Well it could, not saying it will, but there is the possibility. Count the threads -
Microsoft would spend those kind of bucks? Heh. Does a bear s…. Of course they would, and they have the $$ to do it. So you can pretty much figure that in adopting the Windows Phone platform, Nokia for all intents has become a subsidiary of Microsoft. It will all be subtle and wink wink. But you can probably bet that over time you will hear less and less from the Qt Trolltech guys. To the point that the code base gets frozen so no more money need be spent on development.
That ladies and gentlemen is when KDE dies. Which is a shame. KDE 4.6 rocks!
Has Art Brodsky lost his grip? His posting over at Public Knowledge has to be one of the lamest lines of defense ever offered as a basis for over turning the Rule of Law. Kindness of Strangers be damned!
Mr Brodsky starts with using the Ides of March reversal technique –
Of course, the story isn’t all that simple, is it? Because the hidden story of Comcast’s glorious victory is that if Comcast were smart, it wouldn’t in the first place have brought the case, which challenged the FCC’s authority over the company’s high-speed Internet service. Some in the telecommunications industry, perhaps even huge companies with three letters in its name, urged (begged?) Comcast not to take the FCC’s ruling to court, because of the possibility that Comcast could actually win and, potentially, win big —which is what happened.
The reason that the Telcos like the arrangement Art is that it extended their LATA boundary relationships into the non regulated digital environment without so much as a legal skirmish. And what’s this dismissive alluding but not naming? Its AT&T, VZ, Sprint. Don’t be so damn coy.
But where is the standing on damages to the industry that Mr. Brodsky intones? He offers two — Depend on the Kindness of Strangers, and Waiting for Godot. In the former case he charges that depending on the big firms for telecommunications advancement has led us on a downward spiral in terms of global competitiveness. There is some truth to that but not the whole truth. For who is the hand maiden leading the spiraling down the drain but the FCC itself. Then in the latter case we have this –
We can’t depend on unelected bureaucrats to deal with topics as essential as broadband, because the result could be “excessive and burdensome regulation” on those humble, hard-working telephone and cable companies who unfairly change the rules without any reason at all.
And to you I say, NO we cannot trust bureaucrats with damn near anything including telecommunications. If for no other reason that the concept of the Lack of Sufficient Knowledge on a continuing basis.
But thru all of Mr. Brodsky’s missive is this gem –
… Practically speaking (even if there is a very slim legal opening), broadband is free from regulation – a nirvana that the telecoms industry might once upon a time have gratefully accepted as its due, but now looks upon it with some trepidation because now the door has swung wide open to a full-scale discussion of bringing Internet broadband access services back under reasonable regulation.
Two counts here. Brodsky’s ox has been gored by this ruling yet now the door has been swung open for reasonable regulation? By what variant of a pharmaceutical does he come to this conclusion? Its an election year fella. The chances of a Democratic Congress taking this up is slim to none. Plus if the tea leaves are right the Republican Congress next year won’t have the cycle time to touch it either. The second is under proper procedure, the FCC being a creature of Congress should make the necessary request for an expansion of its authority by the proper means, not some gerrymandered legal trick with a wink and a nod. But Mr. Brodsky the FCC DOES NOT possess the authority to overstate its intended alloted powers. Or do I assume you are willing to abrogate the rule of law to achieve your statist aims under the color of consumer protection. How Stalinist.
(more…)
Consumers are calling for a boycott of telecom equipment makers Nokia and Siemens after the Wall Street Journal reported that the companies’ joint networking firm sold sophisticated internet surveillance equipment to Iran — a story that the company says is false.Despite the denial, boycotters have written Nokia saying they’ve destroyed their Nokia phones, and are telling friends and family to avoid Nokia products until the company “can make the right ethical choices.”
According to the Journal, a system installed in Iran by Nokia Siemens Networks — a Finland-based joint venture between Nokia and Seimens — provides Iranian authorities with the ability to conduct deep-packet inspection of online communications to monitor the contents and track the source of e-mail, VoIP calls, and posts to social networking sites such as Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. The newspaper also said authorities had the ability to alter content as it intercepted the traffic from a state-owned internet choke point.
Will have to delve into this more. But it brings up a interesting phenomenon. Individuals as using the power of the purse, by not buying or not using products from a company based on their relationships with other entities. It may very well be the Achilles heel of the multinational corporation. With the world becoming more and more interconnected, the ability of persons to act locally for global impact. There are not many Corporations that can afford 1-2 quarters of lost revenue.
Nokia seems to be realizing that the future is not going to be that rosy in the wireless CPE market. They are cutting their losses in third party OEM suppliers –
That decision is, according to iSuppli, enough to make it reassess 2009 predictions for the sector; currently standing at a contraction of 9.9 per cent compared to 2008, when the industry turned over $300.7bn.
For Nokia, however, this means the company is effectively responding to economic realities and is a show of flexibility rather than something to be concerned about – at least until the cuts extend into its own production.
Here is the problem for Nokia and the rest of the legacy labels. Once an overseas OED/OEM firm understands the design and manafacturing process they can enter the market under their own label. They usually do so by selling by brand at 20-30% less than the majors. Once they have a base they slowly move upscale to compete directly with the majors, still at a discount from their product costs.
Its Toyota all over again.
You buy your first Nokia phone. You use it till the battery indicates ‘low’. You scramble looking for the box hoping that the charger is in there. Nope. And therein is the tale —
Selling mobile phones without chargers is an odd idea. But Nokia won’t bundle one with its new N79 Eco phone, part of its aim to become a greener company.
The Finnish handset manufacturer announced plans to ship phones without chargers at Nokia World, held back in December, and the N79 Eco is its first attempt.
The general theory, aside from saving money, is for Nokia to trim down phone packaging and reduce consumption of the materials used to make chargers.
But how are you supposed to charge the phone? Does it run on thin air? Hardly. Eco’s designed to be bought by those prepared to hunt around at home for a discarded Nokia charger, to share their partner’s charger or to ask friends for an unused one.
Nokia better get wise pretty quick and come up with 2 SKU’s. One with a charger and one without. Greenness is ok up to a point. But lets not go overboard and get stupid about it.
This ranks up there with being allowed a single sheet of TP on every use….
Link.
Having just released their 2009 outlook back in November Nokia rereleases a lower projection this month. Is Nokia melting down or the CPE marketplace? —
Nokia Corp. said last week that holiday-related handset sales will likely fall short of the company’s last estimate, issued in mid-November. Three weeks ago, Nokia had forecast 330 million units, a slight drop from the year-ago quarter.
Even with its much-vaunted visibility into the global market, however, Nokia declined to give clear guidance for 2009.
One possible upshot, suggested by deteriorating, global economic metrics: Market conditions, based on weakening demand, may be changing too rapidly to create a rational forecast worth sharing.
To be quite honest, I think a lot of that will be going on over the next quarter as companies realign expectations with the new, lesser reality that will be 2009. So kudos to Nokia acting so quickly. Fact I would not want to be in corporate finance right now. Being the messenger right now could get one fired.
The reality is many users will be keeping their old phone rather than doing an upgrade when the contracts expire. –
Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told analysts that some consumers may actually trade down when they replace their current handset, according to reports.
If the upgrade cycle goes flat a big winner might be TracFone. With contract expiration, many will consider a MTM plan. As to the analysts worrying about no clear signals from Nokia; get over it. 1Q09 is going to be a big period of uncertainty for everyone in the Telecom sector.
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