Symbian in Motion

Ok, ok… I’m not really getting rid of my new N95 8GB NAM. I am sending it back to Dell though. Why? My new handset has a problem where the ear speaker clips (crackles) when the volume gets to a certain level. Unfortunately it’s not a very high level, in fact it even clips constantly with the volume set to 50% - 60%. Definitely unacceptable.

But that’s not the real reason I’m posting this. I’ve had limited interactions with Dell in the past but ever since I first heard the news that Dell would be outsourcing its customer service to India, I’ve heard / read a lot of people complain about poor customer service. Well I’m not sure where the person I spoke to last night was located, but I literally could not be happier with my experience. The customer care rep was polite and helpful, and the policies that applied to my problem were nothing short of perfect.

My call to Dell customer service lasted about 10 minutes. When all was said and done, the rep had initiated the shipment of a new N95 8GB to my house. The package will include a return shipping label and instructions on how to send my defective handset back. If I so choose, I can even have UPS pick my return package up from my house at Dell’s expense. I had email confirmations regarding all arrangements in my inbox this morning, done and done.

A+ Dell - fantastic job. I would certainly not hesitate to give them my business again. In fact, I’m positive that I’ll be giving them my business again. I’ll recommend them as well: The N95 8GB NAM is down to $580 shipped on the Dell Small Business site. No coupon needed; best price I’ve seen. Also, the red N95 NAM (N95-3) is $522.21 shipped which isn’t bad at all.

subscribe to comments made about this post 

Remember what I said about passing on the N95 8GB? I lied.

I had every intention of passing but the need for a new handset gave me the need to go back on my word. If I was a bit more excited about some of the handsets coming out in the near future I likely would have waited, but we’re looking at [least] until year-end before Nokia dishes some new goodies that will find their way to my pockets. To clarify that, I am pretty interested in the N96. It’s still unclear if AT&T-compatible UMTS will be present however, and I’m not at all comfortable with the battery size.

I should get it soon and while I’m not looking forward to getting all my apps moved over or the snail-like USB 1.1 transfer speeds, there’s no question that the N95 8GB NAM is a looker. No more waiting for that firmware update either. Anyone in the US shopping around for an N95 8GB of their own, shoot me an email. I have a Dell code that drops the price to $570 shipped - best price I’ve come across by far.

subscribe to comments made about this post 

Ahh the age of technology. The days of annoying photographers and coffee table wedding albums with pasted sepia photographs are long gone. In their place; digital cameras, live streaming video and S60.

Mr. Ricky Cadden of Symbian-Guru, MobileBurn and most recently S60 is getting married today and his guest list is comprised of tens of thousands of people. No, he isn’t having an ostentatious celebrity event in a massive arena. Ricky is having a ceremony and reception powered by technology. Guest photos will be uploaded instantly to Flickr using ShoZu, attendee perspectives will be micro-blogged to Jaiku and live video will be streaming in real-time thanks to four Nokia N82 handsets, the Flixwagon app / service and a special page set up on Flixwagon’s site.

The N82 is billed as a storytelling device and today it will be pushed to the limits in order to tell one hell of a story. I’ll be attending the old fashioned way - in person - but I wonder if my experience will be any more “real” than that of the virtual guests. If you think about it, I will likely miss out on a great number of experiences that online followers will be able to enjoy as I only have one set of eyes and one vantage point. Virtual guests will see and hear things through the eyes of two, four, maybe even 10 people at a time. Using Jaiku they can interact with several guests simultaneously and watch as images pop up in Flickr feeds. Using Flixwagon they can comment live during a video stream and their comments will be seen instantly on the screens of guests operating the N82s

So if you’re a fan of Symbian-Guru, MobileBurn or just a passer-by with a penchant for technology, and you want some amazing insight into this very special day in the life of a well-respected Symbian blogger - you don’t need an invitation or a plain ticket. All you need is an internet connection, a computer and a web browser. “Times they are ‘a changing.”

subscribe to comments made about this post 

Ok, ok… I’ll weigh in on this one. Plenty is being said around the Nokia blogosphere today with regards to the new firmware update that the N73 received today. Ricky (Symbian-Guru), Mark (The Nokia Blog) and Jeremiah (Nokia Users) each posted about it and seem pretty upset. Do I blame them? No, but I do have a slightly different point of view.

So what’s all the commotion? Nokia today released a firmware update for the N73, a very well-loved phone that is also no spring chicken. At this point the N73 is kind of the “village bicycle” of the S60 line up. Old, outdated and everyone’s had a ride. Fast forward to the N95. The original variant has had a few substantial updates, the Euro-spec N95 8GB has had a substantial update - yet the N95 NAM seems to apparently been tossed aside. To be fair, there was one update but it neglected to add much-desired features such as demand paging and superior Flash integration. Each of the other aforementioned N95 models was serviced with those goodies some time ago.

Long story short, the qualm is that Nokia seems to be disregarding the US version of its flagship handset - the handset that [temporarily] silenced US critics by bringing AT&T-compatible 3G / HSDPA to S60 - while the gray-haired Euro N73 continues to get updates.

Here are my thoughts: The N95 NAM firmware update that we’re all waiting for is coming. Of course it is - Nokia has no plans of tossing the N95 NAM in the trash as the picture above might suggest. Multiple unconfirmed reports from several sources even go so far as to suggest that the new firmware we’re all waiting for has been floating around amongst internal testers for a month or two. So what’s the holdup then? I pose two possibilities…

1. Bugs. This possibility, albeit unlikely in this case, could certainly prevent the release of a firmware upgrade. Bugs are a given for any firmware of course, but it could be that the dev team is having a particularly hard time ironing out the kinks on this release.
2. Preoccupation with other matters. The rumor that AT&T will be picking up the N95 NAM is quickly gaining ground. If it turns out to be true (which is looking likely) and we’re just starting to hear about it now, then Nokia and AT&T have certainly already been working on it for a while. If this is the case, it’s quite possible that the dev team has far more pressing matters at hand. Handsets go through arduous testing processes prior to carrier approval and I’m sure that the team responsible for N95 firmware development has their hands full.

I’m not saying that either of the two scenarios above are the case, but we can safely assume that Nokia hasn’t forgotten our precious N95 NAM. The only way that would be a possibility is if Nokia has decided to pull its S60 effort out of the US market. After the S60 NAM devices that Nokia just announced (and knowing some of the NAM devices Nokia will be announcing), that’s just not the case.

My personal guess is that number 2 above is the case. If so, good for you Nokia. All available resources should indeed be focused on getting the N95 out on AT&T store shelves. This would be a MASSIVE victory for Nokia - placing its current flagship handset with the largest carrier in the US at contract-discounted prices. And don’t cry “carrier crippling” just yet; love it or hate it, the iPhone has changed the game at AT&T. Odds are good that an N95 NAM from AT&T could be near-unbranded in terms of functionality. One small step for AT&T, one giant leap for Nokia.

So what am I trying to say in all of this? Firstly, we are not Waiting for Godot. New N95 NAM firmware is coming. Will it be worth the wait? I think people make a bit more out of demand paging than they should but hey, any improvement to battery life and OS speed will be much appreciated. Secondly, Nokia is a gigantic global corporation and it has plenty on its plate at all times. Nokia is moving S60 into the US, but it will taking time. I still disagree with the way Nokia has handled some aspects of this long process but things are changing. It’s not easy - but patience is a virtue.

subscribe to comments made about this post 

A couple of weeks ago I posted on BGR about Handango’s revised CDA. Long story short, Handango sent a warm cheery email to all developer partners about what a great year 2007 was for the mobile software industry and for Handango. At the end of the email was a link to the revised Handango Content Distribution Agreement (CDA) that takes affect on March 15 of this year.

The most notable change to the agreement was the revised royalty schedule. As of March 15 developers will only receive 50% of gross revenue up to $250,000. This is down from 60% as defined in the current CDA. I doubt that there are more than three or four developers who do more than $250K in sales through Handango alone, but those who do will enjoy 60% of gross sales between $250K - $1M, and 70% over $1M. Ridiculous.

Handango also doesn’t do enough for their customers. As with most industry leading companies, Handango takes their customers for granted. Some examples? How about charging an extra $5 per title for “download protection”? If you want to be able to re-download an application that you purchased for up to one year it will cost you. As if it costs money for Handango to store a 1MB file on their servers. And have you tried to order apps for your device according to “popularity”? Let’s have a look at today’s top 5 for the N95:

• Quickoffice Premier 5.0 ($69.95) ——– 1,483 downloads
• Handy Tools Pack for S60 ($99.95) ——– 18,515 downloads
• WorldMate Professional for Series 60 ($69.95) ——– 64,872 downloads
• ProfiMail (Symbian) ($27.99) ——– 76,446 downloads
• Handy Safe for S60 ($39.95) ——– 25,676 downloads

Interesting. The first thing to note is that all of these titles are very expensive as far as mobile software goes. Casting that tidbit aside, let’s look at the download numbers. Title one, Quickoffice Premier 5.0, has been downloaded a total of 1,483 times. Because there is no trial available, is stands to reason that that number is relatively close to total sales (not taking re-downloads into account). Now the fourth title on the list, ProfiMail, has been downloaded 76,446 times. There is a trial, but if LCG converted just 2% of those trials into sales then they will have outsold Quickoffice Premier 5.0. Believe me, LCG has converted WELL OVER 2% of their Handango trials. So is popularity calculated monthly? Even if it is, I can guarantee that Quickoffice Premier 5.0 is not the best-selling software title for the N95 this month. Yet it is still at or near the top of the list each and every month. Hmmm…

I haven’t discussed this in any SiMo posts, but I do in fact sell via Handango. Why haven’t I mentioned that here? Using this blog as a sales tool for themes is simply not something that interests me - I wouldn’t want to sully my reputation. Anyway, I have created a handful of commercial themes that have been selling on Handango for about a year. Really they were only intended to cover some costs associated with SiMo; a handset here and there, apps that I wanted to review that weren’t generously gifted to me by the developer, etc.

Over the past year, I’ve actually sold several thousands of dollars worth of themes. As of March 15 however, I’m done. Every last one of my themes will be pulled from Handango and I will deactivate my developer account shortly after. Would the extra 10% Handango is taking really have killed me? Absolutely not. It’s simply the straw that broke the camel’s back. I might not sell anywhere near as much as a top seller on Handango, but if others will follow my lead we might just get our point across…

Developers: I understand that Handango is your number 1 source for sales. That WILL change over the next one to two years, I guarantee it. There are so many better options out there already in terms of getting your titles to the public and more are coming. My recommendation is that even if you don’t pull your apps from Handango completely, put some real time and effort into researching alternatives and get your apps up on other sites. There are shops out there with fantastic reach and numbers, and you keep up to 80% of sales from $1 up! Think about it - you can sell over a third less and still make the same money!

Bloggers: Do you have a shop tied to your site? If you do and it’s powered by Handango, I STRONGLY URGE you to find an alternative. There are plenty of other options that have just as many *useful* titles available for sale. I said useful - when Handango issues catalog figures, they include the thousands of terrible themes / video ringtones / flash screensavers / etc that sell three times and then disappear into the chaos. Handango also has a VERY LOW referral payout. Do some research.

Consumers: Plain and simple - DON’T BUY FROM HANDANGO. If you’re interested in an app that for some reason you found on Handango, get it directly from the developer. Maybe the developer’s site doesn’t have a shop, but you can always email them and they’ll likely sell to you direct. Impatient? Google the app name. I’m sure you’ll find it for sale in at least five other shops.

This might seem like a drastic post and maybe it is. The fact of the matter however, is that the mobile market is booming and it will continue to boom. Handango is doing nothing but slowing market growth. They promote the top developers (who can afford to pay ridiculous fees for their marketing) and the rest are left to fend for themselves amongst the madness. Blogs like SiMo, the few in our blogroll and thousands of other mobile tech blogs are great sources in terms of learning about apps. 99 out of 100 times, a blog will link to the developer’s site so you can purchase the app directly if you like it after the trial period.

If you’re a blogger I strongly urge you to do some research and post about this. Link me or don’t link me - I could really care less. Just get the word out. Developers enhance the mobile experience immeasurably and by stunting their growth (as Handango does) the mobile industry as a whole is being stunted…

UPDATE: I thought I’d link some more articles on the matter…

• A post from msmobiles.com
• A post from Electronista
• A post from BerryReview.com
• A post from BlackBerry Developer SideShow
• A post from tilt site

subscribe to comments made about this post