Nokia Claims to Be Halfway to a True Open Web 2.0 Device
27 October 2007Nokia’s development of its open Internet business model is accelerating rapidly, and the latest moves came last week, with the release of the newest model in its important Internet Tablet non-cellular range, and a partnership with Devicescape for automatic hotspot connection functionality.
Both these show Nokia throwing off its cellular-only, walled garden roots with increasing alacrity, to embrace the open access, multi-network future and ensure it takes a leading role in the mobile Internet.
The Finnish company last week unveiled the N810 Internet Tablet, whose main advance is in context awareness, allowing users to connect with contacts based on their current location and availability. This fits with key aspects of the Nokia Internet services strategy, such as a heavy focus on location, which drove the vendor to pay a premium price to acquire Navteq earlier this month.
The N810 runs Linux, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and comes with a full QWERTY keyboard with a sliding screen and a Mozilla-based browser. Other features include the Adobe Flash 9 plug-in, a 4.13-inch screen, and support for instant messaging, mobile email, and VoIP. It also has an integrated GPS receiver with a built-in maps application.
Significantly, given that the open Internet strategy is most vital in the US in the short term, the 810 will ship first in the US, next month, breaking the Nokia norm of launching first in Western Europe and East Asia. Bill Plummer, head of Nokia’s multimedia business unit for North America, said the company is seeing progress in US take-up. “The same adoption curve we’ve seen in the fixed Internet for Web 2.0 activity - which is probably the steepest we’ve seen in any kind of Internet activity - is now happening around converged and connected devices,” he commented in an interview.
Anssi Vanjoki, head of Nokia’s multimedia business unit, which houses the N Series, called the N810 the “third milestone in a five-phase journey toward a fully connected, mobile Web 2.0 computer.” The first two steps were the N770 and N800 tablets, but the N810 is the first such device targeted at mainstream consumers “beyond the geeks,” as Vanjoki put it, adding, “This is an important product in defining what the context-sensitive Web can actually be.”
Also enhancing its credentials as a provider of Web 2.0 context aware services, Nokia plans to bundle software from Devicescape on its E and N Series devices to support automatic login to Wi-Fi hotspots. Cellphone makers have traditionally regarded such facilities with suspicion, as they promise to make Wi-Fi as seamless as cellular network connections, so this is another indication of Nokia’s wholehearted embrace of the open model.
The software, which is already available for download on the Devicescape site, can get devices online instantly, using user names and passwords stored on the site. The software is free to use - Devicescape plans to get revenue from device manufacturers who bundle it, and at 10% revenue share from Wi-Fi service providers who get traffic that would otherwise have not reached them. The software can also be used by subscribers to manage a list of people who are given access to their network without a WPA key.
Also Boingo Wireless said that its Wi-Fi connectivity program is now available on select Nokia devices, including the N810. Boingo Mobile automatically connects to the company’s worldwide network of Wi-Fi hotspots, and this function will be available to users of the relevant Nokia phones for $7.95 a month.
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