02/13, 3:10pm
Lumia 610, 808, three Ashas coming to MWC?
Exactly which handsets Nokia will reveal at the upcoming Mobile World Congress show and its February 27 press conference may have been leaked to PocketNow. There will reportedly be six new phones unveiled, including three smartphones and three feature phones. The Windows Phone-powered devices would be the Lumia 900 and Lumia 610, while the 808 PureView would still use Symbian. The 808 is expected to be a replacement for the N8.
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02/13, 1:40pm
Lumia 800 with CDMA due in China in March?
Nokia is working on a CDMA variant of its Lumia 800 smartphone, the 800c. The phone is due to launch on China Telecom sometime in March, WPCentral learned. It will be available in cyan, white, and black, though pricing is yet to be announced.
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02/13, 10:20am
Nokia expected to announce Lumia 730 at MWC
A new rumor originating from WPDang has Nokia announcing the Lumia 730 phone. It would slot in between the existing Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 and run on the unreleased Windows Phone Tango. It would have similar specs to the 710, but would forego the ClearBlack display and polycarbonate casing.
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02/13, 9:55am
Apple volunteers for wide audits of factories
Apple on Monday took the step of asking the Fair Labor Association to orchestrate "special voluntary audits" of its last-stage suppliers. The investigations, which include Foxconn plants in Chengdu and Shenzhen, began the same day. They include both interviews with "thousands" of workers over conditions as well as inspections and document reviews.
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02/10, 12:55pm
Nokia outs Public Transport app for Belle phones
Nokia has just detailed its new Nokia Public Transport app (free, Ovi Store), for its Belle-powered smartphones. It offers bus, train, underground and suburban train schedules for nearly 80 cities and urban areas around the world. Users can also bookmark often-visited locations such as their home or work.
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02/10, 9:25am
EPS could hit $50 in 2012, says analyst
A Mizuho Securities hire, Abhey Lamba, has started Apple coverage at his new firm with a $635 target, says Barron's. The analyst argues that Apple will continue to succeed, and that Wall Street consensus figures are probably too low, despite more intense competition. Android smartphones are mainly taking away share from Nokia and Research in Motion, not the iPhone, he notes.
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02/10, 8:25am
ATT stocks first LTE micro-SIM cards
AT&T's plans for the year took a step forward Friday after a sighting of its first LTE-capable micro-SIM cards. A store contact for Phone Arena caught a briefing that sales staff were to get rid of older cards and replace them with the new versions fully capable of talking to the 4G network. The memo didn't specifically attach the cards to any one device.
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02/09, 5:15pm
Earlier indications from phone-maker prove false
Nokia has told Astound smartphone owners that they won't be upgraded to the latest Symbian OS release, Belle. Apart from thanking owners for their patience, it didn't say more. Its international equivalent, the C7, is getting the new version.
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02/08, 9:30pm
Company focusing on Microsoft's mobile OS
Nokia may be putting all of its weight into Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, according to the company's European manager, Victor Saeijs. The executive told the Swedish news outlet Dagens Industri that the handset maker's Windows Phone investments must prove successful, as there is no "plan B."
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02/08, 7:15pm
Pricing and launch date expected soon
Microsoft has quickly terminated its pre-order program for Nokia's Lumia 900 handset, after taking deposits for a week. The company has yet to disclose full details surrounding the move, however it has ignited speculation that the flagship Windows Phone 7 smartphone may be nearing its ship date.
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02/08, 8:30am
Nokia moves smartphones to Asia to cut costs
Nokia showed the toughening conditions of the smartphone field on Wednesday after it detailed plans to cut 4,000 manufacturing jobs. Positions both in its home territory factory in Salo, Finland, as well as in Komarom, Hungary and Reynosa, Mexico, would be eliminated by the end of 2012. Smartphone production would be moving more towards Asia, where it wouldn't just be cheaper to make devices, but faster.
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02/07, 11:00pm
Promotion ahead of Valentine's day
T-Mobile has announced that its entire range of phones, and a number of tablets, will be offered for free during a one-day promotion on Saturday, February 11. The "Valentine's Day Sale" applies to smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S II, BlackBerry Bold 9900, HTC Amaze 4G and Nokia Lumia 710, along with the SpringBoard tablet and the Sonic 4G hotspot.
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02/07, 6:55pm
Falsely indicated call hasn't ended on display
Nokia has acknowledged that it has a problem with its Lumia 710 smartphone. Users are finding that the phone indicates that they are still staying connected even after the call has ended. Nokia has reassured owners that the problem is a display issue and is working to resolve it.
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02/07, 4:45pm
Nokia 801 leaked with possible NFC, 4-inch screen
Images of an upcoming Nokia smartphone, the 801, have been shared online by SmartphoneGeeks. The handset sports the Nokia Belle OS update and will soon get officially announced, with the existence confirmed by a number of relatively reliable sources, including Eldar Murtazin. Early, unconfirmed specs include a four-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display, which may share a 360x640 resolution from other Nokia phones.
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02/07, 4:20pm
Lumia 900 likely to be Nokia's big reveal at MWC
Nokia will bring out at least one new flagship smartphone at the MWC show at the end of this month, Forbes reported. Currently, the device is likely an international version of the Lumia 900, which was accidentally revealed by the Finnish phonemaker this morning. A US version is expected to arrive at AT&T sometime in March.
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02/07, 11:40am
Belle now shipping for most late Nokia phones
Nokia has began releasing its promised Nokia Belle software updates for a number of its handsets on Tuesday, a day earlier than expected for some. The handsets that will benefit from the changes now include the Nokia N8, E7, E6, X7, C6-01, C7, and Nokia Oro, with owners of the Nokia 500 having to wait a few more weeks. There are a number of changes with the update, with the easiest to notice being the new interface.
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02/07, 10:35am
Nokia Lumia 800 to come in special US pack
A scoop Tuesday had the Nokia Lumia 800 reaching the US in an official capacity, but with conditions. A source for The Verge had Nokia's first Windows Phone coming to the US through Microsoft Stores as part of a bundle. The pack would include both an unlocked Lumia 800 as well as a Play 360 Bluetooth speaker and a Purity HD stereo headphone set.
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02/07, 7:45am
Nokia PR gaffe reveals white Lumia 900 before time
Nokia has accidentally shown (since pulled) the white, international version, of the Lumia 900 on its Facebook page. The company is currently promoting the launch of white version of its Lumia 800, which is due in Europe later this month. However, instead of posting an image of the white Lumia 800 officially revealed this week, it has inadvertently posted an image of a white Lumia 900 that is not due to hit the US as a black model until March.
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02/06, 6:45pm
Comments leave room to speculate on other models
Nokia's head of imaging, Damian Dinning, has dismissed rumors that suggest the company is preparing to release a Lumia 910 equipped with a 12-megapixel camera. In a Twitter post responding to the speculation, the executive claims that such a device "doesn't exist."
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02/06, 4:15pm
Samsung tracks close behind, takes full year
In terms of shipments, Apple was the top smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a new IDC report. The company shipped roughly 37 million phones, giving it a 23.5 percent marketshare. Close behind was Samsung, which took a 22.8 percent share with 36 million phones. Nokia, Research in Motion, and HTC rounded out the top five, but trailing behind with shares of 12.4, 8.2, and 6.5 percent, respectively.
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02/06, 10:35am
NPD Q4 2011 results show iPhone bounce back
The iPhone is now the top-selling cellphone of any kind in the US, the NPD Group determined on Monday. As of the fall, the iPhone 4S was the bestselling device in the field. Apple also managed a clean sweep of the top three, with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS at second and third places.
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02/06, 7:35am
Nokia and Samsung have white phones this month
Two flagship smartphones got white edition treatments on Monday. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is now confirmed to be shipping to the UK in white on February 13. It carries the same features as the Android 4.0 flagship and shrouds the back in a white hue of the textured back.
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02/04, 1:25pm
Motorola royalty demands of Apple uncovered
Newly uncovered documents from Apple's opposition to a Motorola attempt to silence its requests have uncovered Motorola's demands for a 3G patent license. In explaining why it needed to get details of Qualcomm's patent deal with Motorola, Apple mentioned that Motorola had wanted a 2.25 percent royalty on Apple product sales as its attempt at a FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) patent licensing offer. Florian Mueller, who unearthed the details, saw it as likely an excessive rate given that Apple wouldn't only be licensing from Motorola and that it could significantly raise the price of selling an iPhone or 3G iPad.
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02/03, 4:30pm
Canalys Q4 and year-end 2011 shows change of guard
A Canalys wrap-up of 2011 smartphone share painted an overall picture that kept Apple and Google in front, but also provided clearer pictures of Windows Phone. Android was just short of an absolute majority at 48.8 percent, while the iPhone held 19.1 percent. Nokia's Symbian and RIM's BlackBerry still held on to the double digits at 16.4 percent and 10.5 percent each.
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02/03, 12:30pm
Nokia may see market dropping Symbian faster
A potentially major rumor has Nokia accelerating the death of Symbian as a smartphone platform. The company has officially planned for a transition through 2013, but the Register heard only one new model, a sequel to the N8, was still in the works. Existing owners would get the Belle update, but every other project on the OS had supposedly been cancelled.
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02/02, 6:45pm
Calls on others to improve supply source tracking
Nokia today
published a policy document to explain publicly the steps it has taken in to prevent the illegal trade of natural resources in its supply chain. It hoped to assuage phone owners that the materials it was getting were both eco-friendly and socially responsible. The policy mostly reflects existing policy, but it emphasizes that Nokia bans itself and its suppliers from buying "conflict" minerals extracted through illegal and questionable means, such as in the eastern side of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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02/02, 5:35pm
Lumia 900 up for advance in-store orders
Microsoft's retail stores have started taking pre-orders for the Nokia Lumia 900. Those willing to put down a $25 deposit can reserve either the black or cyan blue versions. Stores aren't saying when the device ships or how much it costs, although it may cost $100 on contract.
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02/02, 3:55pm
comScore Q4 2011 has Android at 47pc, iPhone 30
The sustained effect of the iPhone 4S launch has kept the iPhone growing at the same pace as Android in the US. Google's platform grew a collective 2.5 points over the fall to 47.3 percent, but Apple nearly matched it with a 2.2 percent hike to 29.6 percent. As with much of the past year, the two were only really drawing from other platforms, with the BlackBerry down nearly three points to 16 percent.
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02/02, 3:30pm
Windows Phone 8 spoiled in leaked video
An escaped internal video for Nokia staff intercepted on Thursday has shown that Windows Phone 8 should be a massive leap, most of all in hardware. The PocketNow view of the clip, which was hosted by senior Windows Phone VP Joe Belfiore, revealed that the update nicknamed Apollo will add multi-core processor support and catch up to Android and iOS. It should also address a longstanding gripe about the lack of easily removable microSD card storage and bring in four new screen resolutions, greatly improving the diversity of phones
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02/02, 9:10am
IDC says Apple past LG in Q4 and all of 2011
New IDC data has shown Apple's 37 million iPhone sales making it the third-largest cellphone maker in the world. More than doubling its shipments, in tandem with LG nearly cutting its shipments in half to 17.7 million, saw it move up a spot and stake out 8.7 percent of the entire cellphone space. The change in position carried through for all of 2011, with Apple's 93.2 million iPhones putting it at six percent of all phones sold that year while LG was down to 5.7 percent, or 88.1 million.
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02/01, 6:05pm
Chairman warns of continued difficulties
Nokia chairman Jorma Ollila has warned that the company's ongoing strategy shift will cut into its 2012 financial results. The executive remains optimistic that the decision to transition to Microsoft's Windows Phone platform will enable the company to better compete with the iPhone and Android smartphones, however he cautions that the process will take more time.
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02/01, 12:25am
LG smartphone team gets 10m in fall 2011
LG had mixed news on Wednesday that showed a possible turnaround of its long-suffering mobile group. Although the company as a whole posted a loss equivalent to $97.7 million, its mobile division turned a slight $10 million profit. Most of the recovery came on the back of the Optimus LTE and its US variant the Nitro HD.
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01/31, 3:25pm
Nokia designer talks about even more minimalism
Nokia's newly promoted executive design VP, Marko Ahtisaari, has hinted in a interview that he'd like Nokia's phones to go even more minimalist than today. He noted to the Guardian that designs like the Lumia 900 were showing where Nokia was going, where it had dropped the USB door cover to produce a direct port. He could imagine at one point going without any connectors, although the newspaper overreached in presuming this meant definite plans for wireless charging.
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01/30, 11:45am
Nokia Vietnam possibly dates Belle update
The Belle software update (no longer Symbian Belle) to Nokia handsets will come on a wider basis on February 8, at least to handsets in Vietnam. The information was revealed by Nokia Vietnam's Facebook page. It specifically references the Anna version of the software and the Nokia 603, 700, and 701 phones already coming with Belle.
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01/29, 10:00pm
Windows Phone Tango may catch up in speed, reach
Microsoft may have inadvertently spoiled many of its plans for Windows Phone's Tango update after an Indian developer presentation was recounted (since pulled at Microsoft's request) this weekend. During the event, WPSauce heard from attendee Karthik Ragubathy that "the next release," possibly Tango, would support truly native apps for the first time. The approach would let apps optimize for performance without having to be written using XNA code intended for games.
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01/29, 7:55pm
Nokia Lumia 800 to get audio, camera fixes
Nokia has acknowledged that the second large Lumia 800 update itself doesn't touch on every issue. The focus was on the most common battery issues with under-reported battery capacities and not audio and camera quality issues that others were having. Those were coming in a subsequent fix, Nokia said, although it wouldn't say when these were coming.
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01/29, 1:55pm
Store tries to lure buyers with Lumia 910 mention
Talk of a Nokia Lumia 910 with upgraded hardware may have gained support after Dutch retailer Typhone put up a listing for the device. Its definition would mostly match that of rumors, giving it a 12-megapixel camera while keeping the 4.3-inch screen, 1.4GHz Snapdragon, and front camera of the Lumia 900. Instead of AT&T's LTE-based 4G, the Windows Phone would upgrade slightly from the 800 with 21Mbps HSPA+ 3G.
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01/27, 11:10am
ABI says iPhone 4S rise led to Android loss
Apple's record iPhone sales have led to Android shrinking for the first time in its over three-year history, ABI Research estimated Friday. Operating on the belief that next-closest Samsung shipped 33 million smartphones, it had Android's collective share drop from 52.5 percent in the summer to 47 percent this fall. Apart from the iPhone 4S' launch effect, Android had 'sagging midsection' where LG, Motorola, and Sony had been fighting just to become profitable.
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01/27, 7:50am
IHS iSuppli and Strat Analytics show Apple shift
Separate IHS iSuppli and Strategy Analytics studies Friday have backed Apple's rapid return to the top of the smartphone space in the fall. Determining that Samsung had shipped 36 million smartphones, slightly higher than Samsung's preliminary estimates, IHS iSuppli put Apple's 37 million iPhones just on top. Although Samsung nearly quadrupled the amount of smartphones it shipped and moved more year-long, Apple's higher starting point meant it could just double its yearly shipments to stay competitive.
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01/27, 12:15am
RIM CEO willing to try opponents' devices, more
New info trickling out from a CrackBerry interview with new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins may assuage some early fears that he was locked into his predecessors' management style. The new executive made a point not just to use Android, iOS, and other platforms himself but a "whole team" that both looks at the competition and sees what doesn't work. Even his children are involved, he said.
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01/26, 9:25am
Nokia takes MS cash as Ahtisaari becomes Exec VP
Nokia in sidenotes to its tough fall quarter has revealed some of the inside workings of its deal with Microsoft as well as its shift in design direction. The Finnish company acknowledged being paid a $250 million installment from Microsoft as a "platform support payment." Neither side has fully disclosed how much the deal is worth, but the initial sum supports allusions to Microsoft paying billions and implies that Nokia has made a multi-year deal.
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01/26, 7:10am
Nokia beats market consensus, but profit down
Nokia has posted its financial results (pdf) revealing better than expected results. The Finnish company reports that it has sold ‘well over’ 1 million Windows Phone-based smartphones in combined sales of the Lumia 710 and the Lumia 800. However, while its core earnings beat market consensus, they were still down 73 percent as it sold less Symbian-based smartphones than it had forecast.
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01/25, 11:30pm
Apple has internal clash over China factories
Apple has faced both internal tension over as well as misleading statements from its Chinese suppliers, an in-depth investigation has uncovered. Focusing primarily on Foxconn, the New York Times spoke to numerous current and former Apple executives who said that, while there were improvements in the years since Apple began auditing factories, the company has so far stopped short of a hardline approach that would get a supplier like Foxconn to change.
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01/25, 3:55pm
Nokia returns to MWC after three-year hiatus
After taking a three-year hiatus from Mobile World Congress, Nokia just revealed it will hold a press conference during the opening day of the show and have a booth presence there as well. The largest phone maker by volume didn't get into any other specifics, though it did say it will have an exhibit in the Apps Planet section. In years past, the company focused on its own Nokia World show instead.
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01/25, 2:40pm
ATT roadmap carries Sony slate and solidifies plan
More details from AT&T's escaped roadmap have shown in two leaks Wednesday afternoon. The new BGR tips point to a new, $410 Sony tablet known as the Crystal. While it could be something new, it's most likely to be the long-delayed Tablet P (S2), a dual-screened Android tablet with HSPA+ 3G.
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01/25, 12:45pm
Nokia Lumia 900 leak hints low price
Nokia's launch of the Lumia 900 in the US may compete fiercely on price. A leak at BGR, corroborated by previously accurate Windows writer Paul Thurrott, has the 4G Windows Phone costing just $100 on an AT&T contract. The same tip likewise supports earlier talk of a March 18 ship date.
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01/25, 9:50am
Nokia hits symbolic milestone with S40
Nokia hit a milestone and a possible close to one phase of the industry on Wednesday after it sold its 1.5 billionth Symbian S40 phone. The device, an Asha 303 messaging phone, went to 21-year-old Mayara Rodrigues of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The platform has been around since 1999, starting with the Nokia 7110.
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01/24, 2:40pm
Nokia may have runaway success in one country
New reports from Danish carriers have suggested that the Nokia Lumia 800 may be experiencing iPhone-like demand. Talking to Mobilesiden, local telecom leader TDC's Morten Steen Jensen claimed to have seen the same kind of demand as for the iPhone 4S. While it's not clear which phone was next, the Windows Phone sold three times as many as its next-closest counterpart. Telia had the Lumia 800 second only to the iPhone.
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01/24, 12:05pm
Nokia Lumia 910 with 12MP camera due in May?
Eldar Murtazin, who has sometimes slipped out the arrival of several Nokia devices in the past, is now tweeting with purported knowledge about Nokia's Windows Phone expansion plans for 2012. The Lumia 910, he wrote, will arrive in May, or roughly in line with talk of an international Lumia 900 arriving in Europe during the spring. It could also sport a 12-megapixel camera rather than the 900's eight-megapixel shooter, Murtazin claimed.
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01/24, 11:45am
Corporation leaps ahead of Samsung
Apple has become the biggest semiconductor buyer in the world, having spent $17 billion on chips in 2011, says Gartner. The research group notes that Apple spent 34.6 percent more last year than it did in 2010, leapfrogging out of third place to beat Samsung, which managed $16.7 billion for 2011. HP sits at third in the new results, having paid out $16.6 billion. Apple saw the fastest growth of any party in the top 10.
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