Nokia's just unveiled an interesting add-on to both its Ovi suite of multimedia services and its very capable Maps navigation app called "Maps on Ovi" (naturally). Perhaps sensing the trend toward connected, social navigation devices and services, Maps on Ovi allows users of Nokia Maps to sync routes both to and from devices, ultimately sharing planned and traveled trips online with other Ovi users. Seeing how waypoint searching and routing is something you probably don't want to do exclusively on your phone, the program sounds like a pretty brilliant idea from that aspect alone, and tying in the sharing capability is just icing on the cake. The tentative plan is to have a build ready for public use this summer; S60 devices (read: Nokia Maps clients) will be the first to benefit, but it sounds like Nokia wants to expand it to other platforms in the future.

If you want to see the future of Nokia handset design then you have to go to the source. Finnish-based Provoke Design is one of Nokia's main design contractors. As such, take a close look at the three concepts it's showing off in New York at the HARDCORE New Finish Design exhibition starting May 17th. According to Provoke, its Express, Share, and Feel concepts (pictured left to right) represent its 2012 vision of mobile handset design. Each will be presented as fully functional prototypes "demonstrating the core innovation" proposed. The look of the Express concept can be changed electronically and customized to your personal tastes. The Feel handset pair are meant for couples and feature a specialized UI and touch simulation to enable, uh hem, "deep communication." The Share concept allows cults and anarchists to communicate in personalized code formed in subgroups of like-minded weirdos... or something like that. Read for yourself in the press release posted after the break.

While we twiddle our thumbs and wait for some sort of official confirmation that this thing even exists, Boy Genius Report has heard some rumblings that AT&T is putting the Nokia E71 through its paces with the intention of launching it -- in your choice of black or white, no less. Multiple Eseries colors certainly aren't without precedent, so we can buy that much -- and AT&T has previously launched the E62, so we can totally picture this going down. What's more, we've now heard from an independent source that the AT&T-branded E71 does in fact exist and is currently being crafted in Nokia's San Diego facilities (production models won't be born in the same place, we presume). Just a warning, guys: if this ends up happening as an EDGE-only device, we're going to lose it.

Okay, so maybe the execs out there in Finland have their ducks in a row after all. After rumors spread that Nokia was going to be taking a financial beating if consumers really took to its forthcoming all-you-can-eat Comes with Music service (a strange gamble, to be sure), the head of its music division is hitting back, saying that they "expect to make money both from [their] traditional device sales, as well as from the 'Comes With Music' service." Of course, "expect to make money" is a long way from actually "making money" in many cases -- and Nokia still has no official comment on how its Comes with Music label deals are structured -- so we guess we won't really know how this all went down until a few more quarters of earnings calls down the road.

[Thanks, Janne]

Look familiar? Even from Nokia's sole subminiature shot -- never mind the model number -- you can pretty clearly make out that the 6122c is a dead ringer for the 6124 classic introduced a couple months back. Sure enough, the fresh S60 candybar is destined for China Mobile packing pretty much the same features as its doppelganger: 2 megapixel camera, 2-inch QVGA display, microSD expansion, and an integrated FM radio. One feature that we're pretty sure won't make the cut, of course, will be UMTS / HSDPA -- both as a cost-cutting measure and the simple fact that... well, China doesn't really do those technologies. No TD-SCDMA gear yet, Nokia?

One device conspicuously missing from Nokia's MWC and CTIA lineups this year has been the E71, the rumored successor to the E61i -- and for QWERTY S60 nerds, the next great hope. No worries, though; if the current rumor pans out, we won't have to wait for another major trade show for this thing to break cover. Dutch site Mobile Phone Helpdesk is claiming that "all arrows point" to an official launch on May 8 -- as in frickin' tomorrow. The site points out that alleged official specs have started appearing on retail sites, suggesting that Nokia's really starting to let its guard down as the ship date draws near. What are those specs, exactly? We can expect HSDPA, naturally, in addition to WiFi, a 3 megapixel cam, and an FM radio all bundled into a package that's supposedly just 10mm thick. Businessmen, businesswomen, we suggest you get your credit cards at the ready just in case this thing's suddenly available in a few hours.

[Via Unwired View]

Nokia fans, S60 fans, Symbian fans of all types, your attention, please! Allow us to set your hearts a-flutter with a few pictures of Nokia's latest two all-business smartphones, the rumored E66 and E71. Both models are pictured here out and about, doing what they do best -- a promising indication that we might be due for an official announcement in the not-too-distant future. We're told that both have 3.2 megapixel cameras (as expected), 128MB of memory, and as we've suspected from the few photos we've seen before, they're "sleek and sexy" in the flesh. Nokia's manufacturing processes appear to be continuing to improve, too, because we're told that the E66 feels "rugged and solid" despite the slide mechanism -- a sore spot with many an N95 owner. Whenever you want to get official with these, Nokia, that would be just fine with us, thanks!

The latest round of rumors regarding the goings-on behind the scenes of Nokia's lofty Comes with Music paint a bleak picture for profitability -- but even scarier, they suggest that the company could be simply blown out if the initiative takes off. The problem stems from the claim that Nokia's deals with labels represent a huge gamble: that buyers of Comes with Music-compatible phones won't download more than a certain number of songs, believed to be 35. Above that, Espoo's no longer covered by a flat fee and pays the wholesale per-song rate for its customers' indiscretions. Clearly, either the rumor's wrong or Nokia seems to be betting against its own success here -- but the recent departure of a key exec involved with Comes with Music lends some credence to the latter. Maybe we don't speak for everyone here, but if we're paying a premium on our phone to earn a full year of all-you-can-eat tracks, you'd best believe we're taking full advantage.

[Via mocoNews]

According to Nokia chief designer Alastair Curtis, Nokia will be offering several -- nay, a "lot" -- more products in the US very soon. "In the next few months," Curtis promised, "operators will carry a lot of new products from us." While Nokia controls 40% of the worldwide handset market, they only have a 10% share in the United States. It seems they're not happy with that and want a bigger piece of the American pie. Bring it on, Nokia. We're ready to see these phones from you, say, in the form of an E71 or Tube?

Wait, Taiwan? i-mode? Yep, turns out that Far EasTone Telecommunications licenses NTT DoCoMo's well-known mobile internet brand for use in Taiwan, and they've partnered with Nokia to deliver the service on a customized version of the 6124 classic candybar -- the first Nokia ever to offer it. Of course, no i-mode handset is complete without blazing data speeds, and sure enough, the 6124 classic delivers with support for HSDPA in addition to a 2 megapixel cam, QVGA display, and S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. Yep, that's right, not only is Nokia tying up with i-mode, they're doing so on an honest-to-goodness smartphone. Kudos!

[Via IntoMobile]

When we'd heard that T-Mobile Germany was at loggerheads with Nokia over its Ovi services, the carrier was quick to point out that it didn't offer any Ovi-compatible devices in its lineup to begin with and that it was "in discussions with Nokia about this topic and [was] confident to find a common path in the near future." Sure enough, it looks as though that "common path" has now been found with an announcement that Nokia will be working closely with T-Mob to integrate its web'n'walk mobile internet service with Ovi for deployment on future devices customized for the carrier. There's no telling what sorts of contracts got signed behind the scenes here, but if we had to guess, we'd say most of T-Mobile's existing content-based revenue streams are going to end up being preserved by appearing within the Ovi sandbox on these new phones. A loss for Nokia? Not if it wants its phones to keep appearing on T-Mobile Germany's store shelves, it isn't.

Get this: the first North American carrier to offer up Nokia's 8GB N95 isn't AT&T. Heck, it's not even a US-based operator. No friends, it's Canada's own Rogers Wireless. Just as we had heard late last month, the N95 8GB has officially landed in the Great North, and starting on May 6th, consumers up that way will be able to secure one for a hefty $399.99 with a three-year activation on the Rogers Vision Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan. Don't weep too heavily, AT&T users -- your time should be coming soon.

Despite shockingly strong sales worldwide, Nokia has kept a fairly low profile in the US as of late -- not Sony Ericsson low, but still pretty stealth. Espoo wants to take a bigger bite out of the American pie, though, and as BusinessWeek notes, it pretty much has to play nice with the US megacarriers in order to do that. Historically, that has run counter to Nokia's corporate culture of rampant innovation with a general disregard for carriers' specific needs -- think Ovi, for example -- and that's where the winds of change start to blow. In the States, Nokia has now assigned a whopping 300 product development folks to AT&T and Verizon each, and it turns out that the 6555 is one fruit of that labor; in fact, AT&T specifically requested that the 6555's PTT button be moved to the top, and Nokia complied. That's a whole new level of cooperation that American carriers aren't used to when dealing with the Finnish giant that likes to throw its weight around, and if it keeps up, it sounds like we should start to see plenty more models available on contract in the not-too-distant future.

[Via PHONE Magazine and GadgeTell]

Considering that some countries are mulling the idea of making texting a recognized subject and allowing students to use text-speak on exams, we suppose it's not too outrageous to hear of handsets being used as educational tools and not seen as a hindrance. Nokia has teamed up with Mindset Network in order to spearhead the M4Girls pilot project, which utilizes Nokia 6300 handsets loaded with educational material to "help improve the mathematics performance of Grade 10 girl learners." Reportedly, the initiative will be piloted in two South African schools, and students lucky enough to take advantage will have access to educational games and other material created to meet the needs of the national curriculum. No word on whether the program will filter out to other locations if it proves successful, but here's to hoping that eventually gets answered with a resounding "yes."

[Via textually]

What's blue, silver, and boring all over? If you guessed the Nokia 6205, well, you clearly knew something about the phone you were holding back to us -- but nonetheless, go ahead and give yourself a gold star and a pat on the back for a job well done. The low-end flip for Verizon, which we'd mentioned not long ago, has finally been exposed in all its entry-level glory; don't get us wrong, we're delighted that Espoo seems to be back in the thick of the CDMA hunt, but we think we're going to hold out for something just a little more visually stimulating than this. The lack of EV-DO isn't helping its case either, though we suppose the external controls and camera flash are welcome additions for the folks who actually hold out until its alleged mid-June release.

Update: Peep that little "EV" signal strength indicator up there? Looks like there might be a 3G radio hiding in this one, after all. If so, kudos, Nokia! Thanks, VZW_Emp!