Swisscom Leaks The Nokia Lumia 900 Launch for Feb 2012

It's still hard to confirm if all the rumors of a Nokia Lumia 900 will ever become a reality. We've had leaks on the full spec list and even a possible image of the device, but again, things are just too early at the moment.

The good thing is that we always have apps like Twitter to do all the leaking. Recently Swisscom came on twitter and pretty much leaked the Nokia Lumia 900's launch date for the end of February. Sadly the tweet is a bit confusing since at first it says that the launch is open. Either way, the new Nokia Lumia line-up has proven to be quite successful. All we need now is a gigantic Nokia device to have a full house of compelling designs in the Nokia-Windows Phone roadmap.

Nokia Money - mobile wallet service launched in India

The future is likely to take all your banking transactions onto your mobile phones. Phone makers and service providers are slowly, yet steadily preparing for this possibility. Earlier Nokia and Loop Mobile had disclosed their mobile money services. Nokia has now announced the pan-India launch of Nokia Money.

Nokia turns to SMS payments

The Nokia branded financial solution provides a wide spectrum of mobile payment services with a secure alternative to carrying cash. This will add to the convenience of basic financial payments like utility bills, top-ups, insurance premiums and tickers through SMS and without the need for an internet connection. Nokia users can use this service after a registration process at their local authorized Nokia retail store. One has to load the wallet with cash and then it is ready to use. The service doesn’t need KYC documentation as it is a closed wallet. 

“There is a need for alternate financial payment instruments in India and the mobile handset offers a perfect mass platform to deliver these. Transaction costs on mobile devices are significantly lower. Nokia brings multiple offerings and is developing an open ecosystem to deliver mobile money services to users depending on their need,” said Gary Singh, General Manager, Nokia Mobile Payment Services.

Nokia Money is independent of network carriers and individual banking network. The service operates across all handsets in India and works with almost all Nokia phones. In fact, Nokia plans to pre-load the Nokia Money service client on its handsets. Nokia Money works over SMS, GPRS/3G and Wi-Fi and allows for zero balance giving users flexibility, says the company. Those Nokia Money consumers looking for merchant payments and person to person transfers can also do so by upgrading to bank mobile money product offerings like Union Bank Money or Yes Bank Money.

ITC ruling in Apple vs HTC lawsuit pushed by a week

A Reuters report confirms that the ruling by the International Trade Commission, with reference to the Apple vs HTC lawsuit that was scheduled originally for December 6th, 2011 has been invariably pushed ahead by a week. The actual reason behind the delay lies in ambiguity, hence a clear picture of what lies ahead and what course the lawsuit may take cannot be stated.

Patent woes

With the ruling by the ITC now set for December 19th, 2011, a lot is at stake for HTC. Apple Inc. has accused HTC for having infringed patents owned by them, and has subsequently appealed to the ITC for a ban on the imports of HTC smartphones in the U.S. Reportedly, the U.S is a crucial market for HTC, since as much as 50 percent of the company's revenue comes from there.

Sony announces the Tablet S and P in India

Sony has finally made the Tablet S and P official in India with a press release confirming it for us. Available only in a 3G plus Wi-Fi configuration, the Tablet S is priced at Rs.33,990, whereas the Tablet P sits at Rs.36,990. If you were thinking of getting this for Christmas, then you’ll be a bit disappointed to know that Sony plans to launch this duo only in mid-January, 2012.

Uniquely designed tablet - Sony Tablet P

The Sony Tablet S looks very promising, as it will give stiff competition to Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 750. It may not be as slim or lightweight as the Tab 750, but it possesses quite an important feature the Tab is missing, expandable memory. The Tablet P, on the other hand seems way overpriced for what you’re getting. Yes, it’s extremely portable, but is that enough to justify this price?

Here is a quick glance at the specifications of the Sony Tablet P:

• 5.5-inch capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 480

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with DLNA support and hot spot creativity

• Bluetooth version 2.1

• 5 Megapixel AF camera with 720p video recording

• Front facing 0.3 Megapixel camera

• 4GB internal storage along with Micro SD card support up to 32GB

• 3.5 mm handsfree socket

• MicroUSB

The new 9.4-inch screen Sony Tablet S

And the Sony Tablet S:

• 9.4-inch capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with DLNA support and hot spot creativity

• Bluetooth version 2.1

• 5 Megapixel AF camera with 720p video recording

• Front facing 0.3 Megapixel camera

• 16GB internal storage along with Micro SD card support up to 32GB

• 3.5 mm handsfree socket

• MicroUSB

Nokia: Youths are fed up with iPhone, baffled by Android

Nokia has claimed that the youth of today are fed up with the iPhone and baffled by Android.
In an exclusive interview with Pocket-lint, Niels Munksgaard, director of Portfolio, Product Marketing & Sales at Nokia Entertainment Global explained all:
“What we see is that youth are pretty much fed up with iPhones. Everyone has the iPhone," he said. "Also, many are not happy with the complexity of Android and the lack of security. So we do increasingly see that the youth that wants to be on the cutting edge and try something new are turning to the Windows phone platform.”
Munksgaard agrees though, that even then it is not so easy to impress those walking into a shop looking to sign a new contract:
“The marketplace is extremely crowded. I refer to it as the sea of sameness," he added. "When you walk up to a retail shelf at Phones4U and see the number of black mono-blocks sitting on the shelf, it is very confusing to the consumer. We want to deliver services and phones that are different.”
That “different” approach, believes Munksgaard, includes offering services like Nokia Mix Radio, which gives users music out-of-the-box without having to sign up to anything or pay costly fees each month.
It is music, along with mapping and the design of the latest Nokia smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 800, that he feels helps Nokia stand out from the crowd. But will its music services be coming elsewhere; to the desktop or other music devices like Sonos in the future?
Munksgaard won’t say. However, he did tell us that it “is in [Nokia’s] interest to broaden the coverage of where you can get Nokia Mix Radio”.
That could mean letting other Windows Phone 7 users have access to Nokia’s new music service, or perhaps a desktop offering.
There’s hope too for a broader range of speaker solutions to become available in the future, allowing Nokia owners to listen to the latest music out loud on something other than its 360 Bluetooth speakers. Just don’t hold your breath:
“We would prefer a wireless transfer than a docking station," said Munksgaard. "A docking station has limitations because the phone has to be in a certain place. We are extremely pleased with the experience you get with the device in connection with Nokia gear. We don’t have a docking station at this point, however we are confident that as the Windows Phone ecosystem grows, third party docking station makers will support us.”
Hopefully for Nokia, for those bored with the iPhone and looking for something simpler than Android, those third party manufacturers will start knocking out Nok Docks sooner rather than later.
We hope so, if only for the fact that we may just have invented the term "Nok Dock", and it'd be a shame to see it go to waste. Especially if we're talking royalties.
What do you think? Is Nokia right in its assumptions? Would you like to see a "Nok Dock" for the Lumia 800? Have you heard the term "Nok Dock" before? If so, let us know in the comments below...