Posts by Doug Deeds

How Nokia managed to drive its in-house Linux train off the rails

Re: Nokia...

I saw two major fails while I worked at Nokia:

They did not take the US market seriously. At one project meeting, we had to list as a manager (still a VP unfortunately) told us that the US was not a significant market.

They also wanted to go with the Henry Ford business model - You can have any color you want, as long as it's black. They would not customize significantly for the US carriers and that was simply market death here. Even in 2006 we were still stuck with dictionaries from England and Spain, not suitable for either the US or Latin America.

Nokia offers its maps to enterprise: Deal inked with Oracle

Re: Default maps

I finally used Nokia maps last year. They did not have any of the roads/area for my destination - an area that had been built up for at least several years.

iPhone stroking keeps us satisfied the most, say fanbois

Re: Shape of phones?

I agree completely. My wife wanted a white iphone; I wanted the black. Then we put them in heavy duty cases and you can't tell which color they are.

The press seems to think the new Lumias will sell because of their pretty colors. Of course, the public will put most of them in cases and you won't be able to see them after that.

Femtocells outnumber proper mobe towers in US

NSN

I'll have to suggest this to a friend. He works at Nokia Siemens Networks Dallas and they have no AT&T coverage inside their building...

Hulu to charge $10 for past-its-prime time TV

End of Hulu for me

I have a 5 year old and rarely get to watch any normal TV. Hulu is where I can watch the shows I want at odd hours. But if they go pay, then that's the end of it for me. I am quite happy watching commercials. Damn greedy networks!!!

Nokia switches direction and gives away maps

Money loser?

Didn't they pay billions for the company with map technology? Might be a decade before they can break even on this.

Nokia launches laptop

Netbook sales?

This looks pretty good, but does anyone have any netbook sales numbers by country? Netbooks are quite popular here in the U.S., but I can't see how they will sell very many high end devices here in a new market when they are only known for selling cheap or free prepaid phones.

Wirelessly-powered phones on sale within four years, says Nokia

Bad idea?

This strikes me as a bad idea since any power removed will decrease the receivability of the signal whose power was decreased?

Nokia focuses strategy, again

Slowly killing Facebook

In my opinion, this type of integration of social apps will facilitate the slow death of Facebook.

It's one thing to have 'friends' post inane comment after inane comment to Facebook, but I've been having to select the ignore function lately due to multitudes of photos posted from camera phones.

Brussels: Old-school lightbulbs to be gone by 2012

Difference in CFL by area?

I've noticed multiple negative comments about CFL from Europe here over the last year or so. Most were about low brightness and some flicker. My experience here in the U.S. has been the opposite. The bulbs are brighter than their so-called 'equivalent wattages' of incandescent. I would love to put some CFLs in my daughter's room, but the smallest wattages available in the round (not coil) bulbs are just too bright. Anyone out there know if there is a difference in the bulbs made for europe vs. other places. Could this be a difference in how they are drive from the different line voltage and frequency? My only problem is the start up time, espedcially operation in my garage when it's cold.

World's first proper flying car makes debut flight

Insurance?

The big question is - Do you have to have both aircraft and car insurance?

Nokia prepares to fiddle with Symbian

The next Motorola

It's interesting that anyone here is commenting about the demise of Motorola. While Nokia may be number 1 in the world, they've completely pissed away their market share in the U.S. Going from 78% to 6% (may be lower now) market share is not an easy thing. Their Henry Ford mentality, "You can have any color, as long as it's black", has translated into we will tell you what kind of a phone you want. This arrogance in telling the carriers and public here what will be the next trend has not worked. They completely missed the boat on flip phones, and were late with OLED, FM transmitters, and many other features. They are now only a low-end brand here because that's all they've sold in years. Now they think themselves a services company, but the only thing they've ever done well is hardware. Hardware still seems to be their selling point since a video from the World Congress show made the major selling point for an E-series phone of 28 days standby. I easily see them becoming the next Motorola-type failure within 5 years.

P.S. Their failure to back up Ovi for over 3 weeks was inexcusable for a commercial site and probably indicative of their future success in providing services.

Nokia grabs control of Symbian - then gives it away

Nokia handsets history?

Let me get this straight, any other phone company can just pay to join and get access to all of the OS and UI. Certainly this will let any of the Chinese handset manufacturers immediately crank out handsets on par with Nokia's lineup. Software has been their only distinguishing feature for years.

Evidently Nokia thinks they can make all of their future income from services. I think they could easily lose their entire market share for handsets in under 5 years.