Nokia World 2010 Predictions Followup

// September 16th, 2010 // Mobile

Well, it was a rough-and-tumble 2 days, but Nokia World 2010 is behind us, which means it’s time to see how I did with my predictions. There was so much going on at Nokia World, and I have a ton of thoughts that I’d like to share, but to make sure I get everything, that’s going to have to wait until a little later – perhaps tomorrow. In the meantime, let’s see how I did.

For scoring, I’m going to give 2 points for a full-on correct prediction, 1 point for a half-right prediction, and obviously zero points if I completely missed it. If you don’t like the scoring, sorry, go start your own blog. :)

Smartphones

1. E7 – I got this one right, but was off on the pricing – it’s over 100EUR *more* than the N8, not less. However, I got the rest of the details correct, including the Q4 ship date, so I’m going to give myself the full 2 points here.

2. Dumbed-down N8 – I pretty much missed the boat on this one. Sure, you could say either the C6 or the C7 fit the bill, but neither really looks like the N8, and they both have features that are better than the N8 here and there. Zero points.

3. Something off-the-wall – again, I missed it here. I suppose I could argue that the CBD display on the C6 fits this one, but that’s pushing it, since I originally said it would be something stupid, and from the looks of it, CBD is *not* stupid. Zero points.

Dumbphones

1 and 2. I was totally off here – Nokia only announced one S40 device, so I get zero points here (doubled?)

3. QWERTY Touch-and-Type – Well, they did announce another touch-and-type phone, but it has a normal numeric keypad. 1 point.

4. Clamshell – missed the boat, zero points.

5. Booklet 3G Redux – sadly, I was mistaken here, too. I really wish we would have seen this. Zero points.

Software/Services

1. Ovi Maps upgrade – duh, nailed that one – whole new interface and navigation. They did announce the new check-in service, with various ‘plugins’, so I’m going to give myself 1 point.

2. Ovi Files rehash – nope, zero points (what a waste).

3. Ovi Social Messaging Beta as Ovi Social – I’m going to give myself half-credit. All of the new smartphones did launch with this integrated, but they didn’t officially call it ‘Ovi Social’ like I thought, nor does it integrate with a central Ovi buddy list. 1 point.

4. Ovi Contacts, Calendar, Mail, Chat will use the same buddy list – again, I was too optimistic here – they didn’t announce *any* upgrades to these services. Zero points.

5. Ovi Music in 5-6 new countries, but not the U.S. – no Ovi Music announcements that I saw, zero points.

6. Ovi Suite for OSX and Linux – nope, zero points.

7. Ovi Player upgrade – nope, zero points.

8. Web TV to Ovi Video with original content – again, negative. Zero points.

So, out of a possible 32 points, I got 5. Rough stuff. Apparently, I’m a bit more optimistic about it than even Nokia was (or hopefully they’re going to have another event really soon to announce all this stuff they missed?). Hopefully next year I’ll do better. What was your favorite announcement at Nokia World 2010?

While Ricky Cadden is currently employed by RadioShack, Inc, all the thoughts, opinions, and views shared here and elsewhere online are his own and in no way reflect those of RadioShack, Inc. You can read more about Ricky Cadden here, or contact him at Ricky(at)RickyCadden(dot)com.

http://twitter.com/hooker1uk Paul Hooker

This was my First Nokia world experience, albeit through the WOMWorld/Nokia virtual attendee pack, but it left me wanting to be there next year.

I can’t wait until i get the chance to play with these devices. Even the “touch and type” devices have me wanting them.
http://whatleydude.com James Whatley

Does the E7 count as a touch and type? (I think it does)
Also, the charging plate was my ‘something off the wall’ even if it wasn’t a device..
http://twitter.com/mobileminmag Antoine RJ Wright

For your off the wall prediction, why not mention the Plug and Touch product that was demoed? Otherwise, not bad
http://www.rickycadden.com Ricky Cadden

The E7 would count, though I already mentioned it in the ‘smartphones’ category. I was clearly calling for an S40 Touch-and-Type QWERTY device, and I should keep the scoring fair.

You (and Antoine) are right, though, the ‘off-the-wall’ prediction could be used on a few different devices, but since I had it under the ‘phone’ category, I don’t think it’d be fair to claim the points.
Adriano Sanhamanga

Hi, Rick. I’ve been following you since Symbian Guru. I have the N97 mini and yes, it’s full of irritating bugs. I can’t even install any of the new OVI Maps releases in it and the firmware update never got released. And the processor is pathetic. I bought it the same day I bought the iPhone 3GS, thinking to use it as my secondary phone. In less than 2 weeks, it became my first phone. Please, note that I have more than 300 apps installed on the iPhone and I jailbreaked it. Anyway! As a phone, the N97 mini is infinitely better than the iPhone. As a phone operating system, Symbian (even the S60 5th ed, I suppose that the ^3 edition will be better) is in a order of magnitude superior to either the latest version of iOS (which is still frankly ridiculous as a phone operating system) or Android (4 years yet to get there?). SBP Shell is by far my favorite UI approach, more than Sense for instance, and it runs on the N97 mini (thank you, Nokia, for making it so flexible). And then, there is PC Suite. To be able to use the phone as a OTA modem via BT with no damn issues, to be able to install apps in whatever memory I want with no issues, to have a BT earphone and answer phone calls by clicking on a window in my PC, to be able to send and receive SMS (text messages in US parlance?) from the computer, using the keyboard. Whatever a phone should be in this day and age, the N97 mini is, the iPhone is certainly not. Also, I have full flexibility (and freedom!) on what apps I install and where I source them. For the last year or so, I have been using daily an iPhone and a N97 mini, and if I had to get rid of one of these, it would be the iPhone immediately. I also have been experimenting with the HTC Legend, which is a very nice piece of hardware with Android 2.1. I cannot for the life of me understand the hype surrounding Android when I compare it (both the user experience and the phone implementation) with Symbian. And of course when I read your texts and the texts of most people, I keep wondering if I am totally out of my wits. My next phone will definetely be a Symbian ^3 piece by Nokia and I only hope that they haven’t blotched it with the OVI suite. I’ll try it soon enough.
Anonymous

My favourite announcement was C6-01 (minus the horrible naming). I think this handset is quite competitive with other players at the stated pricepoint. At least outside of the US anyway. There are hints that C6-01 will come to AT&T though so thats a good sign for US customers (I am not in the US). E7, C7 and N8 don’t look like winners to me unless their price comes down.

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