Category Archive

Currently I am in the process of organising a new open network event in Amsterdam The Netherlands. I am planning to host it once a month. Very informal style. With one or two speakers per event. The ambition of these drinks is to integrate the mobile industry especially with the more traditional industries(internet, IT, advertising, Retail, etc). I see that the mobile industry is still pretty isolated and it is time to change that.Want to help me organise these drinks, wish to speak on one of these evenings or ofcourse want to participate please let me know.

Widget support for S60 was announced today. Demos are available in Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco and Nokia CEO CTO Tero Ojanperä is starting web cast now 13.15 CET. Developers can use standard Web technologies such as AJAX, HTML, CSS, Java Script and easily create small applications, Widgets, for users. Widget support will be part of S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 and makes S60 developer platform even stronger. Widget is an embodiment of S60 Web Run-Time. Web Run-Time allows Web developers to build new Widgets for mobile and even migrate existing widgets from other platforms to S60 with minimal effort.

Web Run-Time lowers the barrier to develop applications for mobile. No need for Symbian programming experience. No need for application signing. Do it fast and distribute on Web for everyone. Use common Web tools, documentation will be available. When bringing existing Widgets to S60, few things has to be taken into account. Screen is smaller, no mouse, two softkeys: options and exit. The core of the existing Widget can be utilized and migration is easy. We have worked with several companies to create demo Widges and usually migration took only few days. I’m impressed.

Ebays, Amazons etc. big Internet names are already on mobile but I believe this is a great step to make long tail available on mobile. We have had the best mobile browser which is making billions of Web pages available for S60 users. But now there is going to be easy way for every Internet company to make mobile user experience even better. Widgets make access to Web services fast and pleasant.

With Widgets smartphone users gain instant and easy access to commonly used Web services. In the first phase Widget functionality allows access to Web and displays information for user in mobile optimized way. Widget user experience on S60 is similar to any other application (Symbian or Java). Widgets can be downloaded and launched in similar way that other applications. Several Widgets can be run at the same time and be seen and switched from multitasker menu.

Open to new features. This has never been more true than today.

Thanks to MRKTNGman

Nokia launched Nokia BetaLabs today.

Nokia is continuously working on new ideas and innovations and improving our current applications and services. Please try them out and give us your feedback on how we can further improve them. Your feedback goes directly to the development teams that are working on the applications.

Nothing remarkable yet..but anyway a nice first step..

Thanks to Tommi’s S60 Applications blog

Just read this post on Mashable about “dead” Dodgeball. Interesting to see how services develop and why some succeed and others fail..

Dodgeball, the text-message based social networking service, seems to have been left for dead.

Dennis Crowley, the founder of Dodgeball, and Alex Rainert have both left the sinking Dodgeball ship. Acquired by Google in 2005, Crowley insists that Google is not providing the resources necessary to innovate their service, let alone keep up with recently popular Twitter and newcomer Jaiku. Crowley and Rainert have decided to quit Google, leaving Dodgeball to fend for itself. An announcement from Crowley says that the whole experience at Google was frustrating, “especially as we couldn’t convince them that Dodgeball was worth engineering resources, leaving us to watch as other startups got to innovate in the mobile + social space.”

In the end, that leaves Twitter the reigning chief. Not that their dominance was in question as of late, but Dodgeball is sure to meet its end very soon. It’s a shame that Google never built up Dodgeball, considering the current and future mobile market, but then again, Google has $3.1 billion deals to tend to.

UPDATE:

Thanks to BlueAce here some more info from the guys themselves:

So…. Alex and I quit Google on Friday.

It’s no real secret that Google wasn’t supporting dodgeball the way we expected. The whole experience was incredibly frustrating for us - especially as we couldn’t convince them that dodgeball was worth engineering resources, leaving us to watch as other startups got to innovate in the mobile + social space. And while it was a tough decision (and really disappointing) to walk away from dodgeball, I’m actually looking forward to getting to work on other projects again.

So, what’s next? Starting today (Monday!) I’m joining the kids at area/code who are knee-deep in building all sorts of Big Games (remember PacManhattan? ConQwest?). Alex is moving on to IconNicholson where he took a gig as a Creative Strategist focusing on mobile and emerging technologies. (And sorry, but I don’t know what Google has planned for dodgeball going forward.)

ps: Clear your calendar for this Saturday (April 21). A whole crew of us are dj’ing to celebrate our escape. (details + invite coming soon!)

Thanks to the great eye of Stefan Constantinescu from Ring Nokia who found the clip on YouTube.

THE FUTURE!!!!!

So when will we see the first Visa device, BMW device, Porsche device and maybe hmm.. Raimo device??(User Generated Phones can that be the future?)

Seriously.. You see that big scale companies have difficulties managing the customer. Their brand just does not connect. In LG’s case they need a brand closer to the public they want to reach. In this case Prada(a small scale player with a clear target audience).

On my other blog I wrote about this trend. Have a look at this presentation on Slideshare showing this development that the large scale production houses are slowly pushed back in the value chain..

Article at Boing Boing:

LG Electronics introduced its Prada mobile phone today. Designed in collaboration with the Italian fashion design firm, the device uses an entirely touch screen-based interface similar, some say, to the iPhone. The phone is slated to launch next month in Europe for approximately €600 (US$775), followed by China, Singapore, and Korea. No plans to bring it to the US have been announced.

Just played with the new Peerbox application version 0.95. I must say very impressed with the work they did. Very rich application with many options. A very complete library of music. The videos are still brand videos. Easy upload function. Ringtones download. Only strange thing is they say it will cost me 2,20 euro to download a song(ringtones aswell). Have no idea how they organised the billing. I downloaded The Scientist from Coldplay(yeahh) and expected a premium sms..NOTHING. Thumbs up for the effort of creating a user friendly and fast app. Now let’s wait until we have a nice business case..

Have a look at the screenshots..

Yesterday, we were The Venice Project™. Today, we’re Joost™. Tomorrow, we’re yours! Imagine having infinite choice, and TV that is truly interactive. TV anywhere, anytime…

Joost™ is a new way to watch TV, free of the schedules and restrictions that come with traditional television. Combining the best of TV with the best of the internet, Joost™ gives you more control and freedom than ever before - control over what you watch, and freedom to watch it whenever you like. We’re providing a platform for the best television content on the planet - a platform that will bring you the biggest and best shows from the TV studios, as well as the specialist programs created by professionals and enthusiasts. It’s all overlaid with a raft of nifty features that help you find the shows you love, watch and chat with friends, and even create your own TV channels.

I am not happy.. My loyalty to Nokia is threatened for the first time since the N7650(milestone)..

This is a new MILESTONE! I have never in the 8 years I worked in the mobileindustry been so blown away.. I have alot of respect for the Apple team. They have faced tremendous challenges to create this device..

I just can’t believe it… I wonder what my ex colleagues are discussing now. I mail them tomorrow they probably haven’t seen it yet..(just kiddin)

Concluding: Symbian..TIME TO GET OUT OF THE MIDDLEAGES!!!!!

Just wanted to mention that many of my thoughts don’t have a mobile theme.. So I created a second blog.. How dare I!

Well.. Next to the Mobile Digital Lifestyle I love marketing. Marketing in a broad sense..

I see some incredible changes going on. I believe that companies in the future that are focussed on growth(more, more, more) will NOT survive. I believe that companies need to find ways to contribute in our lives through products/services with intrinsic values. Wanna know more?

Check it out:

The Manifesto

The presentation