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Nokia has a WebGL version of their web maps which has a Google Earth like functionality to it. While they don't label many places initially the search seems to recognise names of towns which are then labelled on the map and there are things like 3D buildings in certain locations (e.g. London). The regular Nokia Maps offers a more complete solution at the moment but it's surprising to see a web mapping solution that isn't Bing or Google especially using new web technologies (to the best of my knowledge Google are the only other ones using WebGL to serve up their maps).

Nokia has a WebGL version of their web maps which has a Google Earth like functionality to it. While they don't label many places initially the search seems to recognise names of towns which are then labelled on the map and there are things like 3D buildings in certain locations (e.g. London). The regular Nokia Maps offers a more complete solution at the moment but it's surprising to see a web mapping solution that isn't Bing or Google especially using new web technologies (to the best of my knowledge Google are the only other ones using WebGL to serve up their maps).

Hi Nokia has not suspended our free developer program, we ADDED to it: the Premium Developer Program (PDP) providing ~$1500 value for $99 (US). We have also been investing in other areas for Developers. I suggest checking out : http://www.developer.nokia.com/ for more information. Ping us, if you have questions - Thanks, Richard @richardkerris

For now, Nokia is downsizing and cost cutting big time. Their credit has been rated to junk and the company is in the red. They're trying to minimize all costs while the transition to WP is underway

Yeah, just like SGI minimized all costs while transitioning to Windows NT. Selling your soul to MS has worked amazingly well for companies in the past.

For now, Nokia is downsizing and cost cutting big time. Their credit has been rated to junk and the company is in the red. They're trying to minimize all costs while the transition to WP is underway to avoid borrowing any money and slowly burning through their cash reservers instead. So it aligns very well with the big picture to cut all programs that are not part of their core business right now.

Should Windows Phone really fail, they can always buy out Jolla or some of the other startup companies by ex-Nokia employees.

Includes: "...One year of Windows Phone Developer Center membership. A $99 (USD) retail value..." It says here

So this makes Nokia a rip-off merchant how exactly? MSFT maybe but they're only charging the going rate

Nokia.

You can use Nokia maps on your device, or on an iOS device for that matter: http://m.maps.nokia.com/ Besides there's the http://www.openstreetmap.org/ project and it's many (also offline) navigation applications.

http://maps3d.svc.nokia.com/webgl/index.html

'cause, the quality doesn't seem up to that described in the article - I'd kind of assumed it was calculated from multiple angles from overhead plane flights.

Just compared the map quality for remote villages in the biggest country of the world. Google's images for the satellite view are better. The classic map is OK. The names and even the train stops are shown, unlike in Google. The German map. Is also comparable to the one from Google. I would say that the 3D failed for me, becasue it kept saying that I need the correct browser, which I was already using. Conclusion, better than the maps from Yahoo, but not as good as the maps from Goggle. Page Layout and speed is excellent in Europe. Go try: http://maps.nokia.com/

Except Nokia already has this, and their 3D version reportedly doesn't have anywhere near this range of issues.

All I have to say is think again...

Nokia's take on Hoover Dam

Worse 3D rendering than Apple or Google, and the imagery data is far older (before the bridge was completed!).

It also appears to have fewer cities rendered in 3D, Denver for example seems to have no 3D data.

Now that the Apple Haters have opened this can of worms, prepare to find that solutions you thought were pretty good are in fact every bit as sucky in their own unique ways.

There's nothing wrong with competition. What people want is quality competition, though. The kind of thing why people went all meh on WP7, for example.

Also, Google is not the only player in town already. There's also Navteq, which Nokia now owns, which has pretty decent maps (see for yourself). And they make good use of it in their devices - right now Nokia makes the only smartphones (so far as I know) where the stock maps app lets you preload maps for any region without any limits to use offline, and also provides offline navigation on those preloaded maps.

Seriously? Take a look for yourself: http://swipe.nokia.com/features/

Features, shmeatures. I programmed the poor thing, and I still think it was a failure. It was destined to be half-baked even before the axe fell.

There's a reason the N9 with MeeGo outsold their first batches of WP7 phones, despite its lack of marketing and limited availability.

There are no trustworthy data confirming this.

There's no "cheap pen-tile" when you're talking about a 720p screen that's 4.5" wide. Once the pixels are too small to be seen anyway, there's little wrong with the pentile arrangement. For an OLED display, it keeps the display 20% lower power and 20% cooler, which has traditionally been a problem with OLED -- overheating shortens display life.

Of course, Nokia's OLED phones are RGB, like Samsung's old Galaxy SII, which isn't much of a problem when you have a gigantic screen and low resolution. The 920's screen went back to LED, because Nokia doesn't have access to higher density OLED technology at present. They have a few tweaks to the tech (dubbed PureView... apparently, all new Nokia technologies will be dubbed Pure-Motion). They claim traditional high density IPS LCDs (I'm sure they mean Apple) are too slow for video (not even slightly a factor on any OLED screen -- the LEDs switch in nanoseconds), so they're using a high voltage spike (and, of course, more power) to deliver a claimed 7ms response (fast enough for video, yes) versus a claimed 28ms response for an unnamed "typical" display. They also have higher output LED backlights, which they claim will make their device more readable than the unnamed "typical" display (as are all OLEDs) in bright sunlight. No comment given on what all this does to battery life, particularly since the display, LCD or OLED, is generally the place all your power goes on a smartphone.

They're also claiming the touchscreen can be operated with fingernails or even gloves. To me, that's pretty interesting... I have thick guitar-generated calluses on my left hand, which the Galaxy Nexus pretty much ignores. So I can only touch-screen with my right hand. Not a biggie, but something I'd look for (in Android, of course) if it was actually available. And that's the one reason I'll track down a 920 at some point and play with it... like to see if that's real or not.

They put out a whitepaper on this stuff... kind of a marketing thing, but with a little meat here and there: http://i.nokia.com/blob/view/-/1824216/data/2/-/PuremotionHD.pdf
Anyway, Nokia was nice enough to put out a whitepaper on this stuff. Pretty much marketing-oriented, but it does dig in a bit.

Seriously? Take a look for yourself: http://swipe.nokia.com/features/

That must be the first you actually see what MeeGo is like, because apparently you still think they use a "desktop paradigm". They were innovating, but some people at the top apparently were too blind to recognize it, or (more likely) simply stubbornly unwilling to admit it.

There's a reason the N9 with MeeGo outsold their first batches of WP7 phones, despite its lack of marketing and limited availability.

Except that the Lumia 920 has 32 GB of storage on board. The summary is very confusing. It compares it to the 820 which has an SD card slot and only has 8GB of storage, but fails to mention how much storage the Lumia 920 has. I would hope that the 810 would have room for an SD card, being that it only has 8 GB of storage. But when the 920 has 32 GB available in the phone already, there is less of a need to add more storage. Also to note is that the battery is not removable thereby eliminating the obvious place for the SD card slot which is usually underneath the battery cover.

http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/Device_specifications/Lumia_920/

Looking at Nokia's official stat-sheet, I don't see any mention of a Micro-SD card, although it does have the memory at a much more usable 32 GB of internal storage.

Which summarizes my problem with the rulings in this case: it very much doesn't seem to be about any underlying innovative technology i.e. unique algorithms, but rather just the "look and feel" of iOS devices. It's about completely nebulous user interface elements, which involve no actual improvement in our tools or techniques to create - a rounded or square button is literally a matter of preference.

If these are just simply user preference of no importance then why did Samsung so aggressively copy them instead of of sticking with the direction they had been going in? Why were they moving the Bada UI towards Android? If Apple did nothing of value then why did Apple's approach cause everyone to start doing the same things?

And if you are going to answer its the only way to do things let me point you to an excellent alternative: http://swipe.nokia.com/

Because it's a matter of user preference. It's an item of fashion practically and it did not involve substantial new technology to implement. Note the original iPhone designs were very rounded, but the newer models have started to square things off again. That's part of a larger trend back towards soft but precise lines in UI design, because people are getting sick of "rounded everything".

It is not sufficiently unique that Apple should be granted legal protection on the styling of basic user interface elements. There is precisely no public interest in allowing them to have that protection - which is what the patent system is all about. It also leads to stupid places and oppresses innovation because minor graphical details (which are important, but not standalone innovations) become grounds for litigation - which - make no mistake, Apple will use against everyone making anything remotely similar.

Consider this case: would you believe Apple should be able to patent to the iOS interface styling, if the iOS interface could have the parameters of those elements altered to taste by the user? For example if you could adjust the springiness of the menu scrolling, or the rounding applied to the buttons, or turn change the speed of the slide transitions between windows?

Which summarizes my problem with the rulings in this case: it very much doesn't seem to be about any underlying innovative technology i.e. unique algorithms, but rather just the "look and feel" of iOS devices. It's about completely nebulous user interface elements, which involve no actual improvement in our tools or techniques to create - a rounded or square button is literally a matter of preference.

If these are just simply user preference of no importance then why did Samsung so aggressively copy them instead of of sticking with the direction they had been going in? Why were they moving the Bada UI towards Android? If Apple did nothing of value then why did Apple's approach cause everyone to start doing the same things?

And if you are going to answer its the only way to do things let me point you to an excellent alternative: http://swipe.nokia.com/

Isn't their Qt tablet interface Plasma Active?

Plasma Activie is KDE. You were discussing QT so I was giving a QT non-KDE. Yes MeeGo is for phones and tablets. You can see the interface yourself on a nice demo: http://swipe.nokia.com/

BTW MeeGo is still alive Jolla is going to release new MeeGo devices.

'It' might not have GPS, but other Series40 phones do/did :

http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/Device_specifications/?filter1=s40&filter2=gps

I am surprised not to have read this is prior comments, but Nokia gives away a (primarily Windows) desktop software environment called Nokia Suite, of which the Asha 305 seems to be a full-featured client device. I mean c'mon, when you can enter contact info into your PC and everything (appointments, etc.) sync with your tiny phone, that's like a smart phone, isn't?

https://www.nokia.com/ph-en/support/product/305
https://www.nokia.com/global/support/nokia-pc-suite-specifications/?view=detail

The latest Nokia Suite beta supports the Linux Nokia N9 too, (known only because I pay attention since I am pleased to own an N9).

I am surprised not to have read this is prior comments, but Nokia gives away a (primarily Windows) desktop software environment called Nokia Suite, of which the Asha 305 seems to be a full-featured client device. I mean c'mon, when you can enter contact info into your PC and everything (appointments, etc.) sync with your tiny phone, that's like a smart phone, isn't?

https://www.nokia.com/ph-en/support/product/305
https://www.nokia.com/global/support/nokia-pc-suite-specifications/?view=detail

The latest Nokia Suite beta supports the Linux Nokia N9 too, (known only because I pay attention since I am pleased to own an N9).

You can see the interface for MeeGo: http://swipe.nokia.com/

As for the agreement having legal weight. Yes. Those are signed submitted documents to a court. They have weight. What's nice is that Tizen is based on MeeGo + Bada + Android. So there is a possible successor to Android (i.e. app compatible) which has an interface which isn't based on Apple's design even by their own admission.

swipe to unlock

MeeGo is double press to unlock

overscroll

AFAIK Apple isn't claiming overscroll but overscroll bounce. Motorola agrees they infringed on this, took it out and the debate is over how much the penalty should be (Apple wants $2.05 per device Motorola thinks it should be pennies). But no, MeeGo doesn't have overscroll bounce.

>Nokia was profitable!

True, like RIM was profitable last quarter.

Well; yes. Are you trying to suggest RIM would be better off if it was making a $800M loss every quarter rather than a modest profit?

>Nokia had a huge cash mountain (> 5Billion Dollars!!)

That doesn't mean anything really, without data on debt, assets, bonds etc.

Nokia is not some secret entity. It is a public listed company which reports it's earnings and assets to shareholders on a quarterly basis. You can find them directly linked from the front page of www.nokia.com That number takes into account debt, assets, bonds and a whole bunch more.

Symbian had to be dropped like a hot potato to save the company. The Nokia execs working on Symbian did everything they can to kill Meego/Maemo for their personal benefit thus making Nokia suffer hugely even before Elop was hired.

Resource investment in Symbian could quite reasonably be stopped, or at least scaled massively back. Just as Eliop proved he could do with Meltimi; this should have been done silently and without further comment. Symbian phones should have been sold for as long as they kept selling. The Osborne effect and the Ratner effects were well known before the "Eliop Effect" and were something every competent CEO knows to avoid. This would have bought Nokia another two years of profits. What they do with those two years is another question, but throwing them away needlessly was negligant bordering on criminal.

We agree that the N9 is a really cool phone with potential and that the Lumia was a phone that customers hate. I also will stipulate that with a promotional campaign Nokia could have sold 10m of the N9 easily. The question is all about how cheaply could they make 100m of them. Nokia seems to be building the Lumia 900 at about $450 each. I have no idea who they are spending that much given that this is over what Apple spends to build the iPhone 4S with considerably better hardware specs. But that seems to be the case.

If say $20b-22b would have gotten 100m of these made then the N9 is a the killer phone and the Symbian -> MeeGo strategy would have worked. If on the other hand this phone costs $40b-45b to make 100m then it wasn't viable. At that price the phone has to compete with the high end Androids, best Blackberry, and iPhone 4 and there the hardware specs to say nothing of the software just aren't on par. This really is the crucial question as to whether Elop had a "burning platform" or not. Heck at $250 my daughter's birthday present would be an N9, and this is coming from a 11 year Apple user who agrees with Elop, living in America, which is Nokia's weakest major market.

Jolla will have a good business at Nokia expense as a result.

Jolia can afford to sell a niche phone. Nokia can't the overhead is totally different. In Jolia moves 3m or 5m phones they will be thrilled and thrive while Nokia would go bankrupt.

Share value is not a metric of how successful a company is, but rather a metric on how willing others are to bet on the success of the company. You can be the most successful company in the world and have a zero share price; or the worst in the world and have a very high share price.

I agree share value isn't a great metric for viewing how successful a company is. It is however a useful metric for determining what the board thinks of the share value. If the stock is way below what the board thinks the company is worth they are going to be shopping for a buyer or taking the company private. If it is way over, the board is going to engage in equity financing. More or less the board of Nokia seems to agree with Elop's assessment of the situation, that there was no viable internal option. You can see this in the 2010 report: http://i.nokia.com/blob/view/-/263824/data/1/-/Request-Nokia-in-2010-pdf.pdf

For example 2008 to 2009 sales dropped 19% and profits decreased 76%. The board's analysis was

Our sales and profitability have been, and continue to be, driven to significant extent by our success in the traditional mobile device market. Increasingly, however, our sales and profitability depend on our success in the market for con- verged mobile devices. Our failure to effectively, timely and profitably adapt our business and operations to the developing requirements of the converged mobile device market could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, particularly our profitability, and our financial condition.

That wasn't Elop and that wasn't the burning platform memo. By 3rd quarter 2010 the board had made up their mind that the MeeGo strategy wasn't viable. This wasn't one guy. If they were wrong why where they so wrong?

No Electricity AND No coverage! yet Kenyans[1] in those out ward places still use mobile phones, and are better off with them.

****

First, the logistics. The farmers send a boy to the nearest city with electricity and coverage, on a bicycle carrying all their cellphones. He leaves them to charge at one of the various charges stations that have popped up there, which ask for a few cents per charge.

Then the boy can reply to any SMS as per instruction. Also, he carries out M-Pesa[2] transactions and reloads them on their behalf.

He comes back at the end of the day, cellphones charged and loaded, and full of new SMS, which the farmers can read and create replies for.

And then it's a fresh new day, and boy sets off again....

****

Secondly, the reasons. Basically, the cellphone has become combination of a telegram and wallet.

The SMS acts as a telegram, farmer can communicate with market dealers in big cities far more quickly and easily, then they could have if they had to rely on older means, which meant trudging all the over multiple forms of transportation, often just for a minor piece of information.

The other is the mobile wallet. While you folk in the west have been quibbling over how to slice the pie (and we in the east are just to damn stupid to care) Africans just said "Fuck this!", went ahead and created a true, and *simple* mobile wallet solution. Now farmers can send and receive money far more quickly and easily.

The best part of the article[2]:

The growth of the service forced formal banking institutions to take note of the new venture. In December 2008, a group of banks reportedly lobbied the Kenyan finance minister to audit M-Pesa, in an effort to at least slow the growth of the service. This ploy failed, as the audit found that the service was robust.[15]

Ha! In your face suckers! Now try charging 150 to send a 100! (true story, banks here ask a minimum 150 for a bank draft :( )

****

So, in reply to the common refrain of "WAHHH NO ELECTRICITY", I humbly propose that where there is a will, there is a way to find that power source.

I am under no presumption that this is *not* merely and election ploy, or that there won't be massive corruption.

However, if even if one poor soul gets a dumbphone, and that phone saves him the regular commute to a bigger city just to hear "SEND 150 CRATES BY TUESDAY", I think that would a be a job well done

****

If you wish to know more please read this article and watch the videos there in:

http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/02/02/eyes-on-africa-videos-12/

http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/02/03/eyes-on-africa-videos-22/

Lest I be accused of being a Nokia shill, I merely linking because this happens to be a nice collective resource on this issue; you can benefit just as well on a Samsung dumb phone.

Also, IIRC, Chinese crap-phones were selling by the bucket-loads there, since if all you need them is for SMS, they are very cost affective.

****
****

[1]:Not limited to Kenyans of course, this is becoming popular all over Africa and other regions with poor communication.

[2]: "a mobile-phone based money transfer service"; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Pesa

No Electricity AND No coverage! yet Kenyans[1] in those out ward places still use mobile phones, and are better off with them.

****

First, the logistics. The farmers send a boy to the nearest city with electricity and coverage, on a bicycle carrying all their cellphones. He leaves them to charge at one of the various charges stations that have popped up there, which ask for a few cents per charge.

Then the boy can reply to any SMS as per instruction. Also, he carries out M-Pesa[2] transactions and reloads them on their behalf.

He comes back at the end of the day, cellphones charged and loaded, and full of new SMS, which the farmers can read and create replies for.

And then it's a fresh new day, and boy sets off again....

****

Secondly, the reasons. Basically, the cellphone has become combination of a telegram and wallet.

The SMS acts as a telegram, farmer can communicate with market dealers in big cities far more quickly and easily, then they could have if they had to rely on older means, which meant trudging all the over multiple forms of transportation, often just for a minor piece of information.

The other is the mobile wallet. While you folk in the west have been quibbling over how to slice the pie (and we in the east are just to damn stupid to care) Africans just said "Fuck this!", went ahead and created a true, and *simple* mobile wallet solution. Now farmers can send and receive money far more quickly and easily.

The best part of the article[2]:

The growth of the service forced formal banking institutions to take note of the new venture. In December 2008, a group of banks reportedly lobbied the Kenyan finance minister to audit M-Pesa, in an effort to at least slow the growth of the service. This ploy failed, as the audit found that the service was robust.[15]

Ha! In your face suckers! Now try charging 150 to send a 100! (true story, banks here ask a minimum 150 for a bank draft :( )

****

So, in reply to the common refrain of "WAHHH NO ELECTRICITY", I humbly propose that where there is a will, there is a way to find that power source.

I am under no presumption that this is *not* merely and election ploy, or that there won't be massive corruption.

However, if even if one poor soul gets a dumbphone, and that phone saves him the regular commute to a bigger city just to hear "SEND 150 CRATES BY TUESDAY", I think that would a be a job well done

****

If you wish to know more please read this article and watch the videos there in:

http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/02/02/eyes-on-africa-videos-12/

http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/02/03/eyes-on-africa-videos-22/

Lest I be accused of being a Nokia shill, I merely linking because this happens to be a nice collective resource on this issue; you can benefit just as well on a Samsung dumb phone.

Also, IIRC, Chinese crap-phones were selling by the bucket-loads there, since if all you need them is for SMS, they are very cost affective.

****
****

[1]:Not limited to Kenyans of course, this is becoming popular all over Africa and other regions with poor communication.

[2]: "a mobile-phone based money transfer service"; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Pesa

I got it from an article named Nokia prepared to sell patents if price right: CFO. That refers to the first quarter 2012 report. I found this line in the Nokia q1 2012 interim report: "We estimate that our current annual IPR royalty income run-rate is approximately EUR 0.5 billion."

they were making it , but obviously no-one knows how much support it'll get in the future.

You can keep most of your stuff in C++, most of the games on my Android are written using the NDK (so ignore the BS about Java being the best platform for android, its just the simplest). I understand you can call all your C++ code from objective-C so you only really need that for the UI if you structure your code well.

This is an imperfect solution which assumes that redrawing inside the window (which is the OpenGL texture) is done quickly enough. It also splits the system into two parts: the hardware-accelerated window compositing part and the unaccelerated drawing part.

More sophisticated solutions exist. Examples:
Using distance fields in OpenGL shaders for font rendering
Using textures for anti-aliased vector graphics rendering
Spline rendering in the GPU for non-affine vector graphics rendering (including text)

Such techniques assume the presence of a GPU. Forget about abstracting that away with a painter-based architecture. The fundamental problem is that the painter acts at a level that is too low. This is the reason for the higher-level QML scenegraph. As for the missing C++ bindings, thats debatable, but if some appear one day, expect a high level API. Nothing else makes sense.

It should be noted that the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries do something very similar with the combination of Evas and Edje.

http://discussions.nokia.com/t5/Nokia-with-Windows-Phone/How-to-close-an-application-in-Nokia-Lumia-800/td-p/1396035

They had the dominant smartphone OS AND the dominant dumbphone OS. They had an experimental high end, Linux-based OS that was almost ready to retake the top spot in mindshare. They had the best development tools, which would allow one to target those 3 OSs simultaneously. And they were developing this new Linux-based dumbphone OS that would be created around those tools.

Now they have Windows Phone.

Amazing to think that was little more than a year ago.

This is re-writing history. One year ago Nokia was loosing scaringly fast on all fronts, to iPhone and Android, and this was why Kallasvuo had to step down as CEO. The last 3 years before Elop's appointment Nokia lost 70% of it's market value (!) due to this trend.This is their 5-year stock trend.

They had the dominant smartphone OS AND the dominant dumbphone OS. They had an experimental high end, Linux-based OS that was almost ready to retake the top spot in mindshare. They had the best development tools, which would allow one to target those 3 OSs simultaneously. And they were developing this new Linux-based dumbphone OS that would be created around those tools.

Now they have Windows Phone.

Amazing to think that was little more than a year ago.

They had the dominant smartphone OS AND the dominant dumbphone OS. They had an experimental high end, Linux-based OS that was almost ready to retake the top spot in mindshare. They had the best development tools, which would allow one to target those 3 OSs simultaneously. And they were developing this new Linux-based dumbphone OS that would be created around those tools.

Now they have Windows Phone.

Really, REALLY, REALLY makes you wonder what kind of deal Microsoft has with Elop personally, doesn't it?

They had the dominant smartphone OS AND the dominant dumbphone OS. They had an experimental high end, Linux-based OS that was almost ready to retake the top spot in mindshare. They had the best development tools, which would allow one to target those 3 OSs simultaneously. And they were developing this new Linux-based dumbphone OS that would be created around those tools.

Now they have Windows Phone.

Where are the higher level frameworks in QT? Perhaps they are in Mer, but I could find no reference for that, which indicates there's not much Mer there.

All of the mobile-specific stuff is going into Qt Mobility. Anything missing will undoubtedly need to be added, I suspect that the team in question is aware of that.

Mobile programming these days is a LOT more than just being able to draw or do simple animations or being able to hit SQLLite.

No shit. Do keep in mind that this is the same team that developed the N9, I'm pretty sure they're aware of what deficiencies exist in the available APIs.

That would imply I ever had any "empty implications", whatever the hell that means.

Your frequent "proclamations" or unsupported statements for or against things that, unless prompted, you never give reference to or back up. It's a very general thing that you have a habit of doing here on Slashdot.

Is that something like when you are not a mobile developer and you cast aspirations of those who are when they try to tell you how things really work?

No, I just find it highly annoying when people think others are supposed to just blindly believe what they say.

Yes, if they actually wanted to have meaning in the market instead of chasing their tails. Instead the prediction of their demise is sadly all too certain to make.

And jumping on board with a platform that is being shoveled out the door by HP, with no future development in sight, is a smart move to make? Who knows, they may adopt some of what's in webOS, maybe merge it into Qt. We don't have visibility into much more than what's been pointed out today. Odd that, given the sparse info, you're already making proclamations of their doom.

They could have folded some aspects of MeeGo into the underlying WebOS infrastructure, but Qt 5 is ANCIENT compared to modern mobile OS's. They will get nowhere with this little vanity project, which makes me sad indeed given the effort they will undoubtedly sink into it. I despise wasted potential.

Then go back to your iOS development and let everyone else try to ensure there are more options than just Apple/Google, and maybe enjoy a niche. Not everyone needs to take on the two beasts out of the gate or serve every possible customer, they just need to be profitable.

Since you're so familiar with the details, care explaining how?

Ok, to start with, simply compare at a high level the modules/frameworks each SDK offers:

QT 4.7 modules

Compared with WebOS

Where are the higher level frameworks in QT? Perhaps they are in Mer, but I could find no reference for that, which indicates there's not much Mer there.

If you want to talk about competing with the other existing mobile OS'es, just look for anything remotely like AVFoundation in IOS for control over data from cameras or other media...

Mobile programming these days is a LOT more than just being able to draw or do simple animations or being able to hit SQLLite.

Or is this yet another empty implication?

That would imply I ever had any "empty implications", whatever the hell that means.

Is that something like when you are not a mobile developer and you cast aspirations of those who are when they try to tell you how things really work?

So they should have gone with an OS they were totally unfamiliar with

Yes, if they actually wanted to have meaning in the market instead of chasing their tails. Instead the prediction of their demise is sadly all too certain to make.

They could have folded some aspects of MeeGo into the underlying WebOS infrastructure, but Qt 5 is ANCIENT compared to modern mobile OS's. They will get nowhere with this little vanity project, which makes me sad indeed given the effort they will undoubtedly sink into it. I despise wasted potential.

Elop never fails to disappoint. Elop's strategy never fails to disappoint.

The Elop era reminds of the Spindler/Amelio era of Apple, and you should have seent he stock price and value of Apple at the time. Look up Michael Spindler or Gil Ameilo in wikipedia, as a way to 'document' the return of Steve Jobs to Apple.

It is easy to take a great company straight into the ground, it has been done many times before. At least history has also shown us clear examples of what is possible under the right leadership and strategy. Exhibit A, Apple corp. and the stock price to proves it.

Hope for Nokia is all I got. Hope for Finland is all I got. And a really nice Nokia N95, N900, and N9 and use them all, all the time, (they all support SIP/VOIP right in the OS so battery life is really good. Some people have extension phones around the house, mine support email, calendars, web-browsing etc. With SIP baked into the OS for great battery life. http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/VoIP_support_in_Nokia_devices.)

If you're looking for headphones for your mobile, I would recommend ditching the wires and going bluetooth. For example: http://www.nokia.com/global/products/accessory/bh-505/

There are cheaper and worse model, and these are probably slightly over your budget (they're around 50 EUR), but you get excellent noise isolation and good sound quality alongside great battery life.

So, just like Nokia's 3D maps? Or are Nokia's maps hand modelled?

Flick the window up and off the screen, and you're telling it to shut down.

You've also just described Harmatton, the linux OS behind the Nokia N9. Check out the 2nd thumbnailed video from the left, on the bottom of this page. FWIW Microsoft paid Nokia a billion dollars to bury this phone and OS so no one can choose it over Nokia's newer WP7 phones, like the Lumia 900 with very similar hardware, albeit with lighter specs. (no front-facing camera, no 64GB option, so you're stuck at 16GB with no expansion on WP7. That sort of thing. Still, you can use it as a hammer to pound nails.

Initially, only countries like Saudi Arabia and South Africa were allowed to sell it through their telcos. But I see Amazon USA has it, so no more need to import it yourself; however you'll never see a US ad campaign to tell you about it. OK, me, I'm like an ad but that's about all you'll hear otherwise. I've got one and now two friends do too, and they really like showing it off, and they aren't geeks at all. One of them is really impressing all the iPhone kids he knows, and then explaining the net-cost of the iPhone after the contract is paid for. And what SIP and companies like 12voip are all about.

You are forced to release your software as GPL if you use the QT sdk tough.

No you aren't. Get your facts straight.

The Qt SDK has an option to be used with LGPL v 2.1 which will allow developers to release proprietary executables without being required to release their source code. Source release is only required if the developers make changes to the Qt SDK itself, which usually shouldn't be an issue. There's also a commercial license available if even this is too onerous.

Not to jump on SpryGuy or anything but I have noticed a bunch of people posting about Windows Phone on here.

It's really not a very interesting OS, what Nokia had previous to the Microsoft "buyout" was: http://swipe.nokia.com/

I do agree we need more competition doing well in the marketplace than Android and iStuff, but can we not get stuck with another propriatary OS that doesn't even allow GPL licensed software to compete?

One of the claims in the suit is about a press release sent out January 26, 2012. Here is the full press release. If you scroll down to the bottom you will see the boilerplate about "forward looking statements". It is at the bottom of every press release.

The next billion use Series 40 (Symbian), not Maemo.

S40 is not Symbian. S40 is dumbphone, not smartphone.

The next billion use Series 40 (Symbian), not Maemo.

Good lord, you're tedious.

They have created mobile OSes quite well, as demonstrated by N9's success despite conspicuously absent marketing.

N9's success? Nokia lost money last year, even with the N9's "success." Their profits have been in free fall since the release of iOS and Android. And despite the fact that they had 5 years, they failed to reverse (or even appreciably slow) that decline.

You would have people believe that but all your arguments for this have been blatant lies or logical fallacies.

Funny, I've provided data directly from Nokia supporting the fact that they've been in a marked decline since 2007. (What happened in 2007 again? Refresh my memory?)

You're the one who's making up fairy tales about the "success" of the N9. Pro tip: losing money isn't a recipe for success. Nokia is taking a "bet the company" risk, and it's pretty much the only one that will halt their slide into irrelevancy in the phone market. If it pays off, they'll have pulled off a huge turnaround in a highly competitive market. If it doesn't pay off, they'll have lost absolutely nothing they weren't already poised to lose.

Except that nokia was very far away from the "brink"

Yes, in much the same way that a 2-engine plane in a nose-dive from 30,000 feet with 1 of its engines on fire and failing hydraulics is very far away from "crashing."

Look at their financials over the past 5-6 years. 2011 wasn't an anomaly, it was a continuation of a trend - flat or declining revenues, weakening profit margins on those revenues, and simply put, no viable strategy for moving forward.

When you lose a billion euro on net sales of 38.7 billion, and are warning of continuing problems, that 10 billion in cash sitting in your accounts isn't going to last long, and your ability to secure additional funding through stock and bond issues is pretty much non-existent if you can't present a pretty impressive turnaround plan.