions to buy Nokia would still encounter antitrust problems since the market shares of the two giants. Previous rumors, but they see Microsoft intends to acquire Nokia to make it an icon of its mobile operating system (in this case could be problems with other manufacturers).

Via

Nokia unveils new feature phones Asha 305 , Asha 306 and Asha 311

After they anticipated a few weeks ago, this morning, Nokia announced three new touch devices from the Asha series : Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311. The three feature phones will be equipped with social features, the Nokia Browser for S40 2.0 and now classic EA games (such as Tetris ®, Bejeweled ®, Need for Speed ​​The Run ™ and EA SPORTS ™ FIFA 12).

These are the specs of the Nokia Asha 305 and Nokia Asha 306:

• S40
• Display 3.0 "WQVGA, resistive touch screen
• Camera 2Mpix
• Music player
• FM radio
• Connectivity GPRS / EDGE
• Nokia Maps
• Colors Silver White, Red, Mid Grey and Dark Blue

The Nokia Asha 305 is also equipped with Easy Swap Dual SIM technology from Nokia, which will handle two SIM simultaneously.

The Nokia Asha 311 is instead a 3.5G phone with a 3.2 megapixel camera and 1GHz processor, designed for a better web experience and gaming. In addition to the 40 games EA will also feature phone with 15 levels of Angry Birds preinstalled.

These are the prices and availability of the three Asha phones:

• Asha Nokia 305 to 63 euros (plus tax), available in Q2 of 2012
• Asha Nokia 306 to 68 euros (plus tax), available in Q3 of 2012
• Asha Nokia 311 to 92 euros (plus tax), available in Q3 of 2012

More info at Nokia Conversations / Nokia Press.

Opera Mini 7 arrives on Nokia S40 feature phones (video)

Closed branch of 6.5, Opera this morning announced version 7 of the Mini Browser for feature phones. The browser, released in Java and who will do battle with the new Nokia Browser for S40 , carries with it important changes especially in the content management of the Smart Page.

Features:

• The Smart Page will give you instant updates from your favorite sites ,weather and news
• Links to various social networks directly in the Smart Page
• Data compression to speed up the connection and save on web traffic

More information and download: My Opera / m.opera.com.

Nokia showing the new features of Symbian Belle Feature Pack 1 (Video)

Although it was made ​​official a couple of months ago and released in the first half of April, Nokia has decided to upload a new video on its YouTube channel to quickly explain some of the most important new features introduced with Symbian FP1 Belle.

Preinstalled on Nokia 808 PureView, Belle FP1 was also recently released the Nokia 603, Nokia 700 and Nokia 701, putting aside the various N8, E7, E6, C6-01, X7, 500 and C7.

Briefly, we recall the innovations introduced with this update:

• It will be released on Nokia 603, Nokia 700 and Nokia 701
• Improved Browser HML5 
• Enabling Dolby Sound
• Approximately 20 new Widgets
• Microsoft Apps included
• The processor clock from 1GHz to 1.3GHz  
• Improved notification bar
• Improved interface of multitasking

Via

New Nokia 311 Pics and look at the new multitouch, swipe S40 touch UI

Seen in recent days, perhaps a preview of the Nokia 311 is again the subject of itself. One of new feature phones from Nokia is in fact appeared with represented form factor and functionality photos, but without clarifying if the device is based on unannounced Meltemi or S40 Touch .

Based on a system of Swipe (style MeeGo Harmattan), here are some features of the Nokia 311 and the next features of the next feature Nokia phones :

• Swipe
• Swipe for navigation in the 3 HomeScreen (applications, home, dialer)
• Swipe to respond
• Pinch to zoom (multitouch)
• Notification bar (as Belle Symbian / Android / IOS)
• Widgets
• Nokia Maps

Via

Nokia 311 and 305 - Leaked photos of the new S40 full touch devices

Recently on the internet appeared pictures of the new Nokia 311 and Nokia 305 , two S40 series phones characterized with full touch interface.This feature is new to Nokia S40 devices,since they always  resorted to more traditional input devices based on physical keys. 

The touchscreen UI could use a suitably modified version of the S40 platform based on the gesture system that was described in the user manual of the Nokia 306 that we have seen it recently as well. As you can see from the photos in the begging the only two physical buttons on the front seem to be the ones to open and close calls and  the rest is all touch screen display. 

The photos are not able to reveal further details about technical specifications, but the news on the new full touch S40 device should not be delayed too long. The ideal date would be represented by the event set for May 15th by Nokia in Pakistan . An event in which the company will introduce new devices to reach the coveted goal of the "Next Billion" users connected worldwide with smartphones and feature phones.

The evolved S40 phones will have the task of regaining the lost market share from Nokia in Asia. As was the case with recent Asha device which, although designed for emerging markets some of the phones will probably arrive in Europe too.

source , via

Nokia-branded WP Marketplace spotted in latest Nokia Lumia 900 software update

We continue to discover new details in the Nokia Lumia 900 that can be bought today in the United Kingdom . Among the changes noted in the operating system (Tango) that powers the device now we can see that the Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace on the Lumia 900 is now being branded with Nokia's own logo.The news itself is not so ground shacking,but it's one of the first signs of Nokia's influence on the Windows Phone operating system.

According to the image at the beginning it seems that Nokia could have started using its privilege to make customizations to windows phone UI. The hypothesis that Nokia has begun to make customizations to the UI of Windows Phone is definitely interesting.

At the moment Nokia, like other producers who have chosen the Windows Phone platform, has a space in the official Markeplace that contains the unique applications for the device and the hypothesized Lumia store of the original agreement has not yet been realized.

The customization of the icon contained in the Marketplace software Lumia 900 does not prove the existence of the store, but it represents another small area of ​​freedom granted to the Finnish manufacturer which hopefully others will follow.

 Via

Nokia Lumia 900 now on sale in the UK, with 'Tango' on board?

The HSPA + variant of the Nokia Lumia 900, which is the European version now is available for sale in England courtesy of Phones4U. 

However interesting novelty regarding the Lumia 900 is that according to the reports from TheVerge the Lumia 900 will be sold under the Windows Phone Build 8773.98 , which is next Windows Phone update aka Tango or wp7.5 refresh

Currently, the Redmond company has not said when it will start the update on current devices,but hopefully it will not be long wait.

More info at Phones4U.

Via

CTIA 2012 - Nokia Announces Upcoming Exclusive Apps For Lumia Windows Phone Devices

One of the key elements to differentiate the offering of Windows Phone from Nokia goes from that of competing producers to create unique applications dedicated to the owners of the Lumia smartphones.Since the inception of the smartphone market with Nokia operating system of Redmond, Drive applications such as Nokia, Nokia Maps and Nokia Music have indeed characterized the supplied Lumia software. 

The Finnish manufacturer seems to want to grow the quantity of unique applications for its smartphones, that is why Nokia signed partnerships with major software companies to provide exclusive app.During CTIA 2012, which opened today in New Orleans, Nokia has announced several alliances with software companies like EA and Rovio, which allow you to use many unique applications in the coming months using a smartphone Lumia .

We can schematically summarize the app announced dividing them by categories. This sport includes:

• PGA Tour - developed in collaboration with Nokia and available exclusively for 12 months with the device Lumia
• ESPN - exclusive until May 2013

As for the games category you can record the presence of EA and Rovio between partners of the Finnish company:

• Angry Birds Space , which will arrive on the first device Lumia
• EA will release  FIFA, Madden NFL, NBA Jam, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Mirror's Edge and Yahtzee

The lifestyle category and finance is well represented by:

• Groupon - the exclusivity period of six months from the launch
• Tripdot
• PayPal

As for applications dedicated to entertainment and news are reported:

• AOL Entertainment Hub - exclusively for six months with the device Lumia
• Time magazine 
• Newsweek

We close with a personal productivity application, or Box , dedicated to the management of Cloud storage services.

On several occasions it was confirmed that the entry of Nokia in the field of Windows Phone had a positive impact not only the producer but to the entire ecosystem. The recent alliance between the house and leading Finnish software house definitely will make more and richer in quality app for Windows Phone Marketplace. The exclusive represent also an important tool to make more attractive to the general public smartphones Lumia.

 Source

The Nokia Lumia 610 now available in China (unboxing photos)

Announced at the Mobile World Congress last February, the Nokia Lumia 610 is now on sale in China. The low cost Windows Phone device of the Finnish giant,  completes the first steps into the vast Chinese market, very important test for Nokia that puts high hopes on this smartphone sales to recover and regain lost market share in last month.

The Nokia Lumia 610 , remember, has a hardware detuned compared to other Windows Phone devices currently on the market. And in fact equipped with 800 MHz processor and 256 MB RAM, characteristics that will allow Nokia to be able to sell at a low price, below 200 Euros. 

Here are some shots of the sales package made ​​by the Chinese site wpdang.com

AT&T: Lumia Nokia 900 is the second best selling smartphone in April!

It seems that the new Windows Phone  flagship from Nokia  has intrigued the smartphone customers so much to achieve sales podium, according to rankings from Amazon and the  AT & T. In our first article that we have posted  a few days after the official launch of the Nokia 900 Lumia in the United States,we have reported that the smartphone  has been highly appreciated by users so much to achieve good sales results, unexpected winning the first and third place in the Amazon sales charts.


Regarding last month, the Nokia Lumia 900 has reached second place among the bestselling smartphones sold by AT&T, bypassing the notorious Samsung Galaxy SII and immediately after Apple's iPhone 4s who is still in first place with 70% at AT & T. 


This is good news for Microsoft and for the Finnish company, engaged in the development and support of all Windows Phone.We hope that the flagship of the Finnish company can defend itself from attack by Samsung with the latest addition the Samsung Galaxy S3 presented a few days ago and that of the newest HTC Android flagship phone HTC One X.

Via