S60 Open to new features

When I first started playing with Share Online 3.0 last week, I picked up on something that I felt was important--something I didn't see emphasized all that much. Quoting myself:

Now instead of simply uploading photos, you now have the ability to participate in the social aspects surrounding those photos. It, in a sense, extends the “social” aspects of Share on Ovi and Flickr directly to your mobile handset in a way that I find compelling.

Whether you realize it or not, there is a kind of "social network" around Flickr and Share on Ovi (previously Twango). People see cool media on these services and comment on them. You could always do that from a mobile before, but now you have a much nicer way to do it with Share Online 3.0. It's more integrated. The feeds can automatically update. You get notification of new pictures and comments on the standby screen.

Now you might say that "easy access to comments" is not a big deal. My question is: how is this any different from Jaiku or Twitter, really? If people are posting pictures throughout the day, getting periodic updates, and sending comments back and forth, isn't this similar to the microbloging services?

I get the sense that much, much more is coming with Share Online and Shae on Ovi. I don't have any inside knowledge here, so this is just my guess. What do you think?

While I was fairly silent here on the introduction of a certain phone by a certain company based in Cupertino, California, I will comment on the news that a certain GPS manufacturer is incorporating mobile phone functionality into their GPS units. The end result: the nüvifone, which initiallysome compared to that other phone.

There are still lots of unanswered questions about this device. For the purposes of this discussion, my main question is: where will the device be sold? Will it be sold along side conventional GPSes with an unlocked GSM radio, or will it be sold with the mobile phones? Maybe both?

No matter how it's sold, I view it as validation of Nokia's strategy to build GPS functionality into mobile phones. A strategy taken a step further by the introduction of four different GPS-enabled phones at Mobile World Congress and the introduction of Nokia Maps 2.0.

A connected GPS is more valuable than one that is not. A GPS that is with you is more valuable than one that might only be in the car. By giving the GPS a connection to the mobile network (and WiFi), you now have the ability to augment it with real time information, such as traffic data, road closures, or even newer maps.

That's just the stuff we can think of today. Put a GPS into a device with an open platform like S60, and who knows what we'll end up with in the not-to-distant future.