Via Digg I just learned that:

Dell, oddly enough, is listening to the many thousands of direct requests its customers made during its big public brainstorm (aka IdeaStorm) not so far back. The result of nearly 70% of participants requesting Linux on Dell machines...

Linux market share in the PC world is something like 2%. You do the math: what kind of bias you get from online feedback?

Note to myself: I must be extra careful when asking and consolidating your feedback to S60 developers around here.

Wow. Ron Liechty just announced that Forum Nokia has launched their developer-focused wiki.

As Stephen told to BusinessWeek, our corporate wikis in Nokia intranet have been remarkably successful. Let's make the Forum Nokia wiki a massive success too.

I admit. When I asked you "Are we witnessing convergence?" I was not being fair. The question was too vague, almost meaningless. But I did it intentionally, because there's one thing that has been bothering me for a long time. That is, when somebody invents a grand new term such as "digital convergence" or "Web 2.0" or "4G" or "long tail" or "wisdom of crowds", too many people seem to take it at the face value, and lose their ability to simply observe what is happening out there.

So, I wanted to understand better the so-called "convergence". Is it really happening? If it is, in what ways?

Here are my own, incomplete thoughts.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines: (abridged)

convergence
1 : the act of converging and especially moving toward union or uniformity
2 : the state or property of being convergent
3 : independent development of similar characters
4 : the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole

I think the #4 is the best interpretation here.

Let's examine point by point, are we witnessing convergence:

a) Convergence of distinct technologies into a unified whole

Well, sort of. Yes, we keep integrating new technologies into mobile devices. But are these technologies merging into a unified whole? At the device and software platform level, it looks really promising, but at mobile market level, I doubt it. Some level of fragmentation between different "technology camps" is likely to continue in the mobile world. Of course, I proudly believe that we at Nokia/S60 are the front-runners and the strongest contenders in this race :-)

b) Convergence of distinct industries into a unified whole

Well, sort of. A number of traditionally separate industries (personal computing, media, mobile, consumer electronics, …) are clashing, facilitated by the Internet. But the process is not smooth, and everybody is a little confused. I'll quote Michael Mace again:

What's actually happening is more like they way they make steel: coal, lime, iron ore, and oxygen get fed into a blast furnace and utterly consumed by unearthly fire

c) Convergence of distinct devices into a unified whole

Well, sort of. During the last 5 years I've been working for Nokia, I have seen endless powerpoint shows about ultimate convergence devices, designed to rule the world. But let's look what's really happening:

Who provides the ultimate home entertainment device? Microsoft says that they do. Sony says that they do. Apple says that they do. But then comes along a Nintendo Wii, and everybody loves it.

Who provides the ultimate mobile device? We in Nokia say that we do. All the other phone vendors say that they do. Microsoft says that they do. But then comes along an Apple iPod, and everybody loves it. (side note: remember that it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings)

Ok, I believe that convergent devices will gain market share everywhere. But if somebody tries to tell you that there will be a single device that will rule the world from here and now to eternity, believe it at your peril.

This is how I see the world, my friend. Call it convergence, if you will, but count me out.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

In one corner, we have today's Nokia press release Nokia: "Convergence" on the future of mobility.

"Convergence" isn't just about technologies coming together. It's about a rapidly-consolidating playing field where companies "converge"

In the other corner, we have Michael Mace's blog post Can we please stop talking about convergence?

Markets aren't converging, they're diverging. ... "Convergence" is definitely not the right word for what's happening to markets.

Are the industries converging? ... What's actually happening is more like they way they make steel: coal, lime, iron ore, and oxygen get fed into a blast furnace and utterly consumed by unearthly fire.

Choose your side:

Quote of the day, from Nokia internal blogosphere:

"Social networking" is perhaps just an ugly term for Connecting People

Heh, it seems that our age-old corporate mantra is more timely than ever.

Stephen Johnston has posted an interesting piece, suggesting a revamp - perhaps a radical one - of Nokia/S60 phonebook. Go read the entry and share your thoughts!

Stephen says:

I should probably point out that my position in strategy makes me far removed from the actual tech-heads who build this stuff (and maintain your trusty contacts book in its pristine state) so feel free to be as crazy and ambitious as you like...

Well, I work a bit closer to those tech-heads. If you come up with something interesting, I'll make sure they hear your thoughts :-)

Note: Janne Jalkanen's thoughts about the same topic here

About a month ago, Stefan posted a provocative rant in Ring Nokia: Colors are off on the Nokia N95? Tests show the answer is undoubtedly yes. I looked at the pictures and agreed whole-heartedly. So I forwarded the link to the N95 team, and asked them to check it out. After listening the feedback carefully, they answered confidently that I shouldn't worry; it's just precommercial stuff.

Now, Nokia has started shipping the final products, and there has been a huge improvement in colors. Check the comparison and some example pictures that James Burland has posted in his The Creative Life Blog.

Moral of the story: let's remember that protos are, well, just protos.

Via Ring Nokia

After a period of silence, Ivan Kuznetsov, a colleague of mine from Nokia, is back in S60 related blogosphere. Check his recent posts:
- Do we really have a mobile development platform? (provocative piece!)
- Jaiku - your key to social networking
- N95 - it's what computers have become

Good to have you back!

As a side note: why do many S60 related blogs come and go in waves? I mean, as a whole we are witnessing more and better S60 related blogs, but many individual ones (think Russell Beattie, half of the E-series blogs, S60 Freeware, S60 User Experience, ...) either close down or take a break at some point.

In the age of RSS, of course, this doesn't matter much. If somebody on your RSS list wants to quit, it's ok. And if somebody wants to take a break, it's ok too. As soon as they start writing again, they are immediately noticed by their loyal subscribers.

N95 support pages became available today. Any wild guesses what it could possibly mean?

Update (22 March): Nokia press release answers: Nokia N95 multimedia computer starts shipping

Dean Andrews, the author of "101 Cool Smartphone Techniques", just joined our S60.com blog team with a new blog called Business 2 Go.

Dean works for Nokia, in our Enterprise Solutions group, and his blog will be focused on mobile business:

In Business2GO, I’ll clue you in to phone and software how-to tips and techniques that will help you work smarter from anywhere, make better use of your valuable time, and keep all your devices and PCs in sync. I’ll point you to businesses, organizations, events, and Web links that are delivering cutting edge information and tools to the mobile business person. I’ll pass along everything I learn about traveling light (read: working on the road without a laptop/notebook) with S60, working with more than one phone, and leveraging your phone to find the balance between work time and personal time.

Yay! Subscribed.

Importantly, he wishes this to be a lively forum:

Please join me! If you have a comment, make it. If you have a tip, send it in. If you know of a business, application, or resource that will inform and assist others, tell me about it, and I will pass it on.

Welcome Dean!!

After the long, cold, and dark Finnish winter, sun is finally shining, and it's time to start the jogging season. And just in time for us S60 users, Nokia Research Center has released their wonderful Nokia Sports Tracker application. For free, of course.

Wohoo!!

Now, off you go to buy a GPS module - they are quite cheap now - and try it.

What do you think about the app? As always, drop your thoughts, and I'll make sure the developers hear your feedback directly.

Bonus links:
E-series.org: Some of the best things in life are free - Nokia Sports Tracker application
SymbianV3: Thanks Nokia!!! - Sports Tracker by Nokia

Here's an idea: should we set up a new developer-focused blog under blogs.S60.com?

If so, what should it look like?
- a) What should be the raison d'etre?
- b) What topics should it cover?
- c) Who should write it?
- d) Should it be one group blog covering a wide range of topics, or multiple focused blogs such as Creating Carbide C++?

My thoughts:
- a) constructive 2-way discussions, to make S60 more attractive as a developer environment
- b) everything from tools to runtimes to documentation and developer support
- c) key Nokia/S60 people behind the covered topic areas
- d) either way, I don't mind.

Yeah, I know that Forum Nokia has it's own blogs, and I think they are worth interest. But I still think that there might be room for developer-focused blog(s) under S60.com.

What do you say?

Via Markus Ahonen's post at Creating Carbide C++, here is my dear (and really smart) colleague Håkan Mitts asking feedback directly from developers:

We hear from developers that some APIs might require "too high" capability compared to the functionality of the API. If you think that this is the case for some specific S60 API, pls respond to this thread providing the following information.
a) What API?
b) Why do you think that the capability required to use this API should be relaxed?
c) What in your view would be a reasonable capability for the API?

Great idea, Håkan, to ask for developer feedback openly! You know, I have been hearing some rants about inappropriate API capabilities from developer-bloggers such as Symbiatch. Developers: now it's your time, Håkan is listening!!

Wonderful quote I found today:

"Not enough gets said about the importance of abandoning crap." — Ira Glass

Heh. Made me reconsider a lot of things.

To make this generic observation relevant for this blog: is there some crap that you think should be abandoned from Nokia devices, S60 user interface, or built-in S60 applications?

Via Presentation Zen - which, by the way, I strongly recommend subscribing to.

Thanks for your suggestions for solving the battery-life dilemma.

Now, let's vote :-)

Stephen Johnston has written an insightful post: Presence: a red herring?

Worth reading for Nokia people and 3rd parties who develop presence-related applications or services. What do you think? Go and continue the debate on Stephen's site!

Bonus link: Jaiku, a very interesting presence application. Check it out!

From Jessica Hagy's blog "indexed": Cell phones, for example.

Heh. I love this kind of frankness and philosophical brevity.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the same dilemma:

The battery life sure is a tricky question. N95 is an absolutely marvelous device, and it attracts you use it more than any other device I have used before. Naturally, the more you use it, the faster it runs out of battery.

Some people, including Erkka (in Finnish), have been sharing thoughts about how to improve the situation. What do you think; what would be the best way to improve the situation?

Facts:
- all the wonderful stuff in mobile devices improves exponentially
- battery technology improves slower

Once again, Phil has been busy to organize something nice for you:

I'm writing to announce the very first "An evening with S60" to be held at the Nokia Flagship Store in New York City on March 15th from 6:30pm - 8:30pm (they're closing the store early for us!). It's a very exclusive event just for you readers of the S60 Blogs and S60 enthusiasts.

In practice, this means good food and drinks, meeting interesting people, hearing latest news, playing around with latest gadgets, etc, etc. Be there!

As Phil put it, this will hopefully be the first of many "An evening with S60" events. Please spread the word!

New York hasn't been traditionally the strongest S60 area, but I quickly checked my Google Analytics statistics, and it shows a number of readers on that area too:

Last week, I met Bernard Tyers, the man behind RunningWithBulls.com blog, and we had a really nice chat about blogging, wikis, web communities, and about what Nokia should do with them.

Bernard, who works for Nokia-Siemens Networks, asked a good question: should they also jump on the corporate blogging bandwagon, and if so, how? There are no easy answers, of course, but if you have any ideas, drop a comment here.

Blogs by network guys probably wouldn't attract as many readers as our S60 blogs. I would like to highlight here, however, that you can't measure the importance of a blog by counting the number of readers. I mean, if you have a political blog with just two readers, it might still be quite influential - if those two readers happen to be George W Bush and Vladimir Putin. Same thing with many corporate blogs, I presume.

Symbian-Guru and Symbian-Freak found via HowardForums the YouTube Mobile site that Nokia announced back at 3GSM.

The URL apparently is "m.youtube.com"

Good detective work!

The site, however, seems to be limited to certain device models only. Symbian-Freak says it works at least on N73 and N93, but not (yet?) on N95.

I don't have any insider info to share at this point, but stay tuned...
---
Update: the demo, viewable with any browser, is available here (via Nokia N95 blog)