Nokia prepares for smartphone 'fightback'

telecompaper [ ] 2010-07-05

Nokia prepares for smartphone 'fightback'

Nokai's new head of Mobile Solutions, Anssi Vanjoki, has posted a rallying cry for the company to win back its top position in smartphones. Vanjoki started on 1 July as head of the company's smartphones and mobile computers division. In a posting on the Nokia blog entitled 'the fightback starts now', Vanjoki said the group will be working on "advancing current projects and working to simplify the way we work in order to deliver products and services faster, and with a laser focus on quality". Current projects include the upcoming N8 smartphone, the first Symbian^3 phone from Nokia, which the executive termed an "entertainment powerhouse". In addition, he confirmed plans plan to deliver later this year the first device based on the MeeGo Linux platform developed with Intel. Vanjoki also denied rumours that Nokia may develop smartphones based on the Android operating system, confirming the group will focus on Symbian and Meego only. He also hinted that future Nseries phones running Symbian^4 are a "very strong possibility". Building out the Symbian base will rely on the existing two-fifths of smartphone users with a Symbian device, offering them a "smartphone that is familiar, packed with features", Vanjoki said. The N8 preserves "the best and most familiar parts of Symbian, making it effortless for the largest population of smartphone users to upgrade". At the same time, he admitted that Nokia now finds itself in a challenger's position, giving the company a "fight on [its] hands".