Nokia and S60 smartphone software enrich the mobile user experience with three new applications
Nokia and S60, the market leading smartphone software platform, continues to implement new innovations to bring the best possible mobile and Web2.0 experiences for people. Highlighting its efforts in the area of software development for mobile devices, Nokia today unveiled three new applications that are set to enhance the mobile user experience manifold. Developed on the S60 platform, these applications include:
WaveSecure : A security application for mobile phones that allows consumers not just to track their handset in the event that it is lost or stolen, but also creates a backup for the phone data via the Internet. Once the backup is created the owner can also wipe-out the data from the phone, ensuring that it cannot be misused. What’s more, the retrieved data can then be restored onto any S60 phone using a restore option via the internet. (Developer: TenCube)
Web Server: Allows users to access their mobile phones via internet. One can access recent call logs, send messages from the phone remotely, access the photo gallery and even take photographs – all through the Web Server application.
Quick Office allows all Nokia E90 users to edit their MS office documents from the phone itself, thus resulting in greater productivity for themselves and their teams.
“S60 on Symbian OS offers a great platform to innovate with user applications”, said Mahmood Kalantar, Director-Business Development, Mobile Software Sales & Marketing, Nokia APAC. “We see experiences converging, and people demanding more and more of the functionalities that smartphones offer, both of which highlight the significance of ease of use. The focus of our strategy is to give people choice and simplicity - key to delivering the best user experiences to add value to people’s lives”.
In addition to the above, Nokia also showcased four applications that have been developed in India. These include Mundu IM from Geodesic; SMS Scheduler and Smart Assistant Live from Aims Migital and Voice reminder from OneView Systems. India also has the highest number of registered users on Forum Nokia, the world’s largest Global Mobile Developers Community.
“India is a hot bed for innovation and we are working closely with Indian content developers to create innovative content and applications that deliver rich experiences for end users, additional revenue flows for operators and exciting business opportunities for developers, Web designers, and Nokia business units. Currently there are over 3.6 million developers registered on Forum Nokia of which 108,000 are in India - the largest number of developers from a single region, and we look forward to an increased engagement with them,” added Kalantar.
S60 is the leading smartphone software platform in the world with over 53% market share of the converged devices market (Canalys Report, Q4 2007). It is strong in both high-end and mid-range markets, with a shipment of over 150 million S60 mobile handsets (as of January 2008). The platform is under continuous development by Nokia and licensed by some of the industry's top mobile device manufacturers. As of date there are more than 6300 commercial applications available for S60 users to personalize and extend their device to fit their needs. Nokia expects the smartphone market to exceed 250 million units in 2008 and reach nearly 400 million handsets by 2009.
Over the years, Nokia has been making constant innovation on the platform and today S60 provides end users with the best Internet experience and open access to several Web 2.0 services over the mobile. The potential of S60 can be gauged by the fact that it offers vendors the flexibility to design different types of devices to match the needs of the market with access options like ITU keypad or QWERTY, touch (finger and stylus), or combinations of these. In addition, today S60 supports over 50 languages thus offering developers the flexibility to create applications and content for diverse markets.
Nokia’s Bangalore R&D centre, which is the largest Nokia site in India, plays a key role on R&D on S60 as well. The software platform group works on development of parts of the base services for the platform, application frameworks, user interfaces and test tools. Established in 2001 with the acquisition of Amber Networks, the site has played a pivotal role in the development of new applications, software platforms and chipsets for high-end Nokia mobile devices over the years.