Nokia on iPhone: what, no 3G?
The iPhone could end wars, poverty, and hunger, but we still wouldn't expect competitors' executives to exactly fawn over it. And indeed they didn't -- though Nokia's VP of Nseries devices, Pekka Pohjakallio, was surprisingly un-negative in comments today to Tech Digest at CES. Pohjakallio pointed out that the iPhone is a convergence device (cue pro-Nokia spin) not unlike Nokia's own Nseries multimedia computers, which he views as a positive validation of the concept. In light of the media-heavy feature set, though, he came away surprised that it wasn't packing 3G data (as were we, except replace "surprised" with "disappointed") and seemed to rib Apple's decision to launch first in the US. A European organization upset that they get the cool stuff late and with no usable 3G, eh? Sounds like poetic justice to us.
Filed under: Interviews, Nokia
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Uncle sjohie @ Jan 10th 2007 2:39AM
Apple didn't grasp that providers want 3G phones (and I like mine too), so they can charge for the use of it, and finally get some revenue off those hugely expensive frequencies they bought 5 years ago. And it has been said before, this time apple is up against some pretty big established names, not at all how it was whe the first Ipod came out. But let's see how the machine turns out, for now we can only guess..
Uncle sjohie
http://www.sjohie.com
George @ Jan 10th 2007 3:32AM
If I work for Nokia I would be really concern right now. Those poor folks just released the N800 tablet too....
N95 has been delayed, and I can only think of one feature that N95 is better than the iPhone - built in GPS.
Nokia got some serious problem in the US market, and iPhone going to make thing even hard for them.
BTW, I use both Symbian (3rd Edition) and WM5... Both are "just fine". But embedded OS X really blew them out of the water.
Exciting time in the mobile world....
Philip @ Jan 10th 2007 3:51AM
Nokia's Mr. Pohjakallio has the nerve to be surprised no 3G is offered on this phone? Hmmm, maybe some Nokia Big shot would do us the favor of releasing ANY S60 phone (or other Nokia smartphone/mediaphone)here in the states with a 3G (UMTS 850/1900) radio. After doing so, this might not be so much of the pot calling the kettle black.
As a Mac owner, and Nokia owner (6682) I'd be first in line to buy a 3G phone from either company that offered a good web browser and good sync operations with my home computer. Until this day arrives, may both these companies be damned.
p.s.-Mr Jobs-A small device that can download music wirelessly, and connect to the internet at broadband speeds when WiFi is available is called a "MacBook". A device smaller still that can't download music wirelessly, and can access the internet at a mere 80 kbps (on average) when not withinin range of a friendly WiFi hub (and also not support live TV or radio?) is called "Dead on Arrival" or "Just a waste of money."
I thought Apple might help the U.S. crawl out of the technological backwater in which we are currently mired, but this effort shows only the crass savvy of a company that wants to sell phones to the ignorant masses of style-addicted clones.
brad @ Jan 10th 2007 5:14AM
I don't think many people understand or realize that it's not 3G vs EDGE. You can have both. It's amazing, I know. Just like you can have a MP3 player with a FM tuner. Ask Creative. First of all, EDGE sucks. It's theoretical max is about 130 Kbps. It's actual, if you are lucky is more like 40-80. The biggest problem though is how inconsistent it is, even in metro areas. It doesn't matter how long 3G takes to roll out. It would not have added that much to the cost to add 3G to it. Apple created a "internet device" running on ISDN speeds. As for not needing 3G because there is "WiFi" everywhere ... what the heck are you talking about. Do you live INSIDE a Starbucks or Borders? There is no WiFi everywhere. But you know what there is (almost) everywhere? Cell coverage.
Daddy Boomboom @ Jan 10th 2007 5:53AM
Wow they seems to be scarry about this new cute bastard from Apple.
joseph @ Jan 10th 2007 8:51AM
no the n95 its not delayed you idiot, they say Q1 and its comming in MARCH and thats Q1. and let me remind you nokia have 36% of the market share, and thats not oging anywhere down soon. oh i forgot the n95 its a open platform with 5mpx camera, AND GPS and HSDPA, AND FM RADIO lots of things the iphone don't have.
Andrew @ Jan 10th 2007 9:00AM
Looks great: nice hires for video, wifi, great memory space. No HSDPA is terrible though, let alone no UMTS. EDGE is just so slow, and basically unusable for any data purposes. It's such a backward step considering I first used 3G literally 6 years ago, and 1.8mbit HSDPA for the last 6 months. Once you get used to consistent 150-200KBytes/sec on a flatrate tarriff (7.50 pounds a month) it really changes the way you use the mobile.
Maybe in the European version they'll add decent connectivity - I'll probably be tempted to sell my smartphone (MDA Vario II, aka HTC Hermes) then.
Chuks @ Jan 10th 2007 9:04AM
Guys, the N95 will be a great product, trust me. The concept of the iPhone seems to be thrilling, but there are surely some misgivings. Apple, like other companies, is betting on what it knows and does well. I sincerely believe that we are really yet to see the "mother-of-all-devices", but we are not too far from that. Nokia, are you listening?
JR @ Jan 10th 2007 11:48AM
Every good smartphone has 3G. Edge is sooooo slow. Iphone has high price and no 3G. Bad apple. Bad.
John @ Jan 10th 2007 9:10PM
Philip - you can get the N80, N91, N93, N73 from Nokiausa.com. N75 should be out with Cingular shortly. It just seems that Cingular doesn't really like higher-end Nokia phones.
Tim @ Jan 11th 2007 12:22AM
Basic 3G service is like in how many markets...25?
So edge to me is perfectly fine for now. They aren't going to be realeasing just one and say screw you thats it.
Steve did say in the keynote, that they are planning for one with 3G.
admin @ Jan 11th 2007 1:50AM
i'm very disappointed about poor tech spec. of iphone - an apple product, at this apple price, with only gprs/edge (no umts - no hsdpa)
nxs @ Jun 26th 2007 12:45AM
brad is correct. edge is slow. I would wait until September 2007 when T-Mobile's 3G network (or whatever they are calling it these days) goes LIVE. I assume T-Mobile's version of Iphone will follow 3 months after that. Yes, Nokia is courting them now (tmo) w/ their 3G devices but I think T-Mobile has enough clout to demand non-exclusivity.
Michael P McHugh @ Jun 26th 2007 9:35PM
at&t has a FIVE year exclusive on the iPhone, so there won't be one on T-Mobile in a few months.... more like a few years. However there may be a 3G iPhone for at&t by January, as they are going to be in Europe by the end of 2007, and that need to be 3G too.