Tag Archives: nokia

Nokia accused of under paying wages for factory workers in Chennai, India

Remember in 2010 when Apple got a lot of heat for the Foxconn suicides ? Some argued that the working conditions Foxconn put their employees through caused them to take their lives, meaning Foxconn is to blame for the deaths, not Apple. That’s debatable, especially since Apple is known to inspect each and every part of their supply chain, from component sourcing to product manufacturing to the retail stores that sell their hardware. Now Nokia is different. They own their own factories and hire their own people, opting to have their goods made as close to, or even in, the countries where they’ll eventually be sold. This makes logistics far simpler. No suicides have taken place in Nokia factories, as far as we know, but the Finnish handset maker is being accused of paying wages that are far below what’s required to live in India. The human rights group Finnwatch says Nokia employs 11,364 at a factory in Chennai, India that produces more than 300,000 devices per day . The average salary for a permanent employee, meaning not part time or a contracter, is around $125 per month. According to the Asia Floor Wage Campaign, you need $170 a month to live a decent life in India. Doug Dawson, a Nokia spokesperson, says: “As the report says, Nokia pays the highest wages in the area. The wage comparison also didn’t take into account benefits like occupational health, meals, day care and transportation.” The company also argues with the figure the Asia Floor Wage Campaign tabulated since they’re using data from the New Delhi area to come up with their optimal salary statistic, not Chennai. Considering there were protests at this specific factory in early 2010, we think something’s up, but without deploying a few of our guys to the factory to see what’s happening with their own eyes, it’s impossible for us to draw any conclusions. Nokia accused of under paying wages for factory workers in Chennai, India originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-09-15T13:27:21Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Stephen Elop promises first Nokia Windows Phone in Q4

Talk about biting off more than you can chew. Stephen Elop Nokia’s CEO is on record to promising the first Nokia Windows Phone to hit the market in Q4. In this interview in China (below), Stephen Elop talks about the roll-out of Windows Phone 7 handsets, saying “it will start in Q4 and progress from country to country, when it’s felt the timing is right.” Rumours are pointing to a late November launch , more specifically. Elop also confirmed Nokia will add navigation and entertainment features to their Windows Phones, which was partly confirmed with its recent announcement to release an HTML5 Nokia Maps app (aka Ovi Maps) to every mobile OS . He also mentioned that we’ll see some elements of the old Ovi store music platform transitioning to Windows Phone 7. When Nokia’s Windows Phone devices finally hit the market, I expect a few more Symbian influences, but that’s yet to be seen. It’s no secret that Nokia is putting all of its eggs in Microsoft’s basket, and for Elop to start making promises like this, he must be really confident in the platform. Check out the interview in its entirety below. [via wmpoweruser ] Stephen Elop promises first Nokia Windows Phone in Q4 originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-09-14T17:19:23Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Meta Watch acquired by former Nokia executive; do you see a connected watch in your future?

Meta Watch, a company that’s been working with Fossil to bring a Bluetooth enabled watch to market, has just announced that they’ve been acquired by “a team of investors led by Juha Pinomaa, former President of Suunto and a former Nokia executive”. The company will be based out of Dallas, Texas, but will also have an office in Espoo, Finland, which is where Nokia’s gloabl headquarters are located. Starting this month, for $200, you’ll be able to pick up a Meta Watch development system so you can start bringing your ideas of what a connected watch should deliver to life. Count us as highly interested in where the future of this product category goes. There are many occasions where we might not hear our devices ring or simply have too much happening in front of us to warrant taking our phone out. Having a small display on our wrist scrolling text messages or alerting us that a friend is nearby is something that will definitely make us want to wear a watch again. “Over the next 10 years billions of people will carry smart phones changing how consumers live and creating new opportunities and markets for connected watches and other wearable devices. Acquiring Meta Watch not only gives us a head start in this emerging growth market, it brings us the industry’s most experienced management team who have been designing and shipping connected watches since 2006,” said Juha Pinomaa, Chairman of Meta Watch. When Apple release the new iPod nano, the one with a multitouch screen, the first thing people tried to do with it was strap it to their wrist . Imagine if a whole host of consumer electronic companies, who have no previous experience (read: baggage) with watch design, started pumping out a whole portfolio of wrist accessories? iClock, Galaxy Timex, BlackBerry Sundial, they’re coming folks. [Via: TechCrunch ] [Image via: Engadget ] Meta Watch acquired by former Nokia executive; do you see a connected watch in your future? originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-09-13T09:22:50Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Smartphones now outselling dumbphones in Western Europe, Samsung dominating

New numbers from the bean counters at IDC have been released and they show that finally, after the first smartphone, the Nokia 7650, was introduced in Q2 2002, the smartphone category has ended the reign of the dumbphone. The defeat wasn’t really a landslide, 21.8 million smartphones versus 20.4 million million dumbphones that shipped in Q2 2011, but it’s a historic event since we’ve reached the end of an era and are about to enter an age of enlightenment thanks to more and more people have access to the world’s information from a piece of metal and plastic that’s always within arm’s length. Now on to the nitty gritty details, who shipped the most smartphones? If you’re guessing Nokia, you’re wrong. The title goes to Samsung, who was responsible 33% of all smarpthones shipped in Q2 of this year. Nokia comes in second at 21%, Apple in third at 11%, and HTC and RIM tie for fourth with 7% each. Note that 3 out of the top 5 handset makers in Europe don’t even sell dumbphones! The numbers go on to say that 48.5% of those 21.8 million smartphones run Android, which is a figure that’s difficult to wrap your head around when you realize that Android is soon going to turn 3 years old. Google’s operating system has blown Symbian out of the water in Western Europe, and Samsung’s wide portfolio of Android devices that span nearly every point has proven to be an amazing success. The question on our minds is now when will dumbphones officially die in this part of the world? It took 9 years to hit 50%, so will it take just half that to capture the other 50%? That would mean every mobile phone purchased during the 2015 holiday shopping season, more blandly called Q4, would have to be a smartphone. That’s not too far off when you think about it. We’ll be looking forward to the iPhone 9. Smartphones now outselling dumbphones in Western Europe, Samsung dominating originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-09-12T12:46:23Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Nokia wants to give you $10,000 to make the next version of their infamous ringtone

In what’s probably going to be deemed the ultimate use of crowdsourcing, Nokia is asking the internets to create the next version of their infamous ringtone . Said ringtone will be used in several models due to come out in 2012, and Nokia claims it will be preinstalled on over 100 million devices. If Nokia selects your tune, you’ll get $10,000. That’s $0.0001 in your pocket, per phone, which may not sound like much, but it’ll be one hell of an impressive accomplishment to put on your résumé. The video below goes through all of the Nokia ringtons, from the first one heard in 1994, to the current incarnation, which personally … I’ve never liked. They even sneak in what’s likely to be rington they’ll use in future Windows Phone devices. If you want to here the original tune that started it all, then look up “Gran Vals” by Spanish classical guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega. It was conceived in 1902 and then selected by Anssi Vanjoki in 1993 to become what’s now known as the most recognizable melody on planet Earth. Make no mistake, this is one ballsy move. It would be like Microsoft asking the world to invent the sound you here every time you boot into Windows. Even that’s a poor comparison since there are more Nokia phones in people’s hands than there are Windows PCs. Who will be judging the competition? The jury is made up of some of the most respected names in the audio branding industry: Kai Bronner, one of the founders of Audio Branding Academy; Julian Treasure, known for his TED talks and author of ‘Sound Business’; Mark Dewings, head of Brand & Marketing Communications at SoundCloud; Nokia’s SVP of Design, Marko Ahtisaari; Super8 & Tab, worldwide renown DJ and electronic music production duo who are ranked in the DJ Mag’s Top 100 of most popular DJs; Andrew Higgins, a jury member from the AudioDraft community who has won 12 AudioDraft contests; and Tommi Koskinen is the Community Manager at AudioDraft. Good luck. Nokia wants to give you $10,000 to make the next version of their infamous ringtone originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-09-06T10:56:48Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Video: Nokia accidentally leaks upcoming Symbian device at IFA 2011?

At IFA 2011 in Berlin, Nokia’s booth featured all the company’s latest handsets, specifically the recently announced 701, 700, and 600 . On one of the 700 models at the show, a video was being looped that showed a Nokia handset we’ve never seen before . It looks like it runs Belle, the latest upgrade to Symbian, and it has NFC inside, but other than that … we can’t really say much else. No model number, no new outstanding features, the design however is simply gorgeous. It looks like it’s all glass, just like the iPhone 4 , but said glass is rounded, which is something we saw with the Nokia N9 and are likely to see in the first Nokia Windows Phone. Nokia has said that they’ll be releasing 10 new Symbian handsets before finally killing the platform, and if you’ve been keeping count (the 500, 600, 700, and 701) then you know there’s just 6 left. Is the 3D render in the video below one of those last remaining devices? Say that device does exist inside the walls of Nokia, but it doesn’t run Symbian Belle, instead it gives us a hint as to a future design language Nokia is considering on implementing across an upcoming portfolio of devices. Is such industrial design going to persuade you to give Windows Phone a try? No other hardware manufacturers seem to be giving Microsoft’s operating system their best effort, and that’s hurting the platform. When you combine Windows Phone, which is arguably a fantastic operating system, just under appreciated, with Nokia hardware, which is itself under appreciated because it has historically run Symbian, do you end up with a combination so deadly that the mobile industry isn’t going to know what hit them? Time will tell. Note that Nokia World is coming up next month, the 26th of October, so we’re likely going to hear about several new devices at that event. Video: Nokia accidentally leaks upcoming Symbian device at IFA 2011? originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-09-06T06:34:00Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Tero Ojanperä leaves Nokia to start Windows Phone investment fund, this will not end well

Tero Ojanperä, who has been with Nokia for more than 20 years, is finally leaving the company . We say finally because frankly, we have no idea what he’s been doing for the past few years. In September 2009 he was profiled by Fast Company and described his job as doing nothing more than partying with celebrities to try and get them to offer their content on the Ovi Music Store, which as of today doesn’t even exist. Even Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia, made note of Tero’s many titles in the press release that formerly announced his resignation, effective on the last day of this month: “While at Nokia, Tero made significant contributions through his role as Chief Technology Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Head of Research, and most recently as Executive Vice President of Services.” All roles he’s had since 2006. So … is that it? Can Nokia finally rid itself of a guy who has had more jobs in the past 5 years than a struggling musician? Nope. Tero is now the head of the Vision+ investment fund, which plans to “provide support to developers and entrepreneurs when they plan to introduce the best visions and product concepts into global and local markets.” How large is this fund? Tero doesn’t say. As a percentage, how large is Nokia’s stake in this fund ? Tero doesn’t say. He does mention however that the primary goal of this fund is to make sure awesome apps are made for “Nokia’s ecosystem”, which is just another way of saying “Windows Phone”. Think of Vision+ as the iFund, but handled by someone who has no prior experience with investing in companies, and has a habit of starting projects that fail to take off because they’re either poorly executed or hit the market far too late for anyone to pay attention. In other words, Tero is continuing the Nokia way of working. Tero Ojanperä leaves Nokia to start Windows Phone investment fund, this will not end well originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-09-05T10:55:01Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

SPB Shell 3D released for Symbian^3 smartphones like Nokia N8, E7 and C7

SPB Software keeps bringing its SPB Shell 3D UI software to new platforms. After  Android , the company is going for folks with Symbian^3 smartphones such as the Nokia N8, C7 and E7. If you’ve been reading our previous articles on SPB Shell, you know it replaces the phone’s default homescreen with a 3D interface from where users can quickly access various phone functions, favorite contacts and apps, as well as run widgets. Android users seem to especially love what SPB Software has done, with SPB Shell Android downloads generating $750,000 for the company in just three weeks. Like its Android counterpart, Symbian^3 version also costs $14.99, which may sound a lot… until you actually start using SPB Shell 3D. I pretty much love it and so does Huawei, which decided to ship its Vision smartphone with the application pre-loaded… Finally, before I let you go, check out a short video, demoing SPB Shell 3D in action. Enjoy! SPB Shell 3D released for Symbian^3 smartphones like Nokia N8, E7 and C7 originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-09-02T10:53:13Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Leak: Nokia 703 is the Sea Ray we saw earlier this year, launches at the end of November

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop made a now infamous presentation at Nokia Headquarters in Espoo, Finland earlier this year (watch below) where he showed off the company’s first Windows Phone, a device he called “Sea Ray”. It looks exactly like the Nokia N9, except for an added button on the side of the device. Since his presentation was leaked, the question on everyone’s mind has been when exactly will Sea Ray ship, how much will it cost, and what will be the product name? While we don’t have the answer all of those questions, two out of three ain’t bad. According to a leak that’s surfaced on WMPowerUser , the Sea Ray will be called the 703 and it’ll ship on November 27th of this year. The leak goes on to suggest that unlike the N9, the Sea Ray will have a smaller 3.7 inch screen and a 5 megapixel camera. The 703 also isn’t going to be the slimmest smartphone when it hits the market, coming in at a chunky 112 mm x 60.8 mm x 12.3 mm. Whether or not this rumor is true is something we’ll find out on October 26th when Nokia holds their annual Nokia World event. It’s pretty much a given at this point that Nokia will talk about their first Windows Phone at said event, and will likely announce that it’s going to launch in a “limited number of territories” (read: not in the USA) this year. Judging by the model number, 703, we know Nokia isn’t putting their all in this device. Ever since the Finnish handset maker switched to their triple digit naming scheme, the highest model number we’ve officially seen has been 701. Imagine what an 800 or 900 series Nokia would bring to the table! We’ll likely have to wait roughly six months for Mobile World Congress 2012 to take place to get the details on the first really impressive Nokia Windows Phones, which … hey, there’s nothing we can do to speed that up. [Via: Boy Genius Report ] Leak: Nokia 703 is the Sea Ray we saw earlier this year, launches at the end of November originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-09-01T10:22:46Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Nokia launches the 100 and 101, the cheapest phones they’ve ever made

Yesterday Nokia announced Belle , their forthcoming update to Symbian, along with the first three devices that will (hopefully) be shipping by the end of this quarter with Belle onboard. The cheapest of those three devices, the Nokia 600, comes in at around $260 before taxes and subsidies. Today Nokia announced two new devices, the 100 and 101 , that are on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. They’ll cost just $30 and $35 respectively, making them the cheapest devices the Finnish handset maker has ever launched. From the outside they both look the same, but the 101 is special because it’s a dual SIM product. We’ve reached out to Nokia to find out if the two SIM cards are active at the same time or whether manual switching is required. Speaking about software, these devices run Series 30, Nokia’s lowest end operating system, meaning no applications for you! You wouldn’t want to run apps on the small 1.8 inch screen anyway. Both devices have a flashlight, FM radio, and the 101 even has a microSD card slot and MP3 player. Expect the 100 and 101 to hit the market by the end of September. Hardware like this is what Nokia is known for and it’s good to see that despite their dwindling marketshare, mindshare, and increased competition from no name Chinese handset vendors, Nokia is still pushing on and committing to their corporate slogan of “Connecting People”. It’s this feature phone division that contributes a significant portion of Nokia’s revenues that has kept them from being an acquisition target. No one really wants to take over the logistical nightmare that Nokia deals with on a daily basis just to be able to service the emerging economies. Now the important question, what do you think of these two phones? Don’t you kind of wish we’d go back to those simpler times of talking/texting and month long battery life? Nokia launches the 100 and 101, the cheapest phones they’ve ever made originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-08-25T10:04:30Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j