N97 seen from its designer - Axel Meyer

The man who designed this brilliant phone , Axel Meyer answers many questions about the touchscreen smartphone N97

Here is the video.

Forum Nokia Developer Conference 2009

Forum Nokia Developer Conference 09, INDIA had been orgnised on 21st Jan 2009.

Here are the pics

Thanks to bala :)

Symbian PR Opportunity

Symbian need some exposure for your S60 application? Symbian are offering developers the opportunity to showcase their mobile phone applications on the Symbian Foundation stand at Mobile World Congress (Barcelona 16-19 Feb). To take part, the application should be compelling, and built with S60 5.x.

Successful applicants will also be given two free exhibitor passes worth €599 each allowing you to enjoy the exhibition and network with other exhibitors. You will also get 2 tickets to the Symbian Foundation party.

All applicants will need to complete the call for papers on the Symbian Developer site. The best applications will be demoed on the stand.

Nokia and Securitas bring location-security services

Nokia and Securitas today announced a collaboration that will bring mobile services for personal security and safety to Nokia's S60 platform. The service bundle, Securitas Safe-2-Go, consists of four components: Assist (security alert), Find (locate person), Zone (SMS boundary alerts) and Friends (general friend locator). Safe-2-Go will launch in Sweden in the first half of 2009, with other European markets following later in the year.

Here's a little more detail of each of the services:

* Assist - this service, when activated, connects the user to the Securitas alarm central. When the call is made, Securitas is able to see who is calling, where they are located and who (relatives, etc.) needs to be contacted. Essentially it is the mobile phone version of a panic alarm, such as those given to children, the elderly or those engaging in vulnerable solo activities.

* Find - this service allows you to get the location of a specific person.

* Zone - this service will send a nominated person an alert (SMS) if another person leaves or enters a pre-defined zone. This sort of location service is often used in child-tracking services to ensure a child stays within a given area or arrives at a given location safely.

* Friends - this services gives an overview of where a group of people are located.

Free softwares for 5800 Express Music

Nokia India has kindly released a number of free applications for their new 5800 XpressMusic, good to see this getting off to a fast start in most markets. SMS Timer and Smart Guard should work on all 5800s, while Marble Maze, Wave Secure, Touch Card Match and Touch Maneuver are regionally restricted to those with an India SIM card. Some of these applications,

N79 Active

No sooner has word broken of the new Nokia N79 Active with Polar heart monitor pairing, and we've got hold of some smart videos of the new device in action. There's a smart short featuring some parkour action, as well as a bunch of tutorials on how the N79 Active with the bundled Bluetooth heart rate belt.

Click through to see the new N79 Active out in the wild and put through its paces.

Watch the N79 Active perform parkour with a romantic twist >>

Here's a tutorial that show you how to get the N79 Active playing nicely with its Polar Bluetooth WearLink heart rate belt >>

Hottest Nokia topics for 2009

So, what's going to be hot this year? Well, we're no astrologers, but to be fair, it doesn't take a genius to work out what will be tripping off the tongues of folks around Nokia, and the wider Nokia community, this year. We've been scratching our heads, and come up with our little list. Feel free to add yours at the end. Full rundown, after the jump.

Before we kick off, can we just qualify that we're not commenting on, or referencing, future unannounced products or services here. It's simply a list of what we think will be popular topics for the year that is 2009, along with a little reasoning as to why.

Product: N97
There's no need to explain this one, to be fair. The world was wowed at the launch last month, we've been impressed every since. The product folks say we can expect to see it fully in the flesh sometime in 2009. We can't wait.

Product: 5800 XpressMusic going global
Right now only available in a few countries, the 5800 XpressMusic is already proving to be a huge success. And, with wider availability on offer through 2009, we're excited at the prospects for Nokia's first touchscreen.

Concept: Phones without chargers
There's no telling where this one is going to go right now, but the environmental folks at Nokia have high ambitions around the concept of selling phones without chargers. Why? Well selling phones without chargers means phones can ship in smaller boxes (saves energy, packaging and money) and consumers only get what they actually need - this is for those who already own Nokia devices. A definite talking point.

Service: Maps
Already evolving at a pace even we didn't expect to see, Maps, navigation and GPS will all continue to be hot topics in 2009. Why? Well, the proliferation of GPS-enabled devices will be a start. The evolution of the Maps app will keep it on people's lips along with the range of cool new GPS-enabled apps. Bring it on.

Service: Ovi
What's in store for Ovi this year? Lots, if 2008 is anything to go by. Take a look at what we have in Ovi right now against what it was 12 months ago. Comparable? Of course not. So what's it going to be like 12 months from now? We don't have a clue, other than it's going to be nothing like it is today - simply put, even better.

Thought: Peak Phone
Charlie asked this one at the back end of last year. Have we hit Peak Phone yet? Did we hit it last year? It'll be a long time before we find out for sure, meanwhile it'll make one hell of a geek dinner table topic, from now right through to December, for sure.

Global: Financial crisis
The second half of 2008 was consumed by little else than the words credit, crunch and various negative adjectives. The immediate future doesn't sound any more fantastic with caution paving the way through to what could well be a brave new world. What's it to be like? Time will tell, meanwhile expect to spend plenty of time having fun guessing.

Service: Music
Comes with Music attracted plenty of coverage during 2008. As we move across 2009 it's sure to be doing the same, as the service is predicted to roll out in more countries. It isn't just about CwM though, the Nokia Music Store too should give us plenty of topic-fodder for this year, along with the myriad music devices we're bound to see through 2009.

Service: Mobile Email
The ambition for Mail on Ovi is simple - connect the people to the Internet who aren't yet connected. Through their phones. The concept makes sense to us, and as the service rolls out through the year we'll be getting a clearer picture of how it's being recieved. As big as Hotmail, Gmail and all the rest? Ask us this time next year. The predictions right now are pretty clear - 400 million email enabled handsets by 2010.

Thought: Sustainability
This crosses every part of our lives though seems to have evolved out of environmental issues and is now rearing it's head across all parts of our lives and business. That's a good thing. It's at the centre of what Nokia is all about, with new questions about Sustainability being used to improve life and business across the planet. That, we think is a good thing, and will, we reckon, continue to be one of the hottest talking points of 2009.

Now, how about yours. What's on your agenda for the next 12 months?

Nokia Locate Sensor debuts at CES

Nokia Research kept this one quiet - Nokia Locate Sensor can help you find lost keys, phones, bags, purses or anything you're likely to need right before you rush out the door. Revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show, it's currently a project kicking around the labs at the Nokia Research Centre, but it's an interesting one.

First, quick explanation. The sensor is a tiny device, no bigger than a small thumb. It attaches to whatever you'd like to attach it to and communicates with your phone wirelessly (though we're not totally certain how, just yet - there's no official release so we only know what's been reported so far). Drop whatever has the tag attached and your phone will alert you, via a software app that sits on your phone, and help you find the object, provided you're within 100 meters of it (probably not good for speed boat jaunts then).

The system also works the other way around, so you could have the sensor on your person, and if you get separated from your device, an alarm will sound to let you know. Support for 100 individual sensors is provided by the app and each sensor has enough power to last 18 months before it runs out of juice.

This is all conceptual right now, albeit a working prototype rather than pie in the sky idea. Although I haven't seen it in the flesh, I'm not sure if I like the idea or not. Something to help me find stuff before I rush out the door would be good - particularly for my wife - but I'm not sure if, practically, this would do the trick. It seems to have more in common with suddenly losing things, from what I can tell.

So, what do you think? Useful? Useless? Let us know in the comments below.

Read more about Nokia Locate Sensor on Electricpig, who also kindly let us use their pic.

Touch Piano for Nokia 5800 and N97

Do you know anything about musical instruments? Do you own a Nokia 5800 or N97? Do you plan on getting one? Well we happen to have quite a few applications for that Symbian S60 5th edition ready to be installed on that Nokia smartphone.

Yahoo Launches Mobile Developer Platform

At Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Yahoo announced the early preview of their Mobile Developer Platform. This XML-based platform for creating mobile-optimized applications called Yahoo Mobile Widgets will run across a variety of devices and carrier networks. Yahoo wants this to be a one-stop solution for mobile developers and it’s another varition of write-once and deploy widely. To help track this platform we’ve now added an API profile for Yahoo Mobile here.

Mobile development can be quite a challenge due to a combination of technical hurdles like device incompatibilities as well as the business challenges of dealing with carriers. By leveraging Yahoo’s installed software mobile developers have an opportunity to get onto the handsets more easily. Note that Yahoo’s approach is different than a platform like Google’s Android in that they’re looking to leverage existing platforms rather than create a new one. Initial launch partners include MTV, eBay and MySpace.

In terms of what’s available for the development platform at the moment, you can start with the one page Overview and then move onto the more detailed 44 page Developer’s Guide (PDF). Other pieces of the puzzle including the ability to submit your apps for approval and publication to devices is coming soon.

How to become a third party publisher (or first party developer) on N-Gage

If you're a mobile game company interested in publishing your games on the N-Gage platform, you may want to check out their slightly updated Developer Application Process page. This page used to only mention becoming a first party developer. However, the application form now also says it can be used to apply to be a third party publisher, so presumably you can now publish your games on N-Gage without giving up ownership of them.

It seems that this IP issue has been a serious sticking point for some mobile game makers when considering the new N-Gage platform. Smaller companies who wanted to publish games on N-Gage were apparently told they could only do so as first party developers, i.e. if Nokia owned the published title and all its IP. Hopefully the updated application page means Nokia is now willing to talk with smaller third party publishers, instead of just bigger third parties like Gameloft and EA.

It would be great to see indie mobile companies allowed to publish as third parties on N-Gage as it potentially provides a much more effective sales channel onto S60 devices than Nokia's Download or web-based retailers. It would bring new life to the S60 game development ecosystem, and also strengthen the N-Gage platform by giving it a much wider range of titles.

For example card games sell well on phones, they have sold very well on N-Gage's sales charts, yet there are only two card titles on the platform. S60 has many dozens of card games waiting in the wings, N-Gage is technically just a subset of S60, so why aren't any S60 card games allowed onto N-Gage?

Classic board games are another big favourite with phone and casual gamers, there are lots of excellent S60 board game titles out there, yet there are no classic board games at all on N-Gage. Why?

NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge®

Nokia is a global sponsor of the 2009 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge®. The LBS Challenge is a global developer competition organized by NAVTEQ Network for Developers (NN4D), inviting developers to build and submit original, pre-commercialized applications using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ maps. Since its inception six years ago, the LBS Challenge has become the premier event in the LBS industry, shining a spotlight on the industry’s most creative location-aware solutions for wireless devices. The prize pool for this year’s competition is valued at over $5.25 million dollars.

Key Dates:

• February 13, 2009 – registration closes for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. You can register regardless of place of residence, if your application targets APAC region.
• February 17, 2009 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona – winners for EMEA region announced
• April 2, 2009 at CTIA in Las Vegas – winners for the Americas region announced
• June 17, 2009 at CommunicAsia in Singapore – winners for the APAC region announced

For more information, please visit www.LBSChallenge.com.

Nokia N97 Widget Competition

Here's your chance to be part of the Nokia Nseries innovation process by designing a homescreen widget for the forthcoming Nokia N97, which is available during the first half of 2009.

How to Participate

Download the design package below, design your widget and upload it for others to rate. Keep visiting the site to log your opinions on others' offerings because the ten highest-rated designs will go in front of a panel of judges selected from the Nokia Nseries team. The panel will choose the best home screen widget based on creativity, usability and quality of design.

Prize

The winning widget will go into production, and the winning widget designer will receive a production-mode Nokia N97 ahead of the public release, pre-installed with their homescreen widget.

Deadline

The closing date for the competition is February 27, 2009. The winner will be announced on this site on March 13, 2009.

Forum Nokia launches Russian website

During the recent Mobile Software Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Forum Nokia announced the release of the new Russian language version of the Forum Nokia website.


This Forum Nokia website is dedicated to the interests of the Russian-speaking mobile development community. At this website, individuals will find basic information and links to get started in the fast-paced world of mobile application development and design.

All of Forum Nokia is genuinely interested in supporting the ongoing needs of the Russian-speaking developer community, and it is anticipated that this new website will provide numerous opportunities to work together with this community in the year ahead.

“Forum Nokia delivers resources to millions of registered developers around the world every day. And now this community will continue to grow, benefiting from the contributions of our Russian-speaking colleagues,” said Pekka Pohjakallio, Vice President of Suites Management and Marketing at Nokia. “We will continue to help developers in Russia make mobile applications and services, and this new website is just the first step in that process.”

Individuals can join Forum Nokia for free, and members can take advantage of Nokia's rich development environment, application testing and signing, go-to-market opportunities, and vibrant community resources.

To encourage use of this new site, Forum Nokia is soliciting suggestions from visitors to determine what should be done to further enhance the site. All of the tips and ideas submitted by 15 January 2009 will be collected and ranked. The three individuals that submit the best ideas will receive new Nokia smartphones to thank them for their contributions.

For more information about Forum Nokia’s Russian language website, please contact either Janaina Pilomia or Kirill Zelenski.

Curse of Silence, a Symbian S60 SMS Exploit

It appears there might be a need for antivirus software on S60 phones after all.

The F-Secure blog is reporting a unique problem where getting a specially formed SMS will turn your nice shiny smartphone into a less functional brick.

Hopefully a ROM update will be availiable soon, but the blog details what to look for if it happens...

More info here

http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001569.html

and a youtube video here

http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001571.html

UIQ files for bankruptcy

Following a board meeting on 29th December the board of UIQ Technology resolved to file for bankruptcy. This follows on from the news, in early November, that staff had been put on notice and a temporary transition period was being funded by Sony Ericsson. With that period over, with no alternative investor available and given the current economic climate the board had no choice but to shutter the company.

Approximately 200 people were still working for UIQ when the announcement was made. Responsibility for the operating and winding down of UIQ Technology falls to the insolvency administrator appointed by the Blekinge district court.

"There are no opportunities to create a new line of business in the current financial climate," UIQ Chief Executive Johan Sandberg told Reuters.

Johan Sandberg, CEO of UIQ Technology said, "We got into a position where we have no customers, no product to sell, and therefore no income either" (rough translation from Swedish).

While this outcome has been the most likely since the announcement of the Symbian foundation last year the decline has been rapid. Sony Ericsson's decision to switch, sooner rather than later, to the Symbian Foundation Platform (effectively S60) and Motorola cancellation of its substantial 2009 UIQ portfolio (and switch to Android), both accelerated the decline of UIQ Technology.