.mobi Nokia buys software company

[sags]

I don't know what to make of this news or how it will affect mobi in the future.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/24/bcnnokia124.xml

I do know that it is all getting very confusing. Google Android, Microsoft, Opera, Symbian, this and that.

It appears that the lessons of the past have fallen on deaf ears.

Fragmentation held back wireless use for years, and they are at it again.

Nokia says this software will be on 2/3rds of the worlds phones.

So, I guess it is significant, whatever it means.

 

[binaryman]

Well a lot of those companies are .mobi backers so maybe now they will start using .mobi as a default on their handsets. Here's hoping :blink:

 

[DBADT2007]

I don't know what to make of this news or how it will affect mobi in the future.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/24/bcnnokia124.xml

I do know that it is all getting very confusing. Google Android, Microsoft, Opera, Symbian, this and that.

It appears that the lessons of the past have fallen on deaf ears.

Fragmentation held back wireless use for years, and they are at it again.

Nokia says this software will be on 2/3rds of the worlds phones.

So, I guess it is significant, whatever it means.

I feel that to understand the reasoning behind the Symbian purchase by Nokia one must first understand the technology that the company holds.

From visiting the Symbian site, I see compelling technology that is key to Nokia's business strategy.

The following technologies that Symbian owns have caught my eye.
1) SMP

Today’s phones are becoming increasingly complex; running process heavy applications such as GPS and digital TV, which require more efficient processing to achieve optimum performance without compromising battery life. With this in mind, Symbian is bringing symmetric multiprocessing to the devices of the future. SMP works by spreading the workload of tasks across multiple processors, on the same chip. The more challenging the task, the more processors are used. In order to conserve power however, the additional processors fall dormant once the task is complete. Watch the presentation below to see this in action.

2)LBS

Location Based Services are often equated with the phrase 'the new camera' referring to the fact that, in the same way most mobile phones now feature cameras, most mobile phones will soon support GPS. This will allow the user to take advantage of a number of different location based positioning services. In anticipation of the ubiquity of location based services Symbian has invested a considerable amount of development spend in ensuring we offer our licensees a market leading LBS implementation. Devices featuring Symbian's LBS solution are already shipping from NTT DoCoMo in Japan

The LBS presentation shows some of the typical LBS services made possible by Symbian's LBS solution, running in real devices.

3)Freeway

FreeWay is the new and unrivalled IP networking architecture in Symbian OS, providing broadband speeds in your pocket. On mobile broadband networks, FreeWay delivers the capability for super fast download speeds, high quality audio/video streaming and crystal-clear VoIP calls. FreeWay supplies high bandwidth that is suitable for Super3G/LTE, WiMax and beyond - ensuring performance high enough to allow users to download an MP3 file in seconds. FreeWay also guarantees users smooth switching between connection types and networks so that they can remain mobile at all times. A key feature of FreeWay is its compatibility with existing applications such as web browsers, allowing these to take advantage of the benefits of FreeWay without any additional development.

4)Screenplay

ScreenPlay is the new graphics architecture in Symbian OS. Designed to power the richest visual experience available on a mobile phone to date, it gives users big screen effects in their pockets while ensuring long battery life. ScreenPlay is designed for mobile devices with user interfaces which integrate high definition video content, life-like games and animations. It significantly enhances content presentation in versatile, yet simple new ways - by using transparency and overlays, for example. ScreenPlay offers high performance in a scalable fashion - working purely in software on mid-range devices and taking advantage of hardware acceleration when present on high-end devices. These enhancements are delivered without compromising the device's battery power efficiency.

So as I see it, with the Symbian acquisition not only does Nokia get improved software technologies to make their phone more battery efficient but also technologies to further advance the phone's capabilities.

Final Thoughts,
It seems to me that all of these companies are acquiring technologies to further advance mobile phones, and thus add more feature enhanced capabilities to them.

IMHO, .mobi is unaffected by these changes and eventually .mobi will benefit from it, once all companies begin implementation of these advancements, since mobile standards will be revised to the new standards.

In reality I believe we are seeing the beginning of a transition from basic xhtml mobile code to xhtml + enhanced mobile code (mobile optimized sites with more video, picture, better GUI, etc). Just like the changes websites went through from regular html with links to xhtml/ajax/css + video websites we have today!

 

[accent]

Nokia started .Mobi, and are the one backer that has really gotten behind the extension. They already owned about half of Symbian, they now have bought out the other partners. So, whatever their grand plan is, it seems likely that .Mobi is an important part of it.

From what DBADT2007 has posted, Symbian is a powerhouse. This is very encouraging, in an indirect way.

 

[sags]

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

Given your explanation, I would agree that mobi is not affected in a detrimental way by this purchase.

Nokia has been a stalwart partner for mobi, so perhaps they have a plan in mind.

It would be nice if the mobi partners would give the extension a needed shot in the arm once in awhile, by at least mentioning the extension in their press releases.