Symbian is targeting a wide variety of connected devices in the wake of its transition to an open-source mobile operating system. It’s a smart move for an aging OS that has consistently lost market share to Apple, RIM and Android.
Although Nokia has lost smartphone market share over the past few years, 2009 showed signs of a turn-around. Add in 2010 plans for a major Symbian revamp, cross-platform Qt apps and multitouch and you just might see perfect timing for Nokia.
Has Mozilla truly brought a desktop browser to the small screen? The not-so-easy answer is yes and no. But this first version of Firefox for Maemo looks promising for an initial release. And Weave brings desktop data to your phone — even open tabs.
Mozilla’s Firefox for Maemo isn’t quite ready for its already expected debut. A third Release Candidate just hit for Nokia tablets and while performance is marginally better, plug-ins were pulled out. That means no Adobe Flash just yet for this otherwise solid web browsing client.
Nokia has extended support for the Ovi Store to the N900, its impressive — but pricey — Maemo-baed flagship device. Could that help score a much-needed subsidy deal with T-Mobile USA?
Nokia (s nok) is hoping to recapture some of its lost glory in the smartphone space with the N900, the flagship device that began shipping today. The long-awaited handset runs Nokia’s new Maemo 5 operating system and boasts some pretty impressive features, including 32GB on onboard memory, multitasking functionality, and a 5-megapixel camera with video capability. Read More about What the N900 Means to Nokia
With little or no chance of ever being able to make it through the draconian approval process of Apple’s (s AAPL) iTunes App Store, Mozilla, the not-for-profit organization behind the Firefox browser, is betting on two major, if emerging, mobile operating platforms: Maemo, Nokia’s (s nok) new Linux-based operating system, and Google’s (s goog) Android OS. But don’t count on Mozilla supporting RIM’s (s rimm) BlackBerry OS anytime soon.
This weekend, during my onstage interview with Mozilla CEO John Lilly, I asked him what his plans were to get Firefox going on mobiles, especially since Webkit had gained so much attention and market share. “It is a different day, same story on the mobile as it was on the desktop,” Lilly quipped. On the desktop, Firefox continues to try to disrupt the entrenched incumbent, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Read More about On Mobile Phones, Firefox’s Big Bet Is Nokia & Android
Speculation surrounding Nokia’s (s nok) Linux-based OS flared up again this morning with a Reuters report that the Finnish manufacturer will showcase a Maemo phone at Nokia World in Germany this week. So what would that mean for Symbian?
It’s getting tough to dismiss Nokia’s attention to Maemo. Germany’s Financial Times two weeks ago quoted a source close to the company as saying it may dump Symbian entirely in favor of Maemo, prompting a spokesperson to tell Om that Nokia “absolutely remain(s) committed to Symbian and S60.” Read More about Nokia to Demo a Maemo Phone Next Week?
