Coming on the eve of Apple's big tablet release and Nokia's Q4 09 results announcement, IDC gathered all their numbers, analysts and (ahem) runes and produced a forecast for the smartphone market in 2013. Unusually, for an American data analysis firm, there's surprising understanding of the worldwide scene, with the headline stat being that the smartphone market will exceed 390 million units per year by 2013, with Symbian holding on to its world marketshare lead over the next three years. Quotes from the IDC press release and my own predictions below.
A number of adverts, featuring the N900, have started to appear in the mainstream UK media and poster locations. The most prominent advert highlights to multi-tasking capabilities of the device and shows six applications running on the N900's dashboard. Such advertising is likely to reach a more mainstream audience and increase awareness of the N900. Read on for more.
Yesterday Nokia announced that Ovi Maps navigation was going free for all it smartphones. Initially this is available for Nokia's Symbian device models. However, Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President of Nokia, speaking at the London event said, "we will also be increasing support for this.. and certainly moving forward it will also support Maemo". However no commitment was made for specific Maemo models.
Software developer Joikusoft has announced, via their Facebook page, that 'JoikuSpot for Maemo OS' will be published soon. The software, which is already available for Nokia's Symbian devices, turns your N900 into a WiFi hotspot. Other devices, such as a laptops, connect to the N900 over WiFi, with the connection to the Internet provided the N900's cellular (3G) connection.
Continuing the ping pong legal battle between Apple and Nokia over patents and IP, Apple have filed with the International Trade Commission asking for a US import ban on Nokia products... mirroring the complaint Nokia made to ITC about Apple. While escalating quickly, this progression of claim and counter-claim is to be expected as both companies legal departments engage in brinkmanship before negotiation.
A very short but useful hint which not everyone knows: you can access your contacts directly from the N900 desktop by just typing them on the keyboard. You don't even need to have the Contacts app open, it will open automatically at the correct section when you start typing. See the video embedded below for a demonstration.
The N900's minor firmware update earlier this week (PR1.0.1) was to prepare for a larger update, and that larger update (PR1.1) is now being rolled out country-by-country. You can find the full technical details on the maemo.org wiki. There have been quite a number of bug fixes and feature improvements, including support for Microsoft Exchange 2003. The new firmware version should become available worldwide over the next couple of days, so if you can't see it yet try again tomorrow.
Yes, it's another AAM tutorial video for those who are new to the Nokia N900. This video shows how to customise the N900's four-screen desktop, and also includes an example layout at the end. The video can be viewed below.
Peter-Paul Koch, writing on the QuirksBlog, shares the results of a usability test comparing 10 different phones. What's most interesting is that the user in question might be considered the 'average' user rather than a tech-influencer (as is typical in online media). Consequently many of the observations offer insight into what matters in the real world compared to rarefied atmosphere of the 'media bubble'. Read on for more.
Ahead of an official availability announcement it seems that the mobile site version of the Ovi Store (store.ovi.mobi) is operational on N900's running the recently released firmware update (1.2009.44.1). A number of application and games are currently available for download. Content is installed via the Application manager, which is automatically launched when you tap a 'Download' button on the store. Read on for further details and screenshots.
Welcome to All About MeeGo. We provide news, reviews, tutorials and resources about the Meego platform. We are also covering some Maemo coverage (Nokia N900).