Nokia to buy out rest of Symbian for $410 million, offer it royalty-free "Nokia on Tuesday said it will buy the 52.1% of Symbian it doesn't already own for approximately 264 million euros (US$410 million) in cash and will make the software royalty-free in response to the rising threat of companies like Apple and Google.

Aude Lagorce reports for MarketWatch, "Nokia, which currently owns a 47.9% stake in the company, is buying out the shareholdings of Panasonic, Siemens AG and Ericsson. Nokia also expects Samsung to accept the offer."

"In recent years Symbian has faced rising competition from Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile, Research in Motion and Apple, Inc., who are all making operating systems for complex phones that also work as organizers, e-mail devices and music players," Lagorce reports."

Labels: nokia, symbian

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 6/24/2008 02:44:00 PM 0 comments links to this post

  Opera Mobile 9.5 Guided Tour

Opera has posted a guided tour of Opera Mobile 9.5 . Opera will be demoing it on February 11th at the GSMA. A Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Linux version is expected soon. The video guided tour is very impressive.

Labels: linux, opera, symbian, windows mobile

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 2/05/2008 10:17:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

  iPhone takes huge chunk of market share in North America

"Canalys has produced a report showing the iPhone has grown massively in North America. The study looked specifically at smartphone market share statistics in Q3, and the iPhone, in a surprisingly short time span, has managed to grab second position. A 27% market share is nothing to scoff at; what Apple has done in a few months, others have failed to do in years.

Smartphones running Symbian, Linux and Palm OS all fall behind Apple's iPhone. This is ever more stunning because the iPhone is only available via one carrier, in contrast, the other platforms can be procured from various cellular networks. This dramatically increases their market penetration. From the perspective of a business model, these figures are simply astronomical." Via Gizmodo .

Labels: blackberry, iphone, palm os, smartphone, symbian, windows mobile

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 12/17/2007 08:10:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

  Apple iPhone already leads Windows Mobile in North American market share, Q3 2007 "In its first full quarter of sales, the iPhone has already climbed past Microsoft’s entire lineup of Windows Mobile smartphones in North America, according to figures compiled by Canalys and published by Symbian. That puts the iPhone ahead of smartphones running Symbian, Linux, and the Palm OS, but behind the first place RIM BlackBerry. The figures mesh with retail sales data already reported by NPD, which similarly described the size of the US market with a 27% chunk bit out by Apple’s iPhone," Daniel Eran Dilger reports for RoughlyDrafted.

"Apple’s debut at second place across the entire North American smartphone market region for the third quarter ending in September is particularly noteworthy because the iPhone was only being sold in the US, and is only available through AT&T; all of the other mobile platforms are available to Sprint, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile as well as AT&T," Dilger reports. "The iPhone wasn’t available in the significant markets of Canada and Mexico, along with parts of the US that AT&T does not service, including much of Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Alaska."

Labels: culture, iphone, palm os, symbian, windows mobile

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 12/14/2007 03:35:00 PM 0 comments links to this post

  A ton of Iambic News Agendus for Windows -- Version 5 is on the Way!

In mid-October, we released the beta of Agendus for Windows, Version 5.0. This major update to the desktop versions (Palm Desktop and Outlook Edition) of Agendus, our award-winning personal information management (PIM) program for Palm OS and Windows Mobile handhelds, contains many new features that make schedule management effortless:

• It’s Vista-like: All new 3D glass look & feel

• Outlook 2007 & Vista compatible

• New Monthly Views: Expanded mode and Icon mode make it more closely resemble the handheld version.

• New Contact Views/Capabilities: The new Contact Network auto-build capability and Contact View Networking Mode, with drag & drop capability, improve ease-of-use while expanding functionality.

• New Journaling (“add to journal”) functionality: A popular feature in Agendus for Palm OS, now Journaling capability has been added to the Windows versions of Agendus, making it really easy to quickly add Tasks, Calls, Meetings and more the Daily Journal.

Agendus for Windows, Version 5 will be available in early December. To be put on the list to review it, email annie@iambic.com.

Other Coming Attractions

Version 2.0 of Agendus for Windows Mobile: The public beta will be taking place very soon, with a planned release in the December timeframe. There are many new features in this version, which now even more closely resembles the award-winning Agendus for Palm OS, Version 12. The look and feel of the Today view is new and the user interface includes a new, Windows Mobile 6-like glass effect. Other new views include: 1-day Split Mode, 7-Days Grid Mode, expanded modes for Month and Quarter and a new List View in Standard mode.

Plus, the Professional version will now have Power Search Internet Mode functionality that allows you to quickly look up items over mobile-friendly sites like Google, Amazon and CNN Headlines. It will also have Power Search 411 capability and a Stock Quotes slot in the Today View.

BlackBerry Version: We are very close to releasing BlackBerry versions of some products from our portfolio of productivity enhancement solutions. Keep an eye out in the next few weeks for an announcement. Also, you can always check the BlackBerry section of the iambic website for more information.

Agendus Anywhere: In our last newsletter, we mentioned that Agendus Anywhere was being developed. It is Web-based service that offers users access to upcoming appointments, contacts, tasks, and email from wherever they are (at any desktop or mobile phone they might be using).

Users of this service are given their own email address (username@agendus.com) with threading and tagging support. IMAP & POP3 access is available through any desktop and mobile messaging client. Plus, the users have the option to access their Agendus Anywhere mailbox from Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007. Furthermore, it offers mobile email and PIM data synchronization via push. The public beta is expected before the end of the year. Stay tuned.

Recent Releases/Updates

TopStory for Symbian Series 60 now available

11/3: We just released our first product targeted for the Series 60, third edition phone platform. TopStory for Series 60 is our newsreader that features an intuitive interface, an "out of the box" set of feeds, options allowing to add custom feeds as well as import OPML feed definition files, and the capability to download not only text but the embedded images as well. More Series 60 solutions are in development.

Agendus for Palm OS version 12.04 has been released

11/1: The focus of this release was on improvements to the Project and Trip related areas, as well as to ensure full compatibility with the new Palm Centro. This latest release also reflects feedback received through our user community. What's new list available here.

YourCall for Palm OS version 2.1 has been released

10/26: YourCall, our call management program for Palm OS Treos, has been updated to include full Palm Centro compatibility and a brand new, "quick note" functionality, which allows you to take notes while on a call. What’s new list available here.

Agendus for Symbian UIQ 3 has been released

10/17: We just released Agendus for Symbian UIQ 3 which carries over all the features and capability of the UIQ 2 edition to phones such as the SonyEricsson P990 and M600, and to any other UIQ 3 powered phone.

For more information on Iambic oroducts head over here .

Labels: blackberry, palm os, software, symbian, windows mobile

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 11/14/2007 06:51:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

  StyleTap Coming to Symbian OS Devices PalmInfocenter is reporting that StyleTap will be bringing their StyleTap CrossPlatform to Symbian OS devices. Symbian OS users will be able to run many Palm OS applications on their devices with StyleTap installed.

Labels: palm os, software, symbian

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 10/18/2007 02:14:00 PM 0 comments links to this post