Nokia to have private Connecting People event alongside Mobile World Congress

CES 2010 might be just around the corner, but it sounds like Nokia's next big move might be at Mobile World Congress in February. Well, not quite at MWC: Espoo actually pulled out of the tradeshow earlier this year, but now we're hearing that there will be a private Connecting People event in Barcelona on the first and second days of MWC. That's particularly interesting because one of the reasons Nokia pulled out of MWC was to increase focus on its own Nokia World conference, so we're guessing nothing major will be coming out in Spain -- but we can't help but agree with this poignant Babelfish translation of Engadget Spanish's post on the same subject: "Fulfilled mission, Nokia: you have been able to attract our curiosity."

[TikiTeko Posted Dec 21st 2009 3:11PM]

The Spanish site says that Nokia pulled of from the MWC to offer a private better experience to visitors away from the MWC noise, They are going to offer comfy couches and fancy food.

[Xudd Posted Dec 21st 2009 3:31PM]

@TikiTeko Damn I want food.

[Hydra Posted Dec 21st 2009 3:24PM]

They could stop with the under powered phones and horrible OS. They could open small retail sales channels in the usa

[TikiTeko Posted Dec 21st 2009 3:34PM]

@Hydra No need for small retail when you have power sellers like Dell and Amazon selling Nokia products.

YES NEED to power up the phone. I mean the 5800 has a 300ish MHz processor.... :S What I like about Nokia is the video and music playback quality. I have not seen any phone offer the same expect the iDoesn't ... :S

[jcar302 Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:06PM]

@Hydra
I don't so much have an issue with the OS, ya, compared to other newer systems it needs a little streamlining, but it's still ok with me.
I consider the thoughts on operating systems as opinions, not facts.

Now on hardware, it's a fact they need to do some work.
The N97 with a better processor and more ram would of been a great phone, and may of saved symbian's reputation.

[Mr w00t Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:13PM]

@Hydra Cmon mate... n900 is a pretty decent phone.

I have 3 devices with me: a iPhone 3GS, N900 and a e61i...

Yes, the e61i is soooo slow that makes me want to rip my own arm and beat my self with it. But the newer E-series are amazingly fast. You should try it again.

[GeceBekcisi Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:20PM]

@jcar302

N97 should be out with 500+ MHz TI OMAP 3430 core, then it'd really rock. Also, if 3430-ed N97 could be upgradeable to Symbian^3 when it comes out, Nokia could be owning gigantic market at the moment.

So, releasing N97 with a 434 MHz Freescale core was Nokia's absolutely one of the lamest moves done in last couple of years.

[GeceBekcisi Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:28PM]

Forgot to mention. 3430 core has 256 MB RAM + PowerVR SGX 530 GPU + Better Image/Video/Audio accelerator + Faster DSP; which would address many problems with current N97.

[Hydra Posted Dec 21st 2009 5:08PM]

@GeceBekcisi

I agree I would buy a N97 or N97 mini, but not if it runs at the same speed as my old N95

I believe Nokia can make great hardware, but recent decisions are bad moves for them, and I'm starting to worry

[Merlot and Shiraz Posted Dec 22nd 2009 12:55AM]

@TikiTeko

5800 has ARM11 @ 434 Mhz after firmware V20 [3]

[ToniCipriani Posted Dec 21st 2009 3:39PM]

I know Connecting People is their slogan for many years, but doesn't "Private Connecting People event" sounds kinda wrong?

[Mr w00t Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:11PM]

@ToniCipriani Dunno if you have checked but it doesnt say anything about "private" Connecting people at their website...

It is the usual engadget bashing of Nokia..

But this time they even lied to you. Dont trust much what appears in this blog. The person that wrote this post could have double quoted to give a better understanding for its readers but who cares right? Engadget is here not to inform you... :)

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 21st 2009 3:58PM]

Nokia: Connecting Peoples' Privates Event
I'M THERE DUDE! I've never had Finnish privates before.

Seriously though, enough with the crappy phones.
Nokia had ONE good handset in 2009 -- the N900.
That's IT...ONE!!! The rest were all garbage low spec'd crapgadgets with uberlame software \ OS \ features.

[Mr w00t Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:09PM]

@(Unverified) Garbage for you...
Perhaps, you should realize that not everyone is like you. For some people a phone that just makes calls and sends text messages is way more than they ever thought in having.

And a lot of people in poor nations, such Indonesia, want a phone but can not pay very much for it. And they still want a good phone, that makes calls... you know? iPhone isnt even that reliable with all of that bling.

So let's stop generalizing the WORLD cos I am pretty sure I can generalize a bunch of stuff where you come from as well... And it wont look pretty.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:13PM]

@Mr w00t
Sorry I didn't take into account starvin marvin from micronesia's phone preferences. All jokes aside, what does your comment have to do with anything?

The main "trend" right now in the phone industry is smartphones. They are becoming more popular every day, and Nokia's failure to recognize that is the cause of their stores closing and their profits going down. Nokia's success or failure has nothing to do at all with "poor nations" -- like you said I'm sure they could care less what phone they get as long as it makes calls and sends texts.

In fact if that were the case then I'm sure Nokia would be opening new stores, not closing them.

[MarkAnderson Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:33PM]

@(Unverified)

You do realise that Nokia sold more smartphones than RIM and Apple combined over the year, right?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:37PM]

@MarkAnderson
That's great!
What about the future though?
"Nokia failed to lead a changed market and has been forced into reacting to competitors instead of driving its own vision of the future."
From the Engadget\Entelligence article.

[MarkAnderson Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:39PM]

@(Unverified)

Dunno. If you mean the US market where they have no presence it's looking pretty grim. If you mean the rest of the world where they've held steady or increased share it's looking pretty good.


For example, Nokia's increase in smartphone sales in Q2 2009 was greater than total iPhone sales outside the US. Blogs like Engadget tend not to look at the financials and the non-US markets.

[GeceBekcisi Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:47PM]

@(Unverified) & @MarkAnderson

That's Symbian's success, in fact. Symbian's microkernel is able to respond each request so quick that Symbian can run on less powerful cores (when compared to others) fast enough to serve as a smartphone.

Nokia emphasized on durability and standby time in 2009, so as long as Symbian allowed they didn't upgrade their weak but decent, power saving ARM11 core. 2010 should be their upgrade time for both hardware and software, otherwise Nokia will fail irreversibly.

[MarkAnderson Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:56PM]

@GeceBekcisi

I agree. The 434MHz ARM 11 just won't cut it for touchscreens these days. It doesn't have to be that much more powerful, just enough to make it a bit more fluid. Non-touchscreens are OK with it though.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:58PM]

@MarkAnderson
Touchscreen devices need at least Arm CorTex A8 or preferably A9 since it's 2010 in a bit. Arm11 will not cut it anymore, especially since smartphones are becoming platforms for HD media and flash content.

[Black Lion Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:12PM]

The graphic that leads this post shows the reason why I have never seriously considered buying a Nokia phone: I hate that damn font Nokia uses!

[RokenR Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:17PM]

@Black Lion

Damn, beat me to it!

In absolute agreement though. =)

[RokenR Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:16PM]

I really don't like Nokia's choice of font. =(

Put's me off their UI too to be honest...

[MarkAnderson Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:37PM]

Eh... be interesting to see what comes out.

I've just dropped my Vodafone contract to a £20, 30 day contract without a phone upgrade because there's nothing they have that appeals to me - the iPhone 3GS will be outdated five months after it comes out on Voda, the N900 feels too much like a prototype, I don't text enough to justify a Bold or an E72 and the X6 is simply a tarted up 5800.

What's a man to do?

[Veon Posted Dec 21st 2009 5:34PM]

@MarkAnderson For what it's worth, I have a N900 for a little over a week now and I'm definitely not getting that prototype vibe that I kept reading about online. The UI is super sweet and user friendly (which is a good thing since I'm not really a power-user like most of the people who seem to be buying it). If you're still unsure then I'd recommend waiting for the "imminent" firmware upgrade to see if it puts some of your doubts to rest.

[fikhl Posted Dec 22nd 2009 11:13AM]

@MarkAnderson
I'll be waiting to see what Nokia will bring in 2010 before considering any new phones, as they said they're going to revamp S60 UI, not that I don't like the way it is now, I want something new to play with! And from what I saw it'll be an exciting update. Looking forward to it!

And I totally agree with you on the X6, I REALLY like it but I can't justify paying for a new phone that pretty much duplicates what my now-old 5800 does, It's just sexier btw! :)

[CowBell Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:43PM]

Not that it matters, Nilay, but while I troll half-hourly for a Sprint/Verizon Passion or iPhone release...

Misión cumplida, Nokia: has conseguido atraer nuestra curiosidad.

Mission accomplished, Nokia: you have managed to attract our curiosity.

Now, while I like to think of myself as a geek, would someone kindly point me to a super dumbed down version of safely porting 2.1 to my Sprint Hero?

[Johnny Tremaine Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:47PM]

Yeah, Nokia has that huge market share (built on the Symbian S40 dumbphones for developing nations and low income folks). That's fine and an okay, but a boring and shrinking business.

Nokia will eventually be undercut in dumb phones, if they haven't been already, by the Asian manufacturers like LG and Samsung.

The real innovation,glitz and **growth** lies with smartphones, specifically Android OS phones, RIM Blackberries and iPhones (originally a glorified feature phone, but with the app store, yep, now it's a smart phone).

[MarkAnderson Posted Dec 21st 2009 4:59PM]

@(Unverified)

FFS will you do some research?

Nokia's smartphone share is S60 based, not S40 and, as mentioned, still kicks the shit out of everyone else. The suggestion that the future lies with Android, Apple and RIM is nice but utterly unfounded.

Nokia has work to do but anyone who thinks that Symbian^2 to^4 and Maemo won't at least hold if not recapture share over the next few years is insane because the numbers just don't run any other way - don't compare increased market share due to the expansion of the US smartphone market to what happens outwith the US.

[fontendet Posted Dec 21st 2009 5:18PM]

Boo for Nokia.
How could you clone and steal Apple technologies?
What a shame.
bless the iPhone.

[fontendet Posted Dec 21st 2009 5:19PM]

Is this some kind of sex-orgy-party?
How to join there?

[rjzak Posted Dec 21st 2009 6:53PM]

I want more Maemo!

[Eli superflush Posted Dec 21st 2009 6:55PM]

Ha, I love how we're using Espoo as a metonym for Nokia now. That is great.

[ShotWithAnSLR Posted Dec 21st 2009 7:16PM]

They can hold all the events they want, it still doesn't change the fact that their customer care practices leave you calling the BBB. I have had my N900 for almost a full month and I can't get them to replace the unit. It arrived with a dead pixel, the headset that came with the phone works on every device but the N900. I have numerous emails and calls into their customer care team and feel that they just keep ignoring me. Nokia has by far the worst customer care and customer relations I have ever dealt with (this includes Dell, HP). It is truly unfortunate to have a phone like ths and have the unaddressed problems that I have had (for the moment I would advise others to stay away from Nokia and grab an HTC device instead. I am still waiting for a response from Nokia from my last email sent 4 days ago).