Nokia Roundup

According to DigiTimes, Nokia Oyj launched their new megapixel handset in Taiwan on June 11th, just a few days ago. But the big news today for Nokia was coming out of Finland where a total of 5 new phone models (including their first "clamshells") unveiled at the Nokia Connection conference in Helsinki, Finland.

While most reports centered on the excitement of these new devices, little is been said about the five phones that Nokia is NOT shipping this year. Bloomberg.com reminded us that Nokia had previously announced (as recently as April) 40 new phones for 2004, and now will ship just 35. "We have reviewed the timings and pruned our portfolio, adding some new products and accelerating others -- and during this process, we have even killed some product plans," Jorma Ollila said in the release. Bloomberg also reports that "Competitor Samsung, the world's No. 3 handset maker, plans to unveil 50 models in its domestic market in 2004."

In addition to missing a few phones from their line-up, some of the phones they have announced will be limited in their markets. Gizmodo offers an overview of the new announcements. The article observes that of the two entry-level GSM phones, "...only the 2600, the rather plain candy bar phone, will be seeing entry here in the States, while the nice-looking folding 2650 is going to be Europe only. That really bums me out, too -- the 2650 is attractive enough to purchase just to have as a second phone."

Despite a few phones missing from their line-up and the limited markets for some phones, Jorma Ollila is confident that Nokia will regain marketshare lost in the last quarter. Brad Smith, reporting for Wireless Week, attended Nokia's annual media day and wrote that Ollila confidently told his audience "we can get back on track in terms of improving our market share. I'm sure the results will be there." However, "Ollila declined to say if there was a target date to reach the 40 percent market share, a level the world's No. 1 handset maker has yet to achieve." Regarding missing handsets, Smith reports that one of the phones which will not ship this year is the "...7700 "media phone" with mobile TV, visual radio and Internet on-the-go capabilities. The phone won't be launched as planned but instead will be used in pilot programs, two of which are occurring in Berlin and Helsinki."

Other details on the Nokia launch came from a variety of sources --

Reiter's Camera Phone Report offered details on Nokia's new 1.23 megapixel camera, with access to 3G networks and an optional external flash. The camera comes with 74 mb of memory (enough to shoot 60 minutes of video).

Andrew Orlowski, writing for The Register writes that Nokia "...expects Wi-Fi to feature in many business models next year, and some consumer models too." He also writes that "Nokia executives alluded to the cancellation of the Series 90 keyboard communicator for the first time at the event today." Perhaps they feel that the product is unnecessary given the much talked about bluetooth keyboard announced today.

Cory Doctorow, writing in his Boing Boing blog was more interested in the soft porn Rankin photos ("hot nekkid (sic) fairy chicks") used to promote Nokia's first megapixel camera phone.

A few people were dissappointed with the announcements today. Operation Gadget was dismayed that Nokia always announces phones in Europe and Asia. Suggestion: Maybe New York? He writes, "If Nokia keeps announcing products in Europe and Asia, and shipping them 3 to 6 months later in North America, they will continue to have difficulty generating momentum here for their new products."

And on a day when most of the news was positive about Nokia, you can expect the Microsoft cheerleaders over at MSMobile to have a few negative comments about their competitor. This post is way over the top, however, starting with the subject line "Nokia lies and deceives again" and continuing on to call Jorma Olila (sic) a "drunkard." No one ever said that bloggers were responsible journalists...