Nokia to unveil cheaper Windows smartphone: sources

Nokia will next week unveil a new, cheaper smartphone using Microsoft's Windows Phone software, targeting a wider market for its new range of smartphones, two sources close to the company said.

Cheaper phones are the key for Nokia and Microsoft in their battle to win a larger share of the market, analysts say.

In addition to the new Lumia 610 Nokia will also unveil at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona a global version of its high-end Lumia 900 phone, which AT&T is scheduled to roll out in the United States, the sources said.

Nokia is set to unveil the phones at a news conference next Monday, on February 27.

Nokia last year dumped its own smartphone software platforms in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone, which has so far had a limited impact due to the high prices of phones using it.

Microsoft's share of the smartphone market fell to a mere 2 percent last quarter, compared with 3 percent a year ago and 13 percent four years earlier, according to Strategy Analytics.

source

ZTE will present at the MWC eight models including the flagship quad

ZTE is confirmed plans for the mass introduction of new models at the exhibition Mobile World Congress. Total Chinese manufacturer intends to show the eight new phones, which will include the number of smart phones running Android and Windows Phone, with the support of the fourth-generation networks and our own flagship, built on four core platform. Presentation will be held on Monday, February 27. No reports on whether all the machines will be presented and how many of them will be running a particular operating system, and how to maintain data on LTE-networks. already been announced smartphone ZTE Mimosa X, who became the first device based on Nvidia platform Tegra 2. Also presented on the Android platform smartphone with support for LTE-networks: ZTE PF200 and ZTE N910. They fall in the number of these eight models can be said - the company ZTE did not specify the time. Demonstration of capacity at the exhibition MWC associated with an ambitious plan to achieve by 2015 the third position in the global market, sales of phones and smartphones.

Nokia at MWC: budget smartphone Lumia 610 and an international version of Lumia 900

Nokia has already officially announced that he would hold a press conference at Mobile World Congress on the first day - 27 February morning, but she certainly did not disclose details about what exactly will be announced there. But the Reuters news agency reported on this with reference to informed sources. According to him, at the MWC 2012 the Finnish company will introduce two new items - Nokia Lumia 610 and 900 international version of Lumia, both based on the operating system, Windows Phone.

According to a source, Nokia Lumia 610 will be the cheapest model on the basis of Windows Phone and get a new version of the platform, called Tango, which is and is designed for this type of device. In turn, Nokia Lumia 900 for the international market will not be materially different from the version of this smartphone for the U.S. operator AT & T, presented at the CES in January, except that lose support LTE. While it is difficult to say whether these data are accurate, but the situation is clearer in the coming days.

ZTE Set to Unveil LTE, Windows Phone and Multi-Core Android Devices at MWC 2012

ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”) (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, will next week announce a significant extension of its Smart Terminal capabilities – both in its product range and routes to market – including a major new quad-core flagship handset.

ZTE will unveil eight new devices, delivering significant advances in power, high definition multimedia capabilities and design. Based on technology innovations including multi-core chipsets, LTE, 4G radio and the latest Android and Windows Mobile platforms, the new devices form a core component of ZTE’s ambition to become a top three handset provider by 2015.

On the infrastructure side, ZTE will be demonstrating a wide range of application scenarios covering LTE/LTE-A, smart networks and cloud computing.

“There is no doubt that this year’s Mobile World Congress will again see some exciting device launches. The new devices from ZTE will demonstrate how ZTE is without doubt among an elite group of handset providers as next generation telecommunications networks roll out globally. ZTE returns at least ten percent of its revenues back into R&D to ensure that it sustains its position as a true market innovator – and we’re counting down to being able to showcase this to the world’s mobile industry next week,” said Mr. He Shiyou, Executive Vice President and Head of the Terminals Division at ZTE.

The devices will be officially unveiled in a press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday 27th February at 10:30 CET. The new devices, together with a comprehensive portfolio of ZTE terminals, will be on display at the ZTE booth in Hall 8, stand B145.

About ZTE

ZTE is a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions with the most comprehensive product range covering virtually every sector of the wireline, wireless, service and terminals markets. The company delivers innovative, custom-made products and services to over 500 operators in more than 140 countries, helping them to meet the changing needs of their customers while achieving continued revenue growth. ZTE’s 2010 revenue led the industry with a 21% increase to USD10.609 billion. ZTE commits 10 percent of its revenue to research and development and takes a leading role in a wide range of international bodies developing emerging telecoms standards. A company with sound corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, ZTE is a member of the UN Global Compact. ZTE is China’s only listed telecom manufacturer, publicly traded on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ). For more information, please visit www.zte.com.cn.

Join the ZTE conversation at Mobile World Congress on Twitter with #ZTEMWC
Follow ZTE on Twitter: @ZTEPress
Follow ZTE on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ZTECorp

Smartphone Final Numbers 2011 - All the stats including Q4 by handset brands, operating systems and installed bases

Time to do the final count for 2011 smartphone numbers. This is the one big blog about all the smartphone numbers you could ever hope for.. So please mark this page for your reference in the future and do send your colleagues here too. If you blog or write about smartphones, you may want to link here.


As always, this Quarterly and Annual blog article series is as heavily based on global stats and facts as possile. So each of the major smartphone manufacturers has provided their Quarterly results for Q4 (not all provided the numbers we hoped to receive) and the big 4 analyst houses (Gartner, IDC, Canalys and Strategy Analytics) have each given their count of total smartphone sales (or shipments, depending on their methodology). As usual, I use the average of the big 4 as the starting point, then use the best available info to calculate or closely estimate the actual numbers for each individual brand. If you want to see last year's numbers and analysis, they are here.

So while my own analysis suggested somewhat a larger number of smartphones sold in Q4 when adding all of my individual data points, the total we have to live with for Q4 is 155.1 Million units sold. And yes, we have now celebrated the first full year when smartphones have sold more than all types of personal computers (including tablet PCs like the iPad) combined. I do a separate calculation of the biggest computer makers by units sold, when smartphones are included in the count. Last year's top manufacturer list is here.

This blog article is also my official estimate (and that of my company, TomiAhonen Consulting) of the market shares both for Q4 of 2011, and as we finished the full year, this is also the final count for the full year 2011. As I started to do a year earlier, in 2010 the 'Year of the Bloodbath' in smartphones - I also will grade each major smartphone maker for the quarter and full year, for their performance with some commentary for this ended year 2011 which I called 'Year 2 of the Bloodbath, the Electric Boogaloo'.

I know some want the big picture numbers so here they are, first the full year - what will be most useful in the longer run - and then the Q4 results:

2011 FULL YEAR SMARTPHONE SALES STATISTICS


Rank . Brand . . . . 2011 units . Market Share . 2010 units . Market Share

1 (3)  . Apple  . . . . 93.1 M . . . 19.1% . . . . . . . 47.5 M . . . . 15.9%
2 (5)  . Samsung  . 90.9 M . . . 18.7% . . . . . . . 24.0 M . . . .   8.0%
3 (1)  . Nokia . . . .  77.3 M . . . 15.9% . . . . . . 100.3 M . . . .  33.7%
4 (2)  . RIM . . . . . . 52.5 M . . . 10.8% . . . . . . . 48.0 M . . . . 16.1%
5 (4)  . HTC  . . . . . 44.6 M . . .   9.2% . . . . . . .  24.6 M . . . .  8.3%
6 (7)  . Sony . . . . . 26.8 M . . .   5.5% . . . . . . . .  9.5 M . . . .  3.2%
7 (8)  . LG  . . . . . . 23.3 M . . . . 4.8% . . . . . . . .  7.0 M . . . .  2.4%
8 (-) . . Huawei . . . 20.0 M . . . .  4.1% . . . . . . . . 5.0 M . . . .  1.5%
9 (6)  . Motorola . . 18.6 M . . . .  3.8% . . . . . . . 13.7 M . . . . . 4.6%
10 (-) . ZTE . . . . .  12.0 M . . . .  2.5% . . . . . . . . 3.5 M . . . . . 1.2%
Other . . . . . . . . . . 26.5 M . . . .  5.6%
TOTAL . . . . . . . ..486.0 M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297.8 M

Source: TomiAhonen Almanac 2012
This data may be freely used and repeated

The overall industry grew by 63.2% in just one year. Apple did incredibly well growing by 96% and taking top honors for the year. Samsung had an even more monsterous year, more than tripling in size growing by 279% and coming within a hair from the top. Past master, Nokia which was bigger than its two nearest rivals put together just a year ago, had a horrid year, declining by 23% for the full year and tumbling from the top to third place and losing more than half of its market share within one 12 month period - this is a world record fall for a market leader in any industry ever, in a period of only one year. RIM was also often called for a lousy year, but at least they managed to grow a bit, with 9% growth for the year and falling in rankings from 2nd to 4th. HTC, ZTE, SonyEricsson - since rebranded to only Sony - and Huawei had strong growth years. Motorola had a bad year and was bought by Google. Sharp and Fujitsu fell out of the top 10 chart replaced by ZTE and Huawei.


2011 FULL YEAR OPERATING SYSTEM MARKET SHARES

Rank . . OS . . . . . . . .  2011 units . market share . 2010 units . market share
1 (2) . .  Android  . . .  .  208 M . . . . 43% . . . . . . . . . 54 M . . . . 18%
2 (4) . .  iOS . . . . . . . . . . 93 M . . . . 19% . . . . . . . . . 48 M . . . . 16%
3 (1) . .  Symbian . . . . . .  81 M . . . . 17% . . . . . . . . 116 M . . . . 39%
4 (3) . .  Blackberry . . . . . 52 M . . . . 11% . . . . . . . .   48 M . . . . 16%
5 (7) . .  bada * . . . . . . . . . 9 M . . . . . 2% . . . . . . . . . . 3 M *  . . . 1% *
6 (8) . .  Windows Phone * . 5 M . . . .  1% . . . . . . . . . . 2 M * . . . . 1% *
7 (5) . .  Windows Mobile . . 4 M . . . .  1% . . . . . . . . . 11 M . . . . . 4%
Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28 M . . . .  6%
TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . .  486 M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 M

Source: TomiAhonen Almanac 2012
This data may be freely used and repeated
* - the two operating systems, bada by Samsung and Windows Phone by Microsoft were launched at the end of 2010, so the full year-to-year comparison is not valid. See analysis below by each brand of smartphone OS

In the operating system wars, Symbian and Android essentially swapped places, Symbian fell from 39% to 17% while Android went from 18% to 43%. In the second battle, Apple's iPhone iOS pulled strongly ahead from its near rival Blackberry OS and iOS even passed Symbian in the process. Among the backmarkers, Microsoft's new Windows Phone finally passed its older and incompatible sibling, Windows Mobile but still lingers in the 1% range. Samsung's bada has pulled well away now being almost twice the size of Microsoft's best. Among the others we find past major platforms that died like Palm Web/OS, Maemo and LiMo, as well as the orphaned new Nokia and Intel OS MeeGo among many others.

Please remember, I am only counting smartphones. So for example iOS has a larger number of new sales (and installed base) due to iPads and iPod Touch devices. Same true for many of the platforms, Android is increasingly also on tablets etc. The data in this blog is always only about smartphones, not all possible digital devices that might use that platform.


2011 SMARTPHONE OS INSTALLED BASE

Rank . . OS . . . . . . . .  . 2011 base . market share . 2010 base . market share
1 (1) . .  Symbian . . . . .  314 M . . . . 35% . . . . . . . . 346 M . . . . . 49%
2 (4) . .  Android  . . . . .   247 M . . . . 27% . . . . . . . . . 61 M . . . . . . 9%
3 (3) . .  iOS . . . . . . . . . 149 M . . . . 16% . . . . . . . . . 77 M . . . . . 11%
4 (2) . .  Blackberry . . . . 106 M . . . . 12% . . . . . . . .   95 M . . . . . 14%
5 (5) . .  Windows Mobile . 20 M . . . . . 2% . . . . . . . . . 48 M . . . . . . 7%
6 (7) . .  bada . . . . . . . . .  13 M . . . .   1% . . . . . . . . . . 3 M . . . . . .  0%
7 (8) . .  Windows Phone . . 7 M . . . . . 1% . . . . . . . . . . 2 M . . . . . .  0%
Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 M
TOTAL  . . . . . . . . . . . . 910 M  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700 M

Source: TomiAhonen Almanac 2012

This data may be freely used and repeated

Symbian still rules the world in the installed base of smartphones, benefitted also by the strong second-hand appeal of Nokia smartphones in Africa and less affluent parts of Asia and Latin America. Android's strong growth will move it past Symbian shortly in the installed base. Apple and RIM fight for the title of third and fourth biggest OS by installed base. And two years from launch, Windows Phone is nowhere near the reach of its older incompatible cousin, Windows Mobile and continues to be overshadowed by Samsung's bada.

Q4 NUMBERS

That was the full year. But the smartphone bloodbath was indeed quite tumultuous in year 2011 and the Q4 numbers will be much more indicative of where the race stands today, than the full-year picture which is obviously somewhat lagging. So lets do Q4 results

SMARTPHONE Q4 SALES BY BRAND


Rank . Brand . . . . Q4 units . Market Share . Q3 units . . . .  Market Share

1 (2)  . Apple  . . . . 37.0M . . . 23.9% . . . . . . . 17.1 M . . . . 14.4%
2 (1)  . Samsung  . 35.4 M . . . 22.8% . . . . . . . 25.1 M . . . . 21.2%
3 (3)  . Nokia . . . . 19.6 M . . . 12.6% . . . . . . . 16.8 M . . . . 14.2%
4 (5)  . RIM . . . . .  14.1 M . . . . 9.1% . . . . . . . 10.6 M . . . .  8.9%
5 (4)  . HTC  . . . . .  9.5 M . . . . 6.1% . . . . . . . 13.2 M . . . . 11.1%
6 (6)  . Sony . . . . .  9.0 M . . .   5.8% . . . . . . . . 7.6 M . . . .  6.4%
7 (8) . . Huawei . . . . 7.5 M . . .   4.8% . . . . . . .  5.4 M . . . . 4.6%
8 (7)  . LG  . . . . . . . 7.3 M . . . . 4.5% . . . . . . .  6.2 M . . . .  5.2%
9 (9)  . Motorola . . .  5.3 M . . . . 3.4% . . . . . . .  4.8 M . . . .  4.1%
10 (10) ZTE  . . . . . . 3.8 M . . . . 2.5% . . . . . . .  3.0 M . . . .  2.5%
Other . . . . . . . . . . . 6.9 M . . . . 4.5%
TOTAL . . . . . . . ..155.1 M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118.5 M

Source: TomiAhonen Consulting 2012
This data may be freely used and repeated

The fight was tight between Samsung and Apple as we expected. As Samsung didn't release official numbers, I used the average as reported by the Big 4. But none of the four had Sammy ahead of the iPhone so we can safely trust that this ranking order is correct. Yet it was close. Nokia continued its slide after the Elop Effect. RIM and HTC reversed positions with Blackberry having a resurgence. Sony (ex SonyEricsson) is making a strong showing of fighting into the Top 5. And in the bottom half of the Top 10, Motorola continues its slide and Huawei is growing strongly. LG and ZTE are keeping pace with the industry.

Q4 OPERATING SYSTEM MARKET SHARES

Rank . . OS . . . . . . . .  Q4 units . market share . . Q3 units . market share
1 (1) . .  Android  . . . . . 76 M . . . . 49% . . . . . . . . . 56 M . . . . 48%
2 (3) . .  iOS . . . . . . . .  37 M . . . . 24% . . . . . . . . . 17 M . . . . 15%
3 (2) . .  Symbian . . . . . 18 M . . . . 11% . . . . . . . . . 18 M . . . . 15%
4 (4) . .  Blackberry . . .  14 M . . . . . 9% . . . . . . . . . 11 M . . . . . 9%
5 (5) . .  bada . . . . . . . .  4 M . . . . . 2% . . . . . . . . . . 3 M . . . . . 2%
6 (6) . .  Windows Phone  2 M . . . . . 1% . . . . . . . . . . 1 M . . . . . 1%
7 (-) . .  MeeGo . . . . . . .  2 M . . . . . 1% . . . . . . . . . (launched Q4 of 2011)
8 (7) . .  Windows Mobile  1 M . . . . . 0% . . . . . . . . . . 1 M . . . . . 1%
Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 M . . . .  1%
TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 M

Source: TomiAhonen Consulting 2012
This data may be freely used and repeated

Android continues to dominate, and nears the half-level of all smartphones sold. Apple's iOS took a solid second place and Symbian continues to crash. Blackberry held steady. In the small ranks we have bada the strongest outside the top 4. Windows Phone saw the first 600,000 phones sold by Nokia under its Lumia series in Q4 which turned the long decline of Windows Phone into a modest growth. Still, the brand new MeeGo from Nokia, even with its very limited launch availability almost tied all Windows Phone sales by all brands. I have Windows Phone at 1.8 million units and MeeGo at 1.75 million. Thus within Nokia, MeeGo and the N9 outsold all Microsoft Windows Phone based Lumia phones by.. 3 to 1. And Windows Mobile is doing its slow death. Again even the combined sales of both Microsoft platforms, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone did not match Samsung's bada sales.

ANDROID, WINDOWS PHONE MANUFACTURER SHARES

I have also been providing the market shares for the various operating systems that had more than one manufacturer, where it was 'relevant'. Recently the only OS worth monitoring was the Google Android OS family with Symbian shrinking to being mostly only Nokia and Windows Mobile shrinking overall to oblivion, but now that Nokia has launched its Lumia series, I will also give my measure of Windows Phone OS family market shares for Q4.

ANDROID FAMILY MARKET SHARES Q4
Samsung . . . 41%
Sony . . . . . .12%
HTC . . . . . . 11%
Huawei . . . . 10%
LG . . . . . . .   9%
Motorola . . . . 7%
Others . . . . . 9%
TOTAL . . . . 76.0 Million

Source: TomiAhonen Consulting 2012
This data may be freely used and repeated


WINDOWS PHONE FAMILY MARKET SHARES Q4
HTC . . . . . 39%
Nokia . . . . 33%
Samsung . 17%
Others . . . 11%
Total . . . .  1.8 Million

Source: TomiAhonen Consulting 2012
This data may be freely used and repeated


These are approximate market shares, to fit the overall numbers as best as possible. I do not find any particularly 'glaring' problem with any of those numbers for this past quarter (sometimes some number does not seem to be right, these are reasonable).


GRADING FULL YEAR 2011 PERFORMANCE

So, we come to the end of 2011, in the Bloodbath it was Year 2, Electric Boogaloo. We expected carnage and intrigue but the year got even more of a roller-coaster ride when Nokia suddenly committed market share suicide with the Elop Effect (combining the Ratner Effect with the Osborne Effect). As I predicted when giving a preliminary analysis of what it would cause - Nokia's market share crashed - my first prediction on February 15, when I said Nokia would end in Q4 having 12% market share haha.

The Nokia give-away was a once-in-a-lifetime type of opportunity for the swift to capitalize, and move quickly, to steal market share. The fastest to take advantage were Samsung, Apple, ZTE and Huawei. Surprisingly the usually nimble HTC didn't manage to capitalize and RIM utterly failed in its chances, unfortunately putting all its attention to the tablet PC they launched which failed miserably in the market as well. But lets look at each brand now, and a quick analysis of how well they fared in the Electric Boogaloo. As usual, I will grade each contestant by the order of their finish starting from the biggest.

APPLE - 93M, 19% - Grew unit sales strongly and grew profits strongly - Grade A

Apple had a monster year. Yes, its iPhone 4S was delayed by more than a quarter, but even then the 4 sold well and once the 4S came along, Apple had a phenomenal Christmas. More than half of Apple's income now comes from the iPhone and Apple generates easily most of the profits of the handset industry. Even while making only smartphones, Apple has crashed into the Top 3 biggest handset makers, ahead of LG and behind only Nokia and Samsung, all three of which of course make most of their phones as 'dumbphones'. What an achievement!

For Q4 Apple is doing even better, selling 24% of all smartphones sold on the planet, so Apple's trajectory is even stronger than its annual performance. And while Samsung was briefly the biggest smartphone manufacturer in Q3, Apple took back that title in Q4 - giving us a different leader in the smartphone race every Quarter of the year. Congratulations Apple, perfect year, I give you an A.

SAMSUNG - 91M, 19% - Grew sales explosively and made huge profits - Grade A+

Samsung did the nearly impossible - it had an even better year than Apple in smartphones. Before you say 'but but' - remember, Apple only doubled its sales in smartphones, Samsung more than tripled its smartphone sales - all while also being very profitable. Samsung was briefly the biggest smartphone manufacturer in Q3, partly because the iPhone 4S was delayed, and now gave the lead back to Apple. But Sammy is growing far faster than Apple and is destined to run away with the smartphone crown for the full year 2012. The race will be close still in Q1 but from Q2 Samsung should be clear of Apple...

Samsung's Q4 was also strong growing well faster than the industry and holding 23% market share. Samsung sells most of its smartphones on the Android platform, but also sells on bada and Windows Phone (and is developing Tizen with Intel for the future). The Galaxy series is synonymous with industry tech leadership currently. I grade Samsung an A+

NOKIA - 77M sales, 16% market share - lost sales massively and generated huge losses - Grade F-

Nokia's Annus Horribilis was a self-induced wound. Not a wound. A self-induced serial crippling. Yes, a year of torture by the CEO. A year of water-boarding in fact. A year ago Nokia grew by 48% and made a proft. This year as the industry grew 62% Nokia sales crashed 23% and produced massive losses. Nokia's market share in 2010 was 34%. By Q4 it was just above 12%. Nokia had scared away 65% of its customer base in just one year! We witnessed the establishment of a world record in market share destruction - not only in telecoms but in all industries. Stephen Elop will go into the Business Hall of Shame as the all-time costliest CEO. The biggest loss ever, for a current market leader. Nokia was twice as big as Apple exactly one year ago. Today (based on Q4 sales) Apple is almost exactly twice as big as Nokia in smartphones. That is a total comprehensive collapse. Nokia was doing just fine through the middle of February of last year - had an excellent early year in China sales for example, as we saw from its Q1 results - but then from February 9, Nokia's CEO had his brain-freeze and insanity took over. I have chronicled enough of the carnage on this blog, suffice it to say that his Elop Effect and the year of lunacy caused total damages so severe, Nokia destroyed a Blackberry-sized slice of Nokia's business, and yes, the CEO's moronic actions caused 3.9 Billion dollars of damage to Nokia last year. So yes, for those who remember, Siemens died fast in dumbphones, as did Motorola. Palm died fast in smartphones, as did Windows Mobile. Those market share disasters were child's play compared to what Nokia did last year. That was epic. The biggest damage to any global leader ever. EVER. Any industry. ANY INDUSTRY. Not like New Coke, not like the BP oil spill, not like British Airways Terminal 5 fiasco, etc etc etc. The biggest damage to any company in any one year, EVER.

But yes, what of that wonderful promised 'third ecosystem' fantasy by delusion-boy Elop? There were some who thought Microsoft plus Nokia would be a sure winner. There were others who felt that partnership was a case of two turkeys who will not make an eagle. It was sheer speculation until we got to see the Lumia launch. The Nokia CEO had total control of the most important new phone series launch in Nokia's history. Elop could control every aspect of it, from the design of the phones, to where they would be marketed and offered to what carriers/networks, to the pricing, to the promotion. Total control of the launch of what Nokia branded the Lumia smartphones that run on Windows Phone. The previous comparison point was the launch of Nokia's previous new operating system based smartphones, the S^3 platform of Symbian with the flagship smartphone N8, one year ago for Q4. Those sold 4 million units. Just counting for the growth in the industry of 62% Nokia should have easily sold 6.4 million Lumia smartphones under any reasonably bright CEO, without the extra effort of the most important launch ever. And Nokia threw the biggest marketing push for this smartphone series, ever. And on top of that, Microsoft came in and threw hundreds of millions of dollars more in marketing support - including giving away free Xbox 360 videogaming consoles to buyers of the Lumia800 for example in the UK. How many sales did Nokia do of all Lumia phones in Q4? More than 6.4 million? No. Not even close. 600,000 is what Nokia managed. Literally they managed only one tenth the level they did a year ago (when adjusted for industry growth in the past year). That is utterly horrid performance and the signs were all there. The Lumia is not succeeding, and will not succeed. Anyone who hopes or thinks or expects that Lumia and Microsoft can rescue Nokia, has now facts - it will not. The Lumia launch is a total dud. And major analyst houses like Morgan Stanley see Nokia struggling far more this year, that market share of 12% will end at 8% according to Morgan Stanley's projection by the end of this year.

There is a ray of hope, it is called the N9 and MeeGo (And the N950 and other MeeGo devices either designed or otherwise MeeGo compatible like the N900). MeeGo outsold Lumia by 3 to 1 (more about MeeGo below). But Nokia's psycopathic CEO refuses to let the highly desirable N9 to be sold in Nokia's major markets - to the degree in Germany the biggest newsmagazine, Der Stern actually recommended to its readers to drive to Austria or Switzerland to go buy the N9 rather than Lumia smartphones. And bizarrely he refuses to sell the sister device, the N950 anywhere! Highly desirable 'hit' phones are very rare in this industry and Nokia dearly could use one right now. Only a fool as CEO refuses to sell a hot product globally. Only a fool. As long as Elop is in charge, Nokia is continuing its death-dance and has to sell its best assets just to survive. For the company that set the world record for market share destruction in a year, and going from big profits to huge losses, Nokia deserves the worst grade ever given. Unfortunately I can only fail Nokia and give it an F-

RIM - 53M units, 11% market share - grew modestly and remained modestly profitable - Grade C+

Blackberry maker RIM had a bad year. The Blackberry had grown market share every year up to 2009. Then their sales stalled, and Android (not the iPhone) started to eat into Blackberry's share. This year they were uniquely poised to steal most of Nokia's collapsing sales of its E-Series QWERTY based business-oriented smartphones. RIM should have had an easy time taking at least 6 million Nokia customers without batting an eyelash. And in a year of 62% growth, if RIM otherwise held steady for the year, they should have been in the scale of 84 million units of Blackberry sales. Yet they didn't. RIM launched its doomed tablet PC - which took the focus away from the management. RIM's strong profits vanished and in its panic, the co-CEO's fired tons of valuable sales and marketing (and design) staff which were needed right then to capture the slice of the Nokia customer give-away. And then the OS was delayed and Blackberry's troubles just compounded. No wonder the co-CEO's were both replaced by the end of the year.

In Q4 we see a rebound, strong sales on paper, but actually the growth in Blackberry sales from Q3 is only on par with the strong growth of the overall Christmas period Q4, so RIM actually only kept pace with the industry. However, as the previous two quarters had seen actual sales declines (not just market share declines), the turn-around was welcome and signals a possibly recovering RIM for 2012. Still, for their 2011 performance, I grade Research in Motion with a C+

HTC - 45M sales, 9% market share - grew unit sales strongly and made profits - Grade C

Taiwanese HTC had a good year, inspite of the bad press. Their smartphone sales grew stronger than the industry, by 81% in fact - and HTC did report a profit every quarter. They issued a series of downgrades to their forecasts, which has been more the source of the bad press. But they outgrew the market in one of the most dynamic big industries ever seen, and they grabbed market share in a very topsy-turvy year. HTC sold smartphones on Android and both Windows based platforms.

In Q4 we see HTC stumbling quite badly and falling in market share down to 6%, so the current trend is perilous for HTC, even as it manages profits. So I find it a reasonable and kind of 'average' mid-fielder performance, I grade HTC at a C.

SONY - 27M sales, 6% market share - grew unit sales but was in and out of profits - Grade B-

The long partnership saga of Sony and Ericsson was finally ended in 2011 and Ericsson exited the handset industry (focusing only on the infrastructure side of telecoms hardware). That leaves us a potentially far stronger Sony - consumer electronics powerhouse - and owner of a slew of consumer electronics brands led by PlayStation and a vast catalog of content from movies to music. Sony(Ericsson) grew sales strongly close to 3x in size, and took a lot of market share. The partnership was notoriously poor in profitability and slipped in and out of profits in the year. As Sony(Ericsson) shifted away from Symbian and Windows Mobile to focus on Android, with its Xperia series Sony became highly desirable. The company sells about 80% of all of its handsets now as smartphones and said it will complete the transition to 100% smartphones this year. That would make Sony the first legacy handset maker to achieve that major transformation of its business (and surviving it too, haha, many rivals like Siemens, Motorola and yes, Ericsson, didn't survive that transition).

For Q4 Sony grew a little slower than the industry so its market share gains are stalling, but still for the full year, I grade Sony at a B-

LG - 23 M sales, 5% market share, grew strongly but made losses - B-

LG seems to have had an almost identical performance as Sony. LG more than tripled its sales for the year, but like Sony, LG also was both in and out of profits in its handset unit. LG offers smartphones on Android and a few token Windows Phone units. The last quarter saw worse performance from LG with the company slipping in the standings. But as it did grow strongly and is borderline in profits/losses, I grade LG with a B-

HUAWEI - 20 M Sales, 4% market share, grew explosively and made profits - Grade A

Huawei is better known for its major business of telecoms networking infrastructure (like Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent) than its handset unit, where its close sibling Chinese rival ZTE is more reversed, doing more in handsets than infrastructure. But in smartphones, Huawei has leaped ahead of ZTE and had a monster monster year. Huawei mainly offers Android based smartphones and usually at the low end of the price range. For Q4 they again grew faster than the industry. I find no fault in a perfect year for Huawei and grade them with a solid A

MOTOROLA (GOOGLE) - 19 M units, 4% share - grew modestly but continued big losses - D+

Motorola was bought by Google last year or more precisely, Google announced its intention to buy Moto, and they are now in the legal process to complete that deal. I will for now continue to call its Motorola unit as Motorola. So Moto-Moto, what have you done for me lately? Not much. Was yet another under-par year for the former giant known for the Razr. So how did it go in the Electric Boogaloo? Moto grew sales yes, but less than the rate of the industry, so they lost market share. Motorola had abandoned Symbian already a while back and also ended its use of Microsoft based operating systems, concentrating only on Android. They were 'thanked' by Microsoft with a lawsuit on patent infringements.. (Microsoft simply doesn't 'get it' that lawsuits in mobile will only make you more hated and the major players in this industry have very long memories). For Q4 Motorola continued its slide, growing less fast than the industry. So when you bleed market share, and do that unprofitably, that is bad business. I grade Motorola year 2011 at a D+

ZTE - 12M units, 3% market share, grew massively while making a profit - A-

Just like its bigger brother Huawei, ZTE also grew enormously in 2011, more than 3x bigger. They made a profits. They only provide Android handsets. Their only minor blemish was that in Q4 they grew a little less fast than the industry overall while not enough to lose market share. That is why I grade them an A-

FUJITSU - out of Top 10 - F

Fujitsu promised they will re-enter the global market and did launch in some Asian markets. So far their record is poor for 2011 and they fell out of the Top 10. I score them an F

SHARP - out of Top 10 - F

Sharp had already started on their come-back to the world stage, but that had its series of stumbles and bumps (they were the manufacturer of Microsoft's Kin series, a pair of youth phones that established a world record for new launch and market removal of 6 weeks in 2010). As they made some Android based moves to some markets around the world, their sales did not keep them in the Top 10. I grade them an F


OPERATING SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

Now lets do the operating systems. Two died in 2011 (Palm Web/OS by Hewlett Packard and LiMo by the Linux Foundation). Two more had their deaths announced (Symbian and MeeGo). One new OS launched (MeeGo). Two more were announced (Tizen and Meltemi). And Android continued to roll as the huge steamroller of the OS wars while Microsoft Windows Phone - then the 8th ecosystem - convinced Nokia to join in the propaganda to promote the Windows Phone as supposedly the 'Third Ecosystem' haha. What a laugh. But like with the phones, lets do these in size from biggest to smallest.

ANDROID - 208 M units, 43% market share - grew explosively - Grade A

Google's Android is now three years of age and it has taken the world's most competitive global industry ever, and is on the brink of having captured half of it (some analyst houses have jumped the gun and claim Android is already past 50% in smartphones in Q4 but Google's own activation numbers do not support that view). Android grew almost 4-fold in 2011 from 54 million to 208 million units per year. Android features smartphones made by Samsung, HTC, Sony, LG, Huawei, Motorola (Google) and ZTE out of the Top 10 plus many smarpthones outside the Top 10 like Fujitsu, Sharp, Mi-Fone, etc. In Q4 the sales growth slowed a bit but was still well faster than the industry growth rate. All in all, perfect year for Android. I grade them an A

iOS - 93 M units, 19% share - grew strongly - Grade A-

Apple's iOS grew very strongly in 2011, nearly doubling in size and taking a lot of market share. Not much more to report. Sold only on Apple iPhones in the smartphone races (plus some other Apple products). The Q4 was a stellar quarter but Q3 was under-par due to the late launch of the iPhone 4S. Still a near perfect year for the iOS platform, I grade it an A-

SYMBIAN - 81 M units, 17% market share - collapsed - Grade F

What can I say? Symbian towered over its rivals a year ago  Now its a shadow of what it was and while Nokia's delusional CEO Stephen Elop first promised Nokia would produce another 150 million more Symbian smarphones when he said Nokia would transition to Microsoft - and most analysts said that was a ludicrous pipe-dream - today Elop has admitted it was a futile attempt and has reneged on that promise. If I was a Nokia app developer partner, I could not imagine a more disasterous year from Nokia, from abandoning the replacement platform MeeGo and the promised migration path to it via Qt, to badmouthing Symbian and the ecosystem, to unbranding the Ovi store, to shifting Nokia handset production to outsourced Taiwanese Compal, to switching away from Nokia staple components, to abandoning Nokia standard (and industry-leading) features - to now turning back on the solid promise of 150 million more Symbian devices. Yes, only a year ago, in January 2011, Nokia's Ovi had become the world's second biggest app store by downloads - and was rapidly catching up to Apple. Now all that is wasted..

So yes, while the industry grew 62%, Symbian saw sales crash by 31%. The last Symbian partners were solidly committed for big sales of Symbian, in particular in Japan, and very importantly NTT DoCoMo the biggest carrier/operator of Japan, but that all died in February of last year with the dual death-nails of the Elop Effect. By Q4 Symbian's death-spiral is only accelerating - with now the third straight decline of Symbian sales. Not decline of market share, but true decline of sales. This from a platform so strong, it grew 44% just the year before. If you lose actual sales in a year when the industry grows 62% - then you have failed and I grade Symbian an F

BLACKBERRY - 52 M units, 11% market share - anemic growth - C-

Blackberry did grow, but barely for the year. RIM is the only manufacturer making Blackberry compatible smarpthones (but interestingly and perhaps ironically, they are migrating to be compatible with Nokia's Qt developer tools - the ones that Nokia itself is now moving away from as Qt is compatible with Symbian and with MeeGo but not with Windows Phone). For Q4 they had a little bit of a come-back but only still grew at the pace of the industry, not more. Thus for the year I grade the Blackberry OS with a C-

bada - 9 M sales, 2% market share - massive growth - A-

Samsung's bada is the biggest and best-growing of the three new operating systems, and where Microsoft sells the fantasy of Windows Phone being somehow a 'third' ecosystem, in reality bada is very legitimately now the 5th ecosystem. bada only powers Samsung based smartphones and Samsung stepped into the place vacated by Nokia with the MeeGo partnership, to join Intel to develop Tizen as the next open source based smartphone OS to power not just Samsung but many other brand smartphones. Note that the comparison between 2011 and 2010 data is not comparable, because bada launched in the last quarter of 2010, so the right comparison is only Q4 of 2011 to Q4 of 2010 where the growth was 3.5x ie truly massive. bada grew ever consecutive quarter and once again in Q4 it grew faster than the industry. This is excellent for a new OS platform - I grade bada at A-

Windows Phone - 5 M sales, 1% market share - declining sales - grade D+

Note just like bada, Windows Phone data cannot be compared directly between 2011 and 2010, because Windows Phone launched at the end of 2010 so the sales number is not for full year 2010 but only Q4 of 2010. And when we compare Q4 2011 to Q4 2010, Microsoft's brand new Windows Phone OS sales have.. yes.. declined. In Q4 of 2010, Microsoft's Windows Phone shipped 2 million units (most of which were free early trial smarphones) By Q4 of 2011, Windows Phone sold only 1.8 million units which included the launch of Nokia and its Lumia smartphones, which accounted for 600,000 out of the Windows Phone totals or exactly one third. The others came mostly from HTC and Samsung. Note that Windows Phone lost unit sales for three quarters straight, Q1, Q2 and Q3 and then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer fired the Windows Phone President (sorry, no he was not fired, he was demoted). Ballmer himself expressed frustration time and again in 2011 how Windows Phone sales were declining and disappointing. In Microsoft's best market, the USA, even in Q4 the older and obsolete (and incompatible) Windows Mobile OS still outsold Windows Phone! And Microsoft started to hide the true division by making a big marketing PR push to call now all Windows Mobile smartphones also Windows Phone (which they obviously are not) and each of the big 4 analyst houses have stopped separating the two OS platforms, calling it simply Microsoft. The performance of Windows Phone is dismal and I grade it at D+

WINDOWS MOBILE - 5M sales, 1% market share - declined sales - C-

Yes, Windows Mobile did decline more than Windows Phone - but Windows Mobile was announced dead more than two years ago, and it simply refuses to die. Like I said, in the USA, Microsoft's best market, it still stubbornly outsells Windows Phone in Q4 of 2011. For the full year, Windows Phone lost almost two thirds of its sales and its market share fell into the toilet from 4% to 1%. But it just refuses to go away, to Microsoft's great dismay. Yes its about to vanish and yes it fell massively, but I salute the attitude of refusing to go quietly, and I give that spunkiness a bit of respect and grade good ole WinMo with C-

MEEGO - 2M sales, 0% market share - new launch OS first quarter - B+

The newest and hottest of the three new operating systems, MeeGo by Nokia and Intel, is also already a dead-man-walking. In a bizarre decision by the delusional Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, he announced in the summer, that even if the sales of the N9 - the first MeeGo handset - were exceptionally good - he would not authorize any more MeeGo devices to be made by Nokia (beyond the N9 and its sister N950 which was already announced). So Nokia took all the trouble to create a fully functional touch-screen optimized smartphone OS, which by all reviews is excellent - and which is open source, Linux based, and compatible with Qt, Nokia's developer tools - and which does not cost one cent to Nokia to use in any handsets - and which works on Nokia's standard components and can be manufactured in Nokia's mostly idling massive factories (so badly idling, Nokia has already been forced to shut down and/or sell 3 of them just because of the collapse of Nokia sales last year). And then Nokia announce it will replace MeeGo with Windows Phone, which is not open source, is not Linux based, is not compatible with Qt, and for which Nokia has to pay a license to Microsoft for every handset ever sold, which does not work with Nokia standard components, and at least the first Lumia phones were made in Taiwanese factories of Compal, not in Nokia's own (idling) factories. And this OS, MeeGo, the CEO says he won't ever use again? What is wrong with him? I can see if the alternate was 'not open' or 'expensive to use ie needs a royalty payment' or 'not compatible with Nokia's tools' but where MeeGo is in every way better than Windows Phone - I didn't even mention how many ways Windows Phone is not compatible with Nokia standard features and functions (but MeeGo of course is)..

So, we have an excellent launch Quarter for Nokia's MeeGo - a launch which was totally abandoned by the CEO who spent all the money on the Lumia Windows Phone launch (simultaneously). The N9 was the only handset sold (bizarrely, the N950 also on MeeGo is manufactured yes, but in tiny numbers. Mad!) and the N9 is only sold in obscure or tiny countries. Like New Zealand or Nigeria or Kazakhstan - no offense to my friends in any of those countries haha.. MeeGo did about 1.75 million units of sales - three times as many as the two Lumia smartphones in the same Quarter - and the one handset N9 alone almost matched all Windows Phone smartphones made by HTC, Nokia, Samsung and the other Windows Phone partners in Q4, which were obviously sold in most of the biggest smartphone countries and definitely the most affluent countries. Considering that Nokia gave it no support and deliberately prevented the N9 from being sold in any major countries - I mentioned the German magazine actually telling readers to drive to another country to buy it, that it is so good - I grade 1.75 million sales - and a 1% market share for its launch quarter a good performance at B+

PALM WEB/OS - terminated in 2011 - F

Hewlett-Packard bought Palm when its Web/OS and the latest Palm smartphones were rated second best on many tech sites behind only the iPhone. HP could have 'easily' turned its Palm asset into what the iPhone is to Apple - to deliver half of sales and most of profits - and help push the company to the top of the most profitable companies on the planet - as the Palm purchase was optimally timed if HP - already a maker of smartphones - wanted to capitalize on the massive smartphone industry expansion. It utterly failed, rather than using the existing Palm devices and rebadging them with HP and rapidly flooding the market with a hot smartphone - instead HP decided that a smartphone is a pocket PC and tried to make a business tool out of its Palm unit. That silly adventure ended last year when the Palm Web/OS unit was turned into an open source project. Palm is for all practical purposes dead now. Hence, if you die in the year that the industry grew by 62% - you failed. Miserably. I grade Hewlett-Packard's Palm misadventure as an F

For those interested to quote these numbers - you may fully use any analysis, and any numbers - and the tables - freely. I ask you list as your source if it is a printed document like book, article or white paper or infographic or for example powerpoint slide etc - please list source: TomiAhonen Almanac 2012. If you quote info from here on a website or blog or Facebook, Twitter etc mentions, please include web link to this page. I have also created an easy short permalink on Tinyurl for you to copy-and-paste if you prefer to this page, which is:


http://tinyurl.com/FoneStats

Also note, you may freely recreate the above tables into better form, including any diagrams and graphs if you like as long as you mention the source.


IF YOU WANT MORE INFO

I have published the TomiAhonen Phone Book 2010 about the mobile phone handset industry statistics and data up to the end of year 2010. It has 98 tables and charts about the handset industry, including cameraphone resolutions, browsers, bluetooth, 3G, etc and regional data and user data and all sorts of facts. It is only available as an eBook with pages formated for the small screens of smartphones, so you can carry the pdf file with you to have the stats everywhere. The Phone Book costs only 9.99 Euros so it won't damage your budget. See more at this link TomiAhonen Phone Book 2010.

If you like this information about smartphones but are more interested in the overall mobile telecoms industry from data services to subcribers to revenues to advertising to consumers etc, I publish an annual statistical volume, called the TomiAhonen Almanac with 94 tables and charts. It has of course one chapter on handsets and the above data in this blog article is part of that chapter. The current edition is from year 2011 but I am about to release the 2012 edition within literally days from now with all data current to January 2012. So if you buy the 2011 edition today as we are less than one month from the next edition, I will actually deliver to you both, so that 2011 edition immediately, and the new 2012 edition when it is released, for the same low price of 9.99 Euros. Please do not buy the wrong eBook, as they have some overlap! See more including table of contents at TomiAhonen Almanac 2011.

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Gmail Man

Beware the peeping eyes of the Gmail man! Learn more at http://bit.ly/zvNTut

Googlighting

What happens when the world's largest advertising business tries to sell productivity software on the side? Beware the Googlighting Stranger. Learn more at http://WhyMicrosoftProductivity.com

Smartphone Nokia Lumia Bluetooth SIG 719 confirmed

The network has information about the new smartphone Nokia Lumia 719, or rather, its existence has confirmed the organization Bluetooth SIG. Previously it was assumed that the announcement of Nokia Lumia 719 will be held at the flagship Lumia 900 at CES 2012 in January, but this did not happen. It remains now to expect Nokia Lumia 719 presentations at Mobile World Congress next week.

On the Bluetooth SIG site indicated that the smartphone Nokia Lumia 719 equipped with a 3.7-inch touch screen Clear Black, 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and HD-video recording, supports navigation and Nokia Drive integration with Facebook and Twitter. Like the rest of the line Lumia, this model runs on Windows Phone. Smartphone Nokia Lumia 719, as stated on this site is intended for sales in Asia, North and South America.

Redesigning the Windows Logo

We have said that Windows 8 is a complete reimagination of the Windows operating system. Nothing has been left unexplored, including the Windows logo, to evaluate how it held up to modern PC sensibilities. The Windows logo is a strong and widely recognized mark but when we stepped back and analyzed it, we realized an evolution of our logo would better reflect our Metro style design principles and we also felt there was an opportunity to reconnect with some of the powerful characteristics of previous incarnations.

We had a very short list of agencies that we wanted to work with on the redesign of the logo and were thrilled when Pentagram agreed to join us in the project. Pentagram’s illustrious history speaks for itself, but we were particularly attracted to their sense of classic graphic design which fit well with our Metro design principles.

Early in the development cycle for Windows 8, in a conference room on the Microsoft campus, we assembled a kick off meeting with Paula Scher, Michael Beirut and Daniel Weil from Pentagram and a few designers and marketing leaders from Windows and across the company. The team spent a full day sharing some of the Metro style design philosophy; the Windows brand history and values as well as graphic design and technology industry trends.

"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."- George Orwell

That is the feeling we had when Paula Scher (from the renowned Pentagram design agency) showed us her sketches for the new Windows logo.

It’s a window… not a flag

Paula asked us a simple question, “your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?”

In some ways you can trace the evolution of the Windows logo in parallel with the advancements of the technology used to create logos. From the simple two color version in Windows 1.0 to the intricate and detailed renderings in Windows Vista and Windows 7, each change makes sense in the context in which it was created. As computing capabilities increased, so did the use of that horse power to render more colors, better fonts, and more detailed and life-like 3D visual effects like depth, shadows, and materiality. We have evolved from a world of rudimentary low resolution graphics to today’s rich high-resolution systems. And what started as a simple “window” to compliment the product name became a flying or waving flag.

But if you look back to the origins of the logo you see that it really was meant to be a window. "Windows" really is a beautiful metaphor for computing and with the new logo we wanted to celebrate the idea of a window, in perspective. Microsoft and Windows are all about putting technology in people's hands to empower them to find their own perspectives. And that is what the new logo was meant to be. We did less of a re-design and more to return it to its original meaning and bringing Windows back to its roots – reimagining the Windows logo as just that – a window.

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Exclusive: LG Fantasy / Miracle in special files Mobilissimo.ro - Fantasy on Ice (Video)

Do you remember the story of the novel that sold a product Windows Phone LG phone and still unreleased Okazii? Well, after the story came on and the phone was bought by a member of XDA Developers, which gave us a hands on video now posted on Okazii source of the first images sent us some pictures of LG Fantasy without watermark and a new video. Rumors say that the phone will be called E740 or LG Fantasy Miracle and the device you see in action below.

We handset to its original dimensions of the photo and we can get a better idea of ​​the look of his. Our source says that the smartphone is no longer in his possession and that he was the NFC, Windows Phone 7, but lacked the gyroscope and features a 1GHz CPU to run Microsoft's OS. Note that this is a prototype and a 5 megapixel camera and notice of the terminal. Hardware or they could change the final version, this is clear.

I must admit that the terminal does not look bad and reminds me slightly of HTC HD7 rather than the LG Optimus 7, which comes complete LG Fantasy. It is rumored that the phone will have a 4-inch WVGA NOVA display and the processor will be a Scorpio, but unfortunately not our source told us about the display. It seems that the handset will have a front VGA camera and I expect that the final unit of LG Fantasy also reach the MWC 2012, which will be in hand for a colleague Zsolt hands on detail.

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Amazing Magic Tricks with Nokia Lumia 800 - Part 3

The third of three magic tricks filmed during the SMW opening party in New York. Nokia hid two magicians, Matt & Prakash, in a secret trophy case accessible only through Foursquare.

SMW - http://socialmediaweek.org/

Nokia product page - http://www.nokia.com/global/products

Amazing Magic Tricks with Nokia Lumia 800 - Part 2

The second of three magic tricks filmed during the SMW opening party in New York. Nokia hid two magicians, Matt & Prakash, in a secret trophy case accessible only through Foursquare.

SMW - http://socialmediaweek.org/

Nokia product page - http://www.nokia.com/global/products

Amazing Magic Tricks with Nokia Lumia 800 - Part 1

The first of three magic tricks filmed during the SMW opening party in New York. Nokia hid two magicians, Matt & Prakash, in a secret trophy case accessible only through Foursquare.

SMW - http://socialmediaweek.org/

Nokia product page - http://www.nokia.com/global/products

Nokia Lumia 710 (Windows Phone) Unboxing (Clove)

An unboxing of the Nokia Lumia 710 Windows Phone.

Amazing magic trick #3 with the Nokia Lumia 800 at #SMWNYC!

The third of three magic tricks filmed during the SMW opening party in New York. Nokia hid two magicians, Matt & Prakash, in a secret trophy case accessible only through Foursquare.

SMW - http://socialmediaweek.org/

Nokia product page - http://www.nokia.com/global/products

[Leak] What's new in Windows Phone 7 Tango?

So. Quiet, calm breathing. Booms, calm, in control. Yes, this is a leak on the ridge of updating Windows Phone Tango. This is not a secret, I hope?

Thanks for the info Anistratenko Nikita, who is also @ khotabychua .

Anyway, let's go. What awaits us at the Tango?

Marketplace Update

In the Service Marketplace, along with the Tango going to happen a few important changes:

Support for new countries.
Caution automatically download and update applications via Zune.
Increasing the number of installed applications from 16 to 40 (apparently, from operators and OEM).
Update all error messages and warnings on Xbox.com, Zune.net or Zune, indicating windowsphone.com.
Manage your contacts on the SIM-card

If access to the contacts on your SIM enabled phone operator and the manufacturer, the system will also have access to them. After installing the SIM card contacts will appear in the Hub "Contacts". There you can add, delete and edit contacts on the SIM-card. Also, you can selectively import contacts from your SIM to the phone, followed by synchronization of the data to the cloud. All of this will fully manage your contacts on the SIM in the phone with Windows Phone, which will allow easier transition to the operating system.

Managing the data transfer in roaming

Now users can choose from three types of data roaming.

Don't Roam

If you switch to roaming data transmission will be disabled completely.

Domestic Only

Data transfer not only works in the home network, but for a regional roaming within a single country.

Domestic + international
Data transfer works anywhere, anytime.

Multiple attachments in a single MMS
Now you can add a single MMS message multiple attachments. Provided that, if supported by the operator and the device.

Ability to add and delete multiple images via MMS.
The text under each picture separately.
Support for compression and transmission of such messages over the network.
Adding audio and video to MMS

Video cameras from the gallery can now be added as an attachment to the MMS, if it is allowed by the operator.

Along with the Tango will have the opportunity to transfer within the MMS and audio files: voice notes and melodies. To ensure that the phone could have been saved and set the ringtone, the file must udoletvoryat certain criteria set out in Windows Phone.

Please note that this information - just leaking. Please wait for the official announcement for more information.

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On to state with 256MB of RAM and Windows Phone 7 Tango

Thanks for the info Anistratenko Nikita, who is also @ khotabychua .

So, what will be the cost devices with 256MB of RAM and Windows Phone 7 Tango? How do they differ from existing ones? What they will be limited? Read below!

Applications

On the device based on Windows Phone with 256MB of RAM and will not be able to install or run some applications and functionality that reduces productivity. These can be applications that require larger memory or additional hardware.

By default, the Marketplace will be by appropriate restrictions, but users can enter the application page for direct links from other applications or simply exploring Marketplace. Then the owner of Budget Phone will display a warning stating that this application is not supported by the device. If tapnut of such a warning, the message will fall on what is required, such as more RAM.

These phones will not keep living the tiles from a third party that are required to continuously update information on the start screen.

Audio and Video

On your phone, you can not manage subscriptions to podcasts. For managing podcasts, you need to connect your smartphone to a PC for Windows or Mac OS X, to use Zune or Windows Phone Connector for Mac.

Streaming audio-video will not adjust to the pass sposobnostb data channel data. The flow will be played with the quality set by default on the server, which can cause delays and interruptions in the flow.

Windows Phones with 256MB of RAM, support video with a bitrate no higher than 4Mbs and encoded only H.264 v2. This applies to all sources of content: Zune, streaming, podcast, etc.

Camera and Image

Minimum requirements for the camera in such phone is limited to 3MP. This is a photo with a resolution of QXGA (2048 × 1536). However, users can rely on a higher resolution for camera phones, restrictions on the larger size does not.

Windows Phones with 256MB of RAM will not automatically download photos from camera to the cloud SkyDrive. Photos will be synchronized only when connected to PC and Mac installed and configured with the Zune or Windows Phone Connector for Mac.

Please note that this information - just leaking. Please wait for the official announcement for more information.

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ZTE Tania Unboxing (Clove)

An unboxing of the ZTE Tania.

Mass Effect 3 demo is LIVE

Try out two single-player missions plus multiplayer

BioWare's Mass Effect 3 demo is now available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace.

The demo offers two single player missions and early access to the sequel's controversial multiplayer mode - if you're an owner of the Battlefield 3's online pass, that is.
It's a 1.76GB download and those who don't own the Battlefield online pass get their multiplayer access on February 17.

The blurb reads: "the demo begins in dramatic fashion with the spectacular attack on Earth, followed by a mid-game section showcasing the groundbreaking interactive storytelling, adrenaline-pumping action, ruthless and intelligent enemies, and deep customization that make Mass Effect 3 the must-have title of 2012."

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Nokia Lumia 800 will have two colors

Nokia has for more coverage of customer assumes broaden colors smartphone Nokia Lumia 800. In advertising, Bluetooth headset Nokia BH-220, this device was seen as positioned in five body paint: blue, red, black, white, green and fuchsia. Officially, the existence of the device in the red and green body has not yet been reported. Also, the video is not in the official channel of Nokia service YouTube, so this information should be considered as informal. It is likely that the company conducted only a study of the possibility of issuing Lumia 800 in the colors of the case, but the final decision on the issue is still pending.