Platforms | Fone Arena

Nokia’s SNAP to simplify online gaming on mobiles

NOKIA PRESS RELEASE Mars 20, 2006

Nokia simplifies creation of online gaming communities for Java(TM) technology games

Nokia’s SNAP Mobile offers a full-featured turnkey solution that builds on the social aspects of mobile gaming

San Jose, CA, USA – Nokia, the leader in mobile communications, announced today the launch of a business solution that enables operators and publishers to create online communities for mobile Java games in days, rather than months. Operators who choose SNAP Mobile’s Starter Kit or Standard Package can have their users hosted on the SNAP Mobile Community, a full-featured, generic website, which creates an online gaming community almost instantly.

SNAP Mobile offers a full-featured, turnkey gaming community infrastructure that connects mobile gamers via Nokia’s SNAP Mobile gaming platform. Building on the inherent social aspects of mobile phones, these communities can be accessed by gamers’ PC web browsers and internet-enabled phones.

“Mobile technology was born out of the fact that people are social by nature and demand the ability to communicate outside of their offices and family rooms,” said Lisa Waits, Head of Nokia SNAP Mobile.? “We asked why shouldn’t mobile gaming offer the same and we’re answering with our plug and play community solution for operators and publishers that will deliver a seamless, social experience for gamers.”

Nokia’s SNAP Mobile online communities give mobile gamers the ability to communicate in-game with friends, strangers and co-workers all the time, anytime, and deliver a variety of in- and out-of-game features. In-game, players will have their own unique user identities, as well as features such as friend lists, presence, rankings, chat and instant messaging. Out-of-game, users will not only have the ability to maintain their unique user identities and view rankings, but will also have at their disposal news and events, message boards, and featured gamepages.

In addition to being a win for mobile gamers, SNAP Mobile provides operators and publishers with a highly effective, low-cost way opportunity to increase online usage and downloadable game sales.

“At the heart of our commitment to offering online communities was the requirement that this offering be easy to implement,” continued Waits. “We want to bring long-term solutions and easy to use technology to a broad base of players in the mobile content market. The result is happy operators and publishers as well as ecstatic, connected gamers.”

Nokia’s SNAP Mobile is the ideal hosted solution for operators who want to create a gaming community site quickly, with no configuration hassles or up-front costs. Operators choosing SNAP Mobile’s Premium Package provides a community website that can be fully customized to suit the operator’s needs. A generic version is also available for more rapid deployment.

For more information on the Nokia’s SNAP Mobile online communities, please visit www.snapmobile.nokia.com

Nokia and Vodafone to expand use of S60 as a standard platform

Vodafone and Nokia work together to increase the use of S60 as a standard software platform collaboration between Nokia and Vodafone expands the potential market for S60

NOKIA PRESS RELEASE February 13, 2006

Vodafone and Nokia work together to increase the use of S60 as a standard software platform collaboration between Nokia and Vodafone expands the potential market for S60

3GSM World Congress 2006, Barcelona, Spain/Espoo, Finland – Nokia Corporation and Vodafone have today announced that they are collaborating to strengthen the S60 software platform’s role in Vodafone’s device portfolio. The collaboration will help Vodafone to offer new services more quickly to its customers by increasing the use of S60 as a standard software platform for mobile handsets worldwide.

“Standardisation of handset software platforms across mobile phone manufacturers offers significant opportunities for Vodafone. We will be able to reduce time to market for new products and services and help customers take up new services more quickly. The fact that Nokia is developing the S60 platform in close co-operation with us further enhances our ability to offer innovative and consistent new services in a competitive and efficient way,” said Dirk Wierzbitzki, Deputy Director of Terminals, Vodafone Group.

S60 offers Vodafone the leading technologies in customization, extensive support for new mobile services, and the baseline for best in class user experience. S60 customization capabilities, proven by strong track record in satisfying operator needs, help Vodafone to differentiate their services and applications. Together with the S60 community, Vodafone will also be able to enhance user interfaces (UI) of mobile devices.

“We are very pleased with Vodafone’s choice of S60 as a preferred device software platform. This collaboration is an important step towards increased service differentiation and innovation speed for the whole industry. S60 platform offers a rich application suite, great extensibility and ease-of-use for multimedia, imaging and business services. High priority is given to the customization and application development needs of the operators,” said Matti V?nsk?, Vice President, Mobile Software Sales and Marketing, Nokia.

Nokia and Vodafone will develop a Vodafone-specific software complement on top of the S60 platform. The collaboration also includes the expansion of the licensee base and increased portfolio penetration through open roadmap governance and establishes a strong independent brand position for both the S60 software and the supporting developer activities. In addition, Nokia and Vodafone are working jointly to promote independently licensable reference designs from semiconductor vendors to enable shorter time to market for new S60 devices.

According to Nokia estimates, the total smartphone industry volume reached approximately 46.3 million units in 2005, compared to an estimated 20.6 million units in 2004. Nokia alone will have cumulatively shipped more than 50 million S60 enabled devices by the end of February 2006 (Nokia, February 2006).

About Nokia

Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations.

About S60

The S60 built on Symbian OS, is the leading smartphone software in the world and it is licensed by some of the foremost mobile phone manufacturers in the market. The flexibility of the S60 platform allows for various hardware designs and software configurations. This is demonstrated through the multitude of S60 devices already available on the market. Through its award-winning user interface, extensive support for new mobile services and the innovation potential for partner solutions, the S60 provides an open and scalable business opportunity for mobile operators and 3rd party developers. For further information about S60 news and community, please visit www.s60.com.

About Vodafone

Vodafone is the world’s largest mobile community, with equity interests in 26 countries and Partner Networks in a further 31 countries, serving over 179 million proportionate customers. Vodafone’s global consumer service offering, Vodafone live!, opens up a world of mobile colour

Symbian lowers prices for its operating system

Symbian announced new pricing models, looking to encourage wider adoption of its operating system by handset manufacturers. Most manufacturers have operated under a pricing model that charges US$7.50 per unit for the first 2 million handsets sold and $5 a handset thereafter. After seeing Symbian’s new models, some manufacturers may see costs drop to as low as $2.50 per unit.

The new pricing models offered would not charge a higher royalty fee for the first 2 million units. Symbian also looks to motivate manufacturers to use the latest version of the Symbian OS. Symbian is wise to offer more competitive pricing, due to the increased competition offered by other mobile operating systems such as Linux, Windows Mobile, and the Palm OS.

Symbian press release?

Nokia to Open Source Python for S60 Source Code

Availability of Python for S60 source code via SourceForge.net to enable broader contribution to advancement of open-source mobile solutions and applications for leading smartphone platform

NOKIA PRESS RELEASE January 31, 2006

Nokia to Release Python for S60 Source Code to Open-Source Software Developer Community

Availability of Python for S60 source code via SourceForge.net to enable broader contribution to advancement of open-source mobile solutions and applications for leading smartphone platform

Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced that it has taken a step further in support of mobile open-source software application development by agreeing to release the source code for its Python for S60 Platform software package to the global community of open-source software developers.

The agreement follows on last year’s launch by Nokia of the Python for S60 Platform, which enables programmers, ISVs and businesses worldwide to utilize the powerful Python programming language to execute Python commands and run Python scripts and applications on S60-based mobile devices.

The source code for Python for S60 Platform will be made available to the open-source software development community through SourceForge.net, which provides free hosting to open-source software development projects and is the world’s largest Open Source software development web site, hosting more than 100,000 projects and over 1,000,000 registered users with a centralized resource for managing projects, issues, communications, and code.

Nokia is contributing the core components of the Python for S60 software back to the open-source developer community in order to encourage developers to take advantage of the potential for open-source mobile applications development on the S60 Platform, the leading smartphone platform. Nokia is also continuing to contribute and work within the open source community in driving the Python for S60 technology forward.

“During the past year, the popular developer-friendly features of the Python open-source language have enabled growth of a dynamic community new to mobile development to write applications that are leveraging the potential of S60-based devices,” said Lee Epting, vice president, Forum Nokia. “Now, Nokia is extending its commitment to open-source software initiatives and hopes that its contribution of source code back to the Python developer community will drive further enthusiasm and innovations in the development of leading-edge open-source mobile solutions for the rapidly expanding smartphone market worldwide.”

“I was excited last year when Nokia announced its port of Python to its advanced phones. I’m even more excited now that Nokia is open-sourcing the port.” said Guido van Rossum, creator of the Python programming language and president of the Python Software Foundation. “Opening up the platform makes the phones accessible, and will inevitably lead to cool new applications, as well as to third-party improvements to the port itself.”

Nokia’s involvement with the Python open-source community began last year when Nokia made available the Python for S60 software package for free download from the website of Nokia’s global developer support community, Forum Nokia. The Python for S60 software package installs to a S60 platform-based device, enabling developers to create applications with the simple and consistent, object-oriented Python programming language.

Python for S60 is well-suited to the development of prototype and proof-of-concept applications, enabling development of commands, scripts and applications for S60-based mobile devices. The Python for S60 runtime can also be easily extended with dynamically loadable C++ modules, enabling developers to expose additional native device functionality to Python applications. Developers can execute Python commands using an interactive console in a S60-based device, accessible via the keypad or a remote connection to a PC over Bluetooth.

Using Python for S60, developers can write Python applications and install them to a S60-based device and the device can then run these applications from the Python environment. Python applications can also be developed to run as standalone applications with the selection of an icon from the device menu. Using Python for S60, developers also can execute Python commands and scripts in the emulators of S60 SDK’s.

The S60 platform, built on the Symbian OS, is the leading smartphone software in the world and it is licensed by some of the foremost mobile phone manufacturers in the market. The flexibility of the S60 platform allows for various hardware designs and software configurations. This is demonstrated through the multitude of S60 devices already available on the market. Through its award-winning user interface, extensive support for new mobile services and the innovation potential for partner solutions, the S60 provides an open and scalable business opportunity for mobile operators and 3rd party developers.

The source code for Python for S60 Platform will be posted by Nokia to SourceForge.net. Further information and a link to the project can be found by visiting http://opensource.nokia.com/.

About Python
Python is a powerful object-oriented programming language that is developed and maintained by a global community of open source developers under the oversight of the Python Software Foundation. Python is relatively easy to learn for programmers of other languages such as C, C++, Java, and Visual Basic, and can therefore assist programmer productivity. It is often characterized as an agile language that promotes speedy development and includes a unit-testing framework for building more robust applications. Python is often used in large system development to decrease software costs, and meet aggressive schedules. The language is the basis of applications used by tens of thousands of companies and organizations worldwide, and its user base is growing rapidly.

Do Google Miss Anything 466453

google is making sure it does not have any accessibility problems for mobile users

According to a weblog everyone wishes that they would take a leaf out of Google’s book. Google have even started registering domains based on numeric keyboards that use predictive text like most mobile phones. For instance, they have even registered 466453.com. Why? Try it on your phone and see what it spells.

For guys and gals who dont understand what 466453 means, try typing that on ur mobile phone

via [http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/blog/_archives/2006/1/16/1679136.html]

Personalized Home for Mobiles by Google

Google has announced about a Personalized Home for Mobiles. The homepage displays everything from your Gmail inbox to news headlines,weather, stock quotes, and feeds.

The interface is optimized for small screens, says Abhijit Kalamkar, one of Google?s Software Engineer, on his post.

You can read the whole post here.

BlackBerry to get Google Local Google Talk

Expect Google to get into anything that has to do with the Internet.And if the Internet gets onto the Mobile, Google would follow suit and develop applications for your cell phone.

Expect Google to get into anything that has to do with the Internet! And if the Internet gets onto the Mobile, Google would follow suit and develop applications for your cell phone.

Google has announced that it is expanding its services to the BlackBerry platform. Available immediately, Google Local for mobile can be downloaded for free, and will provide BlackBerry users with maps and satellite imagery as well as the ability to receive driving directions and locate addresses.

Due this spring, Google Talk will also be provided for free, and will enable BlackBerry users to chat and keep up with their contacts via the Google Talk instant messaging system. Google Talk requires a free Gmail e-mail account.

Of course both applications require that you have a data service subscription on your BlackBerry device, for which most providers charge.

via [TechBulletin]

Motorola to Preinstall Yahoo Mail and YIM on Some Handsets

partnership with Yahoo that will allow for certain Yahoo applications to come preinstalled on some handsets.

America?s top cell phone maker, Motorola has announced a partnership with Yahoo that will allow for certain Yahoo applications to come preinstalled on some handsets.

The first such handsets are likely to be available by the end of March, and will include the YIM instant messaging solution, as well as Yahoo Mail, Address Book, and Calendar software.

This comes shortly after Motorola?s partnership with Google on integrated search services. It appears that they are trying to come up with a good mix of what they see as they best services from each internet giant, in order to create the highest quality mobile internet experience.

via [Teleclick.ca]

New Motorola Handsets Will Feature Google Button

Motorola and Google enter into partnership

Analysts are maintaining very positive predictions about Motorola?s stock price, following that company?s announcement on Thursday of a partnership with Google.

The major partnership, which was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, will make it easier for users of Motorola handsets to access Google?s mobile internet services, including search. Future Motorola handsets will include a special Google button, enabling one-click access to the Google search home page.

?We view this to be a significant announcement as it helps boost mobile Internet use,? said RBC Capital Markets analyst, Mark Sue. ?To date, ease-of-access/use has been one of the barriers to broader adoption.?

The new Google-friendly handsets will be made available by the end of the first quarter, and will likely promote wider Motorola handset adoption, while boosting Google?s ad revenue.

via [Telelclick.ca]

Motorola to Work with Kodak on Improving Camera Phones

Motorola has recently come to a 10-year agreement with Kodak that will see the two companies working together to make camera phones more functional and user-friendly

The world?s second largest handset maker, Motorola has recently come to a 10-year agreement with Kodak that will see the two companies working together to make camera phones more functional and user-friendly.

Kodak will supply Motorola with hardware and software to make it easier to store, send, and print camera phone pictures. They hope to make it possible to send a picture to anyone, anywhere in the world, with the click of a single button.

?Think about visual IM,? said the head of Motorola?s mobile phone division, Ron Garriques, when describing the process of sending a picture.

Although the deal between Motorola and Kodak is non-exclusive, it will likely see them work closely together for a number of years, and share intellectual property. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Yahoo announces Yahoo Go Service

Yahoo has announced the launch of Yahoo! Go, a new suite of products designed to extend the its reach beyond the Web browser,

Yahoo announced the launch its new service, called Yahoo Go, at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The new service, which will be available on mobile phones, personal computers and PC-connected TVs, will give users access to different Yahoo?s applications such as Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Photos, calendar, address book, Web and image search, news, sports and finance without using a browser.

– Yahoo! Go mobile is available to download on Nokia Series 60 phones.
– Yahoo! Go TV is coming soon and will be available for all Windows XP PCs.
– Yahoo! Go Desktop is coming soon but Yahoo! Widgets is avialable now.

Obviosuly it?s a multi-device platform for accessing and using Yahoo Services and Products anywhere, anytime, getting rid of the confinements of a browser and a PC, and this is very promising as a concept, but apparantely Yahoo wasn?t ready for full launch at CES.

Mobile Tsunami Detector for Nokia phones

Python programmer developed a new software that can analyse live data from the United States Geological Surveys and predict a Tsunami

Python programmer developed a new software that can analyse live data from the United States Geological Surveys and predict a Tsunami. Probability and impact time of Tsunamis are assessed and reported immediately for countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

You will need an internet connection (GPRS/CSD) to obtain the data from USGS. The Mobile Tsunami Detector can be downloaded here and is compatible with these Nokia handsets: Nokia 3650, 7650, N-Gage, 6600, 6620, 6630, 6680, 7610, N70 and N90.

via [MobileGuerilla]

Gmail mobile launches

Google just announced that its Gmail webmail service is now available in a mobile phone friendly format. As long as Gmail Mobile doesn’t break any patents, it should be welcome to Gmailer’s looking to escape the desktop.

Gmail mobile launches
Google just announced that its Gmail webmail service is now available in a mobile phone friendly format. As long as Gmail Mobile doesn’t break any patents, it should be welcome to Gmailer’s looking to escape the desktop.

To use Gmail Mobile, just point your phone to http://m.gmail.com or sign up to get the link in a text message. In typical Google style, Gmail Mobile is free though standard carrier charges may apply. In a quick test here the service proved easy to use.

Google recently launched a mobile version of its map service, in the form of a Java application.

http://www.google.com/glm/gmail

via [mobiletracker.net]

gmail mobile

Indiagames To Ship EA Mobile Games in India

Electronic Arts EA and Indiagames, a mobile content publisher, have signed an exclusive licensing agreement that will bring EA mobile games to consumers across multiple mobile carriers in India.

Electronic Arts (EA) and Indiagames, a mobile content publisher, have signed an exclusive licensing agreement that will bring EA?s mobile games to consumers across multiple mobile carriers in India.

The games that will be initially released through Indiagames include Need for Speed Underground 2, Need for Speed Most Wanted, NBA LIVE 06, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06, EA SPORTS FIFA 06, FIFA STREET 2, Madden NFL 06, SimCity and The Sims 2. Indiagames will release EA SPORTS FIFA 06 this year.

ea games logo Jon Niermann, President, EA Asia Publishing said, ?Indiagames is a key partner for us as we expand our business from packaged goods to mobile content in the burgeoning Indian marketplace. They have a strong technological infrastructure and share our passion for delivering top quality entertainment.?

?Indian consumers are quickly adopting a mobile lifestyle and we believe that this partnership will give people the opportunity to experience the fun and excitement of playing great games on their mobile phones,? maintained Niermann.

India games logo Vishal Gondal, CEO of Indiagames said, ?We are thrilled to bring such legendary and popular games to Indian audiences. We are convinced that thousands of Indian fans will enjoy the opportunity to experience these games on their mobile phones.?

via [TechShout]

EA Buys Jamdat for $680M

In an effort to expand its mobile gaming portfolio, Electronic Arts has announced that they will be acquiring Jamdat Mobile – the top publisher of wireless video games.

Jamdat is the publisher of such popular games as Tetris, Downtown Texas Hold ‘Em, and Bejeweled. The acquisition, expected to close in EA’s fiscal fourth quarter ending March 2006, will cost Electronic Arts US$27 a share, or $680 million USD total. The deal is an 18% premium over Jamdat’s Thursday closing price of US$22.77 a share.

Jamdat is based in Los Angeles, and has 350 employees across the globe.

via [red herring]