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Nokia-”exclusive” apps for Windows Phone 7

May 082012

We have frequently reported that Microsoft can not favor Nokia too much lest its other licensees get angry – due to that, it never ceases to amuse when Nokia tries to push out “exclusive” stuff for the Lumia line.

Their latest blurb takes the form of a three-page press release, which announces a bunch of new apps for all Windows Phones, a few (insignificant ones) of which will be exclusive for the Lumia.

But, see for yourself – one really wonders where Microsoft starts and where Nokia ends:

New Orleans, US – Nokia announced a number of new and exclusive application partnerships at CTIA Wireless 2012, continuing its focus on delivering differentiated and original app experiences to Nokia Lumia consumers around the world.

“We are focused on delivering great, locally relevant apps, and importantly, those which offer unique, exclusive and original experiences,” said Marco Argenti, SVP, Nokia Developer Experience. “With Nokia Lumia smartphones now available in 48 markets, developers are rapidly recognizing the business opportunities and creating their best work for our consumers.”

With more than 80,000 apps now available in Windows Phone Marketplace, search and discovery features such as ‘App Highlights’ and ‘Nokia Collection’ curate the best, most relevant apps for Nokia Lumia consumers.

“Nokia has achieved much in a short space of time when it comes to key brands and partners creating apps for Nokia Lumia customers. We believe developers are now moving away from simply porting, to create new innovative and high-design apps that fully leverage the Windows Phone Metro UI and features such as live tiles. With new and exclusive apps launching on a regular basis, and Nokia Lumia rapidly expanding into new markets, Nokia and Microsoft are demonstrating meaningful differentiation for consumers, developers, operators and retailers,” said Crawford Del Prete, EVP, Chief Research Officer, IDC.

New partnerships and app updates across key consumer verticals include:

SPORT:

The PGA Tour app – exclusive to Nokia Lumia for 12 months from launch
The PGA TOUR is pleased to announce the launch of a new mobile app to provide fans with live, enhanced coverage of PGA TOUR events on the Windows Mobile platform. Developed with Nokia, the app will be available exclusively on Nokia Lumia smartphones beginning in late June 2012. The new app provides fans with a groundbreaking way to follow PGA TOUR tournaments. In addition to live tournament scoring, highlights and player information, the app provides interactive, augmented coverage of select events and holes, showing each player’s exact position and scoring information. This allows fans to “get inside the ropes” and follow all players competing on the PGA TOUR.

“We are excited to work with Nokia to provide this app for the PGA TOUR,” said Scott Gutterman, Executive Producer, PGA TOUR Digital. “We are committed to providing the highest level of live PGA TOUR coverage, and this app will better inform and entertain PGA TOUR fans.”

The Nokia app adds to the PGA TOUR’s portfolio of mobile products. The PGA TOUR averages over 1 million monthly mobile users across all platforms.

ESPN – exclusive to Nokia Lumia until May 2013
The exclusive ESPN Hub will deliver a number of key updates in coming months, including sports scores on Live Tiles, team-level panoramas, personalization of scores, leagues and teams, and additional sports coverage such as Tennis, NASCAR and the 2012 Olympics. Additionally, a Windows Phone version of the ESPN Fantasy Football app will launch exclusively on Nokia Lumia smartphones this coming Fall.

GAMES:

Rovio – titles starting with Angry Birds Space join the original Angry Birds game in coming to Nokia Lumia and Windows Phone consumers
Rovio is building a dedicated design and development team to create games for Nokia Lumia smartphones and the wider Windows Phone ecosystem, with the goal of developing and publishing all future Rovio titles as soon as possible. Nokia and Rovio will partner to develop innovative new consumer products and content exclusively for Nokia Lumia smartphones, alongside cross platform multi-channel integrated marketing initiatives.

“Nokia is one of our longest-standing partners, and Windows Phone and Lumia are of strategic importance to Rovio. We are very committed to bring our games to Lumia devices, and are looking forward to delighting our fans on the Windows Phone platform,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio.

EA – bringing leading game titles to Nokia Lumia and Windows Phone consumers
Electronic Arts (EA) will continue to deliver leading game titles to Nokia Lumia and Windows Phone consumers, including FIFA, Madden NFL, NBA Jam, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR®, Mirror’s Edge and Yahtzee. These games join titles such as Need for Speed(TM) Undercover, Need for Speed(TM) Hot Pursuit, The Sims(TM) 3, Spider Jack, and MONOPOLY which are already available in Windows Phone Marketplace.

LIFESTYLE:

Groupon – Exclusive to Nokia Lumia for 6 months from launch
Launching during Summer 2012, Groupon is currently working on an extensive upgrade of its Windows Phone app. The app will include a newly developed augmented reality deal discovery function to combine map and Points-of-Interest (POI) data with what is seen via the camera’s viewfinder, enabling users to see virtual Groupon deals, in real-time, nearby. The app will be exclusive to Nokia Lumia customers for 6 months.

Mihir Shah, VP of Mobile, Groupon, said: “Our new and exclusive Groupon app for Nokia Lumia customers combines the intuitive Windows Phone Metro UI with location-based data to deliver deals which are both personalized and location-relevant for users. We look forward to continuing to partner with Nokia to evolve and innovate our app experience further.”

Tripdots – Exclusive to Windows Phone customers for 3 months from launch
Tripdots helps vehicle owners optimize their driving behaviors while connecting with other vehicle owners and sharing driving efficiency achievements via social networks. The app lets users monitor the operation of their vehicles to enable cost savings through better understanding fuel economy. Everyone can participate in the MPG Leader Board game, and information is only sent to drivers after their trip is complete.

“Consumers are increasingly paying more attention to the eco friendliness and costs of operating their vehicles,” said David Fleck, President of Left Lane Network, Inc. “Tripdots provides a wealth of easy to understand information that helps users monitor the health of their vehicles while having fun. The Nokia Lumia Windows phones provide best in class experience with Tripdots and we are very happy to be working with Nokia to deliver the service worldwide.”

FINANCE:

PayPal app for Windows Phone
PayPal and Nokia will work together to bring PayPal’s secure, fast and easy payments capabilities to the Windows Phone platform and Nokia Lumia smartphones, globally. PayPal will leverage the power of Windows Phone Live Tiles to create a compelling user experience that provides users with the flexibility to pay on-the-go.

“We’re excited to work with Nokia and Microsoft to bring PayPal to Nokia users across the globe, and to continue to innovate the way our consumers shop and pay anytime, anywhere and in anyway,” said Hill Ferguson, Vice President of Mobile, PayPal.

ENTERTAINMENT:

AOL Entertainment Hub – exclusive to Nokia Lumia for 6 months
Available exclusively to Nokia Lumia users at launch, AOL is set to introduce the AOL Entertainment Hub, bringing together the best of AOL’s content to deliver an immersive and inter-connected experience on Windows Phone. Whether you want to listen to one of 55,000 radio stations via SHOUTcast, stream free music albums with AOL’s Listening Party or view Trailers and Movie listings, the AOL Entertainment Hub delivers everything you need.

“The live tiles on Nokia Lumia helped us create an awesome app that makes it easy to stay in the know on what’s happening in Film, TV, Radio, Concerts and Music right from your home screen,” said Sol Lipman, Director of Mobile First products at AOL.

NEWS:

Time Magazine app for Windows Phone
Bringing the world’s largest weekly circulation to mobile, TIME.com announces the forthcoming availability of TIME for Windows Phone. Utilizing the stunning Windows Phone UI, the app will enable users to view TIME.com content, receive breaking news alerts, watch rich media content including video and share stories via the Windows Phone People Hub, while delivering the latest news and stories to users first via Live Tiles.

Newsweek – The Daily Beast app for Windows Phone
For a smart, speedy take on the news from around the world, combined with the depth and investigative power of Newsweek magazine, we are pleased to announce the availability of Newsweek’s digital partner The Daily Beast on Windows Phone. The Daily Beast app delivers the latest content through Live Tiles and combines the unique style of The Daily Beast with the Windows Phone UI to deliver a stunning experience. For users who only have minutes to digest the latest news, the app also delivers The Cheat Sheet – your one stop must have reads from across the world – uniquely designed for Windows Phone.

“We’re thrilled with how The Daily Beast app looks and works on the new Nokia Lumia smartphones and excited to be partnering with them as part of our robust mobile strategy,” said Daniel Blackman, Chief Digital Officer, Newsweek & The Daily Beast

PRODUCTIVITY:

Box app for Windows Phone
The new Windows Phone app from Box, the company focused on providing workers with simple, secure sharing from anywhere, will be available to Nokia Lumia consumers this Summer. With support for nine languages, Box for Windows Phone will enable users across the globe to browse, search and share files from their account.

“We’re committed to powering secure collaboration and content sharing for today’s workers across all platforms and devices,” said Matthew Self, VP of Platform Engineering at Box. “We believe that Windows Phone will play a meaningful role in enhancing mobile productivity across businesses of all sizes, and we’re excited to work with Nokia to bring an unparalleled experience for both users and IT to its Lumia smartphones.”

Funny stuff at MWC 2012 – day 1

Funny Stuff No Responses »

Feb 272012

When it comes to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, you must always expect some organizational eekers. This time, the fun started on day one – fiest your eyes on these:

Building collapse
While taking by the VodaFone pavilion, a large crowd watched hectic evacuations:

The reason: the building was not stable, and had to be reinforced. As if one couldn’t have known THAT in advance:

Security, my a$$
But the real GAU came later. The Congress takes great pride in pestering everyone who enters the venue, to check ID, etc etc.

But it looks like the security was not good enough – Microsoft, for sure, didn’t place this ad for exotic services into its giveaway basket:

Stay tuned – further funny stuff comes as it is witnessed!

Adobe kills Flash player for mobile, we run the obituary

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Nov 102011

It’s confirmed ladies and gentlemen. Adobe has put an end to all the rumor mill by stamping the death certificate of Flash Player for mobiles.

This move comes from Adobe after it has decided to focus more on the ailing HTML5, a platform which is “more capable” than Flash. As per Engadget

Adobe will of course also be pushing developers to work in its AIR platform for a more native experience, and the company will continue to work on Flash Player for desktop operating systems, but one can’t help but see the platform as a whole standing on fairly shaky footing at this point.

RIP Flash, you were the sole weakness of Apple, an area where you kicked Apple right in the Hemorrhoids and showed it the finger. The scores now stand Apple – 1, Adobe – 0.

London 2012 Olympics: chaos for mobile phones

Funny Stuff, News No Responses »

Nov 082011

Yes you read it correct sirs and madams. Chaos will prevail at the 2012 London Olympics.

According to the Telegraph

A deal struck between the London 2012 Organizing Committee (LOCOG), BT and O2 currently means that some 40,000 executives and guests in its corporate entertainment areas will only be able to use mobiles with an O2 contract – forcing them to adopt a new mobile number, or face a communications blackout.

Such attendees can, as the news says, use Vodafone, Three, Orange and T-Mobile networks in the shared public areas of the Olympic Park. They can now use any other networks other than O2 in their respective shared public areas of the Olympic Park.

Who knew LOCOG and O2 gang can stoop so low. While making money is a good thing, forcing people to port their mobile phone numbers to O2 or adopt a similar mechanism is totally outrageous.

It could turn into a "communications nightmare", said a source. "There will be thousands of chief executives and business people unable to use their normal phone numbers because LOCOG isn’t dealing with the situation.

"They think the operators can just turn their receivers round but it doesn’t work like that. They need to be allowed in the buildings."

Nothing to add here except that this buffoonery only makes the taxpayer more pissed off, as their tax money is being used up by dacoit gangs like LOCOG and O2 to bring a bad name to their nation.

COMIC: RIM vs analyst idiocy

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Nov 052011

Ages have passed since yours truly last decided to complain about the idiocy in the mobile world with a comic – but Research In Motion’s stock price falling below its asset value (!!!) is too much to take.

Sometimes, I literally wonder if there is some kind of group think which makes analysts bash on targets like a flock of sheep – if RIM would announce free admission to paradise tomorrow, it would probably be disliked by the daily press:
rim COMIC: RIM vs analyst idiocy

Do you consider RIM doomed?

NT-k beats Apple in Spain, wins the lawsuit, demands money, and makes a front for others to fight

Editorials, Funny Stuff No Responses »

Nov 032011

Beware, if you are planning to manufacture a tablet that is quadrilateral (read as rectangular) in shape, has buttons or touchscreen of a good finesse, then you might find Apple lawyers knocking at your doors.

The same happened with a small company called NT-K. It is a Spanish company making elegant, four smooth edged, touch tablets. Well Apple thinks this is a violation of their intellectual property and their ingenious designs.

Apparently, I fail to understand why an ergonomically sane company would make a device with sharp corners. This could well harm the owner. But if we believe Apple, then the universal right to make such gadgets that don’t harm the owners reside with it. Hell what, even if your touch is as good as their, and your UI as slick as theirs, you are a criminal to be damned for all eternity.

Well let us get back to the topic, According to FOSS Patents,

Apple accused nt-k in November 2010 of "copying" the iPad and went straight for a customs ban. As a result, Spanish customs seized shipments from China containing nt-k’s Android-based tablet. The little company temporarily appeared on an EU-wide list of product pirates, but worst of all, after some correspondence between the two companies, Apple also brought criminal charges on December 9, 2010 (as it had previously threatened in writing).

The Spanish company’s blog suggests that other small companies got a similar treatment from Apple but gave in. nt-k, however, didn’t want to be bullied and decided to defend itself vigorously. Another company doing so against Apple is a small German device maker named JAY-tech.

This makes very clear that Apple uses it’s might, not to create fair competition, but to subdue the smaller fish with sheer force.

What makes Apple’s lawyers insanely retard is

…In the meantime, the criminal lawsuit progressed, and based on the first-instance ruling, Apple’s charges were dismissed because the judge didn’t conclude that there was "sufficient justification" for a criminal case.

Even a blind imbecile knows when criminal charges are put on people, let alone corporations.

Well, NT-K, after kicking Apple lawyers right in the hemorrhoids, is now demanding compensation. It is asking for compensation for monetary damages, losses that NT-K has suffered, and the “moral damages” Apple has inflicted upon them and the whole small time OEMs.

We are hoping that other firms will take a cue from NT-K and will solidify their stance against Apple.

nokiadeveloperconference.com – or – Nokia fails at domains

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Nov 032011

In the last few days, Nokia developers all over the world have been hit heavily with emails advertising an event in India – while the attendance fee is really really cheap even for Indian purposes (like, 20 litre bottles of coke), it does little for an European developer.

Nevertheless, I clicked the link in the email today – and got this:
nokiadeveloperconference com offline nokiadeveloperconference.com or Nokia fails at domains

Not much to add to this beautiful display of total failure…

Loving and hating a smartphone

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Jun 132011

We all love and hate our smartphones at one time or the other. But we are too occupied to recollect what we love and hate in our smartphone.

Matthew Inman, aka The Oatmeal, has portrayed very beautifully (sarcastically..hint hint) the love and hate for a smartphone, here’s a glimpse:

1 Loving and hating a smartphone

10 Loving and hating a smartphone

11 Loving and hating a smartphone

There is lot more than these above pics that constitute the comic. Head over to The Oatmeal (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/smartphone) and have yourself a hilarious read.

Thank you Matt for the funny riots…!!!!!

Source

On personal data and RDA devices

Development, Funny Stuff No Responses »

May 152011

Nokia’s RDA service is insanely helpful – many an Android developer would be willing to sacrifice his rear end for a similar service which is insanely valuable when it comes to taming the plethora of devices on the market. Unfortunately, RDA devices are shared – which means that data from one developer can be seen by the next.

One particularly stupid case is the fellow below – he left his email account open to the whole world on a loaned E-series device:
rda fail On personal data and RDA devices

Once again: RDA devices are shared! Delete all personal data and your apps before ending the session!

Nokia India claims that S^3 phones can be hit by a virus

Funny Stuff 2 Responses »

Apr 272011

So it happens that one of my brothers has an N8. Beautiful piece of machinery and artwork. And he prizes it so much that he doesn’t let anyone else touch it. One fine Wednesday, his prized possession was hit by an unfortunate “bug”. His SMSes refused to leave the phone altogether.

In a distress mode, he approached me. After fiddling with the settings for around 20 minuted without any visible stability in the phone’s condition, I advised him to back up his data, do a hard reset and restore the data.

Well he was too afraid to operate upon his “my-precious” all by himself, and like the evil ring of power, he didn’t trust me either. Since his phone is in warranty, I told him to go to the local Nokia care and get the problem sorted out.

Apparently, he went to Nokia Care. The “engineer” told him that his phone was hit by a PC virus. That was the cause of the whole problem. The engineer told him that this problem can only be rectified with a hard flashing but my brother had to sacrifice all his data as “something” in that data contained the “virus”.

Sad and cornered, he reluctantly agreed. After the phone was flashed, my brother came home. I offered him to restore his contacts and other stuff back on his device, to which he defensively denied, stating all the dialogue that had taken place at Nokia Care. The first thing that I did was to had a hearty laugh. Then I told my brother that the whole idea of getting a Symbian infected with a PC virus is the second last thing on earth I would believe (The last one is that I have lost my love for Symbian).

After calling his carrier Vodafone and getting a properly working SIM message center number, his problem was rectified once and for all. I explained him why Symbian was the best OS in the world. After convincing him, i restored all his data and his phone works nice and shiny to this day.

What is sad about this story is not an non-power user not knowing something that he shouldn’t normally know, but that the plight of the Indian Nokia Care (run by the HCL gang) is beyond repair. An engineer on the working for Nokia care India does not know that the Symabian S60v3+ phones are NOT affected by viruses.

This is the situation that we are currently into. I am damn sure that there might be far worse things that are going within Nokia Care India.

Rest assured, Symbian is still safe and not hit by any virus…!!

Mobile World Congress 2011 – Konka

Funny Stuff, News No Responses »

Feb 252011

Call it a coincidence – but every year Nokia does not exhibit at MWC, the Chinese manufacturer Konka shows up instead.

As always, they had their usual ad stand close to the press center:

However, their booth was much larger than it was last year:

Konka is known for its huge selection of devices. This year, they showed off a ton – I particularly liked their “N93 knockoff”:

This device clearly shows some Samsung heritage (Samsung I780’s keyboard):

An Android device was shown for the first time:

When asked what they think about Nokia and Symbian, the rep told me that his company “was around for 40 years, much longer than Nokia” and that they are “tired of talking about Nokia”.

So no Symbian hope from there…

Nokia Plan-B failed…!!

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Feb 162011

Like i had written over HERE, I was skeptic of something of this sort. And as it turned out, look for yourselves.

The Nokia Plan-b website now states:

After reviewing the feedback we’ve received from investors on our Plan B, we have decided not to carry on with it.

In the last 36 hours we were contacted by hundreds of individual shareholders (owning anywhere from 10 to 400,000 Nokia shares) pledging to support us by proxy voting or by personally attending the AGM.

Want to know what the “9 young investors” now think? Visit http://nokiaplanb.com/ and see for yourselves. As a matter of fact, there is a whole list of plans charted down here. But we surely wish that some of the plans listed in “plan-b” would come into effect.

Elop to divest MS shares, buy Nokia shares on an urgent basis

Funny Stuff 6 Responses »

Feb 152011

Jay Montano at Mynokiablog.com has posted a rather interesting article Elop and the MS gang. As we all know, Elop is the 7th biggest shareholder at MS. With ZERO Nokia shares, people suspect him to be the mastermind behind MS-Nokia “shady” deal.

As per Montano:

Elop will apparently divest ALL of his Microsoft shares as soon as restrictions/rules allow, and likewise, purchase Nokia stock when legally able to.

While we feel this would not bring peace to the “upset millions”, inside us, we want Elop to do it.

Funny: In memoriam Microsoft’s previous strategic mobile partners

Funny Stuff 2 Responses »

Feb 132011

Nokia’s decision to gang up with Microsoft was not too well liked by anyone – the stock price is down, and developers are pissed as hell. However, Nokia is not their first “strategic mobile partner”!

The folks from AsymCo have now written a very interesting post:

Microsoft’s new “strategic partnership” with Nokia is not its first. For a decade the software company has courted and consummated relationships with a variety of companies in mobile and telecom. Here are the ones I can remember:

Hit the link above to find out more – it’s more than worth it!

Texters beware, this can happen to you too…!!

Funny Stuff No Responses »

Jan 152011

We have always seen the indulging texter (or e-mailer) so immersed in the device who pays no heed even if an atom bomb is on the way at 125mph. Please see for yourself.

Ouch…!!

Now with MS giving out similar ads where people get so absorbed in their phones that they bump into anything imaginable, seems like MS was correct after all.

PS: At Tamoggemon, we are always concerned about your safety. Hence, we request you to avoid texting or e-mailing on the move…!!

TamsS60 – the Symbian Blog

Nokia-”exclusive” apps for Windows Phone 7

Funny stuff at MWC 2012 – day 1

Adobe kills Flash player for mobile, we run the obituary

London 2012 Olympics: chaos for mobile phones

COMIC: RIM vs analyst idiocy

NT-k beats Apple in Spain, wins the lawsuit, demands money, and makes a front for others to fight

nokiadeveloperconference.com – or – Nokia fails at domains

Loving and hating a smartphone

On personal data and RDA devices

Nokia India claims that S^3 phones can be hit by a virus

Mobile World Congress 2011 – Konka

Nokia Plan-B failed…!!

Elop to divest MS shares, buy Nokia shares on an urgent basis

Funny: In memoriam Microsoft’s previous strategic mobile partners

Texters beware, this can happen to you too…!!

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