Archive for the 'Nokia' Category

Letstalk == FAIL

Published by
jeremy
at January 29, 2008 in Nokia and maemo. 0 Comments

I was quite excited when I found out I had been excepted into the N810 maemo device program. I own an N800 and really like it. Nokia is doing some really interesting things with both the N-series and Open Source, so I was looking forward to being able to get an early look at the device and post about it here. I even had plans to give away my N800 to someone who was willing to do something interesting for maemo. It has been epic fail ever since. The main target of the program was developers (so they could get early access to develop), documentation writers (so they could get early access to write docs), bloggers (to stir up interest), community supporters, maemo evangelists - well, you get the idea… early adopters and influentials. The first thing that struck me as odd was that this program made the device available long after the device was available to the general public. Ironic, considering the target market. For the deal I was getting though, I was happy to let this slide. Then came the mix up with discount codes. As this point, the device has been available in stores for about two months. The problem has been pretty well documented. I still held off on commenting. Hiccups happen (especially when the size of a program is so small, compared to the size of Nokia). They were doing a good thing, I figured, and I really like the N800 - so I’ll cut them some slack.

Then, I am finally able to place my order. I figured I’d still have the device in time for SCALE, where I could show everyone how great it was. The device came with 2 day shipping standard. About 5 days later, still no N810. I log in to check the status of my order. Status: CANCELED. No call or email from Letstalk, just canceled. I thought it might be a mixup, but yesterday I got an email saying the order was canceled (with no explanation). So, today I call Letstalk. They don’t seem to be 100% sure why the order was canceled, but it may be because I have placed too many orders with them in a short period of time. I have never even heard of this company, let alone order anything but this N810. So, I try to place an order over the phone. First, they tell me I’ll have to transfer to a different department right after my order, or else it will be auto-canceled again. Odd, but whatever. Then, they can’t get the developer discount code to work. A couple times on hold and finally that is resolved. Then, they place the order with a completely made up address (I kid you not - after telling him my address multiple times and having my previous order to look at… the confirmation email I got said Michigan). Another call and they straighten out the address, but my order has to be “confirmed”. Another call for that. The rep explains that they will need to call my bank and verify the shipping address and some other information. Sure, no problem. About 20 minutes later he says that the bank has confirmed all my information and identity. He now needs my SSN so he can access some public records and verify three questions. At this point, I canceled the order. I’m not sure what would have been needed after I answered the three questions, but I assume it would have involved a blood sample. If you getting word directly from my bank is not good enough, what is?

So, I guess I won’t be getting an N810 after all… which is a shame. I’ll certainly never do business with Letstalk again and it really reflects poorly on Nokia as well. The N-series is fantastic in general and the N810 looks to be the best yet. Nokia just bought Trolltech and seems to be moving more and more toward Open Source. I really do wish them the best, but I hope they wise up to the fact that Letstalk is giving them a very bad image.

–jeremy

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Nokia to acquire Trolltech to accelerate software strategy

Published by
jeremy
at January 28, 2008 in Nokia and Open Source. 0 Comments

Continuing what is becoming a popular trend, another Open Source company has been acquired. This time it’s Nokia acquiring Trolltech, who are best known for QT and Qtopia. From the press release:

Espoo, Finland and Oslo, Norway - Nokia and Trolltech ASA today announced that they have entered into an agreement that Nokia will make a public voluntary tender offer to acquire Trolltech (www.trolltech.com), a company headquartered in Oslo, Norway and publicly listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Trolltech is a recognized software provider with world-class software development platforms and frameworks. In addition to the key software assets, its talented team will play an important role in accelerating the implementation of Nokia’s software strategy.

Nokia will offer NOK 16 per share in cash. The board of directors of Trolltech has unanimously recommended that its shareholders accept Nokia’s Offer. Holders of 35,024,830 shares, representing approximately 66,43 % of Trolltech’s issued shares and votes have as of January 27, 2008 irrevocably undertaken to accept the Offer. Haavard Nord, Vuonislahti Invest AS (controlled by Eirik Chambe-Eng), Teknoinvest and certain funds managed by Index Ventures are among the shareholders who have agreed to tender their shares to Nokia.

The acquisition of Trolltech will enable Nokia to accelerate its cross-platform software strategy for mobile devices and desktop applications, and develop its Internet services business. With Trolltech, Nokia and third party developers will be able to develop applications that work in the Internet, across Nokia’s device portfolio and on PCs. Nokia’s software strategy for devices is based on cross-platform development environments, layers of software that run across operating systems, enabling the development of applications across the Nokia device range. Examples of current cross-platform layers are Web runtime, Flash, Java and Open C.

It’s good to see that Nokia has explicitly confirmed its commitment to keeping Trolltech products Open Source and available under the GPL. I think the move makes quite a bit of sense, although I remain unsure what the real future of Symbian is. Nokia is creating some really interesting devices (although I am still waiting for my N810). It should be noted that while QT forms the base of KDE, devices such as the N810 currently run Gnome. Congratulations on another successful Open Source exits. With the current trend, it’s unclear how much longer we’re going to have “Open Source companies”. It seems that more and more, Open Source is simply being seen as a logical way to develop software, even in historically proprietary companies.

–jeremy

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Where’s my Gphone?

Published by
jeremy
at November 5, 2007 in Apple, Google, Linux, Nokia, Open Source, OpenMoko and maemo. 0 Comments

Google finally made the highly anticipated Gphone related announcement today:

Despite all of the very interesting speculation over the last few months, we’re not announcing a Gphone. However, we think what we are announcing — the Open Handset Alliance and Android — is more significant and ambitious than a single phone. In fact, through the joint efforts of the members of the Open Handset Alliance, we hope Android will be the foundation for many new phones and will create an entirely new mobile experience for users, with new applications and new capabilities we can’t imagine today.

Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications — all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation. We have developed Android in cooperation with the Open Handset Alliance, which consists of more than 30 technology and mobile leaders including Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC and T-Mobile. Through deep partnerships with carriers, device manufacturers, developers, and others, we hope to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform. We think the result will ultimately be a better and faster pace for innovation that will give mobile customers unforeseen applications and capabilities.

It’s important to recognize that the Open Handset Alliance and Android have the potential to be major changes from the status quo — one which will take patience and much investment by the various players before you’ll see the first benefits. But we feel the potential gains for mobile customers around the world are worth the effort. If you’re a developer and this approach sounds exciting, give us a week or so and we’ll have an SDK available. If you’re a mobile user, you’ll have to wait a little longer, but some of our partners are targeting the second half of 2008 to ship phones based on the Android platform. And if you already have a phone you know and love, check out mobile.google.com and make sure you have Google Maps for mobile, Gmail and our other great applications on your phone. We’ll continue to make these services better and add plenty of exciting new features, applications and services, too.

This is fairly inline with what I was expecting. While some were anticipating a hardware device from Google, a platform plus stack release makes much more sense. They don’t have to get into a very low margin high capital business and they can keep existing partnerships in place without the added stress of direct competition. This move should have fairly large repercussion for the entire industry. With the availability of a full SDK for this platform, Apple is really going to get hurt if they are too closed with their SDK, which will be released soon. Looking at the Open Handset Alliance members, you’ll notice both Nokia and FIC are missing. You have to wonder how this announcement will impact Maemo and OpenMoko, respectively. I’d guess we’ll see many more partners and stepped up competition as a result of this announcement, so I’ll keep an eye out and post an update when the dust has settled. One thing is clear, the Linux mobile landscape is heating up.

Additional Reading:
TechCrunch
Edgadget
Mashable
Techdirt
Linux Foundation (which has pointers to many of the Linux mobile initiatives and players, including: ACCESS, A La Mobile, Celunite, FST, Mizi Research, OpenMoko/FIC, Purple Labs, Trolltech, LiMO, LiPS, Moblin and more)

–jeremy

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Nokia N810 gets official

Published by
jeremy
at October 18, 2007 in Linux, Nokia, Open Source and maemo. 0 Comments

Regular blog readers will know that I really like my Nokia N800. On that note, it’s great to see that Nokia just officially announced the N810. The N810 is fairly similar to the N800, but now includes a built in QWERTY keyboard and GPS (which were certainly two of the most requested features, so Nokia is listening). You can see a more complete comparison here. The updates on the N810 look great and I’d guess that the next generation device (N900?) is going to be an absolutely killer device.

–jeremy

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Are SCO Execs in trouble?

Published by
jeremy
at August 20, 2007 in Linux, Nokia and Open Source. 0 Comments

From Mark Webbink:

Some have speculated that it would be worthwhile to now take SCO off the market. Heck, their market cap is now under $10 million. The problem is that paying $10 million to buy SCO would not be the end of it. SCO is still embroiled in the IBM case and the Red Hat case, to say nothing of the on-going claims that Novell has. In addition, when the lights finally flicker out on SCO, look for some shareholder lawsuits based on violation of securities laws. If you go back to the press conferences that SCO repeatedly called back in 2003 and 2004, they never began those press conferences by making the standard disclaimers cautioning investors to take what they were saying with a grain of salt. As a consequence, investors had every right to take what Darl McBride and Chris Sontag were saying in public back then as the gospel truth. Like McBride stating publicly that SCO owned the copyrights to Unix in the spring of 2003 while he was privately corresponding with Novell begging them to transfer the copyrights to SCO.

We have come a long way from that day in 2003 when McBride suggested IBM buy SCO for $500 million.

I’d expect shareholder lawsuits once SCOX runs out of money and it looks like Darl McBride and Chris Sontag might end up getting a little more than they bargained for. It would have been nice to see this case make it all the way through to judgment, but it’s looking less and less likely that SCO will be able to hold out that long.

–jeremy

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Feature upgrade release to the Internet Tablet OS 2007 edition

Published by
jeremy
at July 6, 2007 in Linux, Nokia, Open Source and maemo. 1 Comment

With all the iPhone hype, it’s easy for other gadgets to fall out of mind. The N800 is still a very cool device, however, and does quite a bit that the iPhone just doesn’t do (and never will). Oh, and it’s a mostly open platform. The latest firmware has just been released and contains some really nice features:

* Skype client support
* Adobe Flash 9 browser plug-in
* Up to 8GB memory card support
* better touch screen sensitiveness
* better battery life
* New pre-installed content
* Tableteer applet
* and more! (there’s a comprehensive roundup here)

It’s great to see that Nokia continues to add features and improve the device. The N800 is hands down one of the most useful (and slickest) devices I’ve ever owned. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to upgrade the firmware today. Previous upgrades have gone very smooth and it’s great that there is an official Linux installer.

–jeremy

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Ari Jaaksi on Nokia and Open Source and the N770

Published by
jeremy
at June 28, 2007 in Linux, Nokia and Open Source. 0 Comments

Stephe points to a white paper on Ari’s blog that details the early learnings at Nokia around open source and product delivery. This learning predominately focuses on the Nokia N770 and maemo project. The N770 is an “Internet Tablet” and is the predecessor to the N800, which I’m the proud owner of. If you’re unfamiliar with the N800, you can get an LQ branded look here.

The 10 page white paper is full of useful information and insight and is a worthwhile read in its entirety. Here are a few highlights.

On cost savings:

The biggest cost savings came from the utilization of already available components. We utilized several free components and subsystems as such, with no modifications.

We also improved several components to better meet our requirements. Such improvement is cheaper than creating the needed functionality from scratch.

Some 2/3 of the code of the Nokia 770 is licensed under an open source license. These components made it possible for us to build the software cheaper than we could have done using closed and proprietary technologies.

On code quality:
If we compare the code from open source to the code developed by us, our conclusion is that open source is of better quality. We have more bugs and problems in the Nokia developed code. This is only natural because the majority of the Nokia code is build from scratch and is thus very young. Open source code, on the other hand, has mostly been used by others already. They have fixed the most severe errors already before we started to use the code.

On engineering flexibility:
Open source is flexible when we needed to fix a problem or change functionality. We often requested bug fixes or modifications to the commercial closed components on our platform. If the vendors didn’t have the capacity or will to fix the problem on time, we had few options. We could not fix problems ourselves because the companies using closed source didn’t want us to access their source code. With open source components, though, we fixed bugs yourself, hired somebody else to fix them, or worked with the communities for the modifications. We thus had many options available, and in most cases we managed to fix the problems at hand. The free access to the code and to the developers improved the quality of open source originated components within the final product.

On confidentiality and the open source community:
We worked intensively with communities already before we announced the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. Open source approach requires openness and information sharing during development. A high publicity launch, on the other hand, is the way to introduce consumer products to the public and you do not want to reveal the products before the launch date. There is thus a potential conflict between the open source openness and product launch secrecy.

The credentials, work, and history of open source hackers are open for everybody to see. The hackers typically want to work with interesting things also in the future. Therefore, they don’t want to become famous for jeopardizing somebody else’s project and misusing their trust. Thus, openness and open source can actually be much stronger bond than any NDA or monetary sanction one can put on an individual or a company.

Based on our experiences, we can combine open communication and product confidentiality. We had no information leakage prior to the commercial product announcements, although we had had tens of developers working on the software with us. For some of the developers, we had told very detailed information about the forthcoming product. Developing products in open source and yet maintain the confidentiality of the product plans and roadmaps was possible for us.

and a summary:
Our experiences demonstrate that open source technologies and development model suit very well for such devices. We created the product in shorter time and with lesser resources that we have managed to develop other products utilizing proprietary software. In essence, open source offers time and cost savings in a form of readily available components and subsystems, available developers, and effective development model.

It was clear at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit that Linux in the mobile space is going to be huge. Even though Nokia has a serious investment in Symbian, they are exploring what the future holds for mobile Linux. That future looks very bright.

–jeremy

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