Fascinating, this. As a Windows Phone 7 user, I can attest that it is every bit as good as iOS and Android - heck, in my experience, it is more polished, more consistent, smoother, and faster than either of those two. Yet, despite raving reviews and glowing user comments all over the web, Windows Phone 7 simply isn't selling. Former Windows Phone 7 general manager Charlie Kindel believes it's because neither carriers nor device makers like the control Microsoft exerts over the platform.
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Member since:2008-06-03
Member since:2008-10-24
"that Nokia is screwed?"
Nokia spent a lot of money (billions) on Symbian and Maemo/Meego and then walked away from both when Microsoft paid them a billion dollars to go solely with Windows Phone 7 on their smartphones. It didn't hurt that the CEO of Nokia had just come from a 2 year stint with Microsoft.
But their CEO has already said something regarding Windows Phone 7. I don't remember the exact quote but it was something like "If Windows Phone 7 doesn't take off, we're screwed". But I believe he added a sentiment that they were screwed if they didn't go to Windows Phone 7.
The really incredible part of it is that in October 2010 the head technical guy at Nokia proclaimed that Qt would be the only way to develop for Symbian/Meego in the future. Then a less than 4 months later Nokia chose probably the only OS that will never run Qt.
Member since:2011-09-19
I think Nokia will survive if WP7 does not. Essentially only a small amount of their high-end phones will us it. Symbian/S40 is not dead and it will be 5 years till MS can replace it on the low end. So there is still Nokia resources being pored into Symbian/S40 to defend 99.9% of their revenue. Developers are going to develop for what their target customers are using. The Specs for the Nokia Phones will probably work 100% with Android. If they don't get traction with WP7, I wouldn't be surprised if they extend the existing S40/Symbian SDK to work with Android. They have already acknowledge that this isn't possible with WP7 but is currently being done with Android. Yes there is WP7 migration documentation for QT and Java applications but you are are going to be rewriting nearly everything in the process.
Member since:2007-08-22
No. Their Billion dollar deal with Microsoft means they have to provide a few phones with WP7 on it; but it by no means means that they can only develop phones with WP7.
In fact, last I heard, that deal primarily affects that North American markets too...though I could be wrong.
In the end, wait for one of Microsoft's biggest shareholds to leave Nokia (e.g. CEO Stephen Elop) and then for the guy that replaces him to turn the ship again back to Symbian/MeeGo or even Android.
"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently."In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies."The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Member since:
2005-07-06
...that Nokia is screwed?