One day somebody will write a book called “The rise and rise of Android” and this moment will be highlighted in bold. Canalys’ latest smartphone sales figures show that Android phone makers managed to shift a cool 32.9 million handsets in the last quarter — more than any other smartphone platform out there, including the previous leader, Symbian, which sold 31 million units. That’s a mighty leap from the 20.3 million Android devices the stats agency estimates were sold in Q3 2010. Symbian itself grew from 29.9m in Q3 to its 31m total in Q4, but Android’s pace of expansion has been so rapid as to make it irrelevant.
The Nokia E7 inches ever closer, with the company’s Indonesian site the latest to push the sliding QWERTY smartphone. Expected sometime in February, the E7 has found itself a 6,800,000 Indonesian Rupiahs ($749) unlocked and SIM-free, and according to SlashGear tipster Fransiscus is already being heavily promoted in the country.
In fact, he says Nokia has taken out a full three page newspaper ad for the E7 there, which would certainly imply that the Symbian smartphone is due sooner rather than later. Nokia announced shrinking market share predictions as part of its 2010 financial results last week, with the delayed E7 making no contribution to Q4′s sales as originally expected when the device was officially announced at Nokia World 2010.
With Mobile World Congress fast approaching, it looks like the E7 will land at roughly the same time as we see a bevy of new devices – including some dual-core handsets – from rivals. Nokia has been tipped to be preparing something “interesting” for the show, but so far – beyond whispers of MeeGo devices, either tablets or phones – there’s no confirmation on what exactly that could be.
Update: Fransiscus has come through with scans of the three-page advert:
Nokia needs to “change faster” to keep up with the cellphone market, CEO Stephen Elop has admitted, but it’s his ecosystem comments during the company’s financial results call that have tongues wagging. The Nokia/Android/Windows Phone 7 speculation has proven sturdily resilient to common sense and the Finns’ own denials, and Elop’s suggestion that Nokia “must build, catalyse or join a competitive ecosystem” is unlikely to do much bar fueling the rumors.
“Nokia must compete on ecosystem to ecosystem basis. In addition to great device experiences we must build, catalyse or join a competitive ecosystem. And the ecosystem approach we select must be comprehensive and cover a wide range of utilities and services that customers expect today and anticipate in the future” Stephen Elop, CEO, Nokia
At face value, that could certainly be interpreted as a sign that Nokia might consider lending its much-appreciated hardware skills to producing a device running something other than Symbian or MeeGo. The CEO’s specific focus on the US market, meanwhile, could also lend weight to that. ”Whatever the strategy is we outline on February 11,” Elop continued, “we very clearly [must ensure] that it will give us the opportunity to reopen markets such as the U.S. and some others, where we have not recently been present.”
For a company that strives to be so self-contained, though, persisting with Symbian while readying MeeGo devices still looks the most likely route. Nokia’s “competitive ecosystem” could well refer to Intel’s low-power Atom platform, or a more general indication that it intends to compete in the smartphone chipset arms-race which currently dictates the US handset market. We’ve already seen suggestions that the company is working on a high-powered MeeGo tablet based on dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processors; that would give the company an admirable spec-sheet that could take on any rival.
Of all the phones we didn’t expect to have a successor, T-Mobile USA’s Nuron ranks high on that list — though it was a great deal seeing how it didn’t require a smartphone data plan, the device itself offered users a pretty miserable (and unnecessarily WiFi-less) experience. New rumors suggest that the carrier had fixed its sights on Nokia’s Symbian^1-powered C5-03 as the successor to the Nuron for launch early next month… but don’t get your hopes up, because in the same breath, PocketNow reports that the project has already been killed off. No word on the logic behind the move, but the killing echoes the recent news that the X7′s AT&T debut had been axed after the two companies failed to agree on marketing and pricing. Doesn’t seem like T-Mobile would be playing those same games, but you never know.
Nokia has reportedly axed plans to launch the Nokia X7 on AT&T, with insiders suggesting concerns over the amount of marketing and subsidy support the Finnish company felt it could expect from the carrier led to it pulling the plug on the deal. According to the WSJ, the X7 – which has been positioned as a gaming device in previous leaked information – will still be released in other markets. It’s unclear if, as with the N8, Nokia will offer the X7 in the US as a SIM-free, unlocked device for the full handset selling price.
The decision leaves Nokia’s North American strategy again looking patchy, with the company generally relying on unsubsidized devices in a market that has shown itself reluctant to adopt full-priced phones. The X7 is expected to make its debut at Mobile World Congress next month, but without the AT&T hype that had been predicted. The smartphone has a capacitive touchscreen and runs the Symbian OS.
Our subsidized Symbian superphone dreams remain squashed, but it looks like we might have a different party to blame — the Wall Street Journal‘s anonymous sources say it was Nokia itself who decided to pull plans to launch the X7 exclusively on AT&T. Originally, the phone would have waved the white globe banner at Mobile World Congress next month, but Nokia reportedly decided that AT&T didn’t have its back, and wouldn’t provide sufficient marketing support — and cheap enough subsidized prices — to make it worth the company’s while. If you simply must have the handset and live in the US, though, we’re sure you’ll still find a way. It’s only a matter of time before Nokia launches in countries more willing to play ball… and unlocked models appear on eBay.
One of the most delicious phones the consumer world hasn’t had a chance to taste yet is firming up plans to finally make its way out to retail. Nokia’s Finnish store has put the E7 up for a €599 pre-order, which is expected to get the all-business device to your door some time in February. That matches the last word from Nokia on the subject of the E7′s release and should reassure anyone who’s made use of Amazon’s early pre-orders for this handset that the wait won’t last much longer.
The Nokia E7 has gone up for official pre-order in Finland, with deliveries expected sometime in February 2011. Originally promised by the end of 2010, and delayed for unspecified reasons until “early 2011″, the Symbian smartphone is priced at €599 ($796) SIM-free and unlocked.
That gets you a 4-inch display, physical QWERTY keyboard and an 8-megapixel camera with HD video recording, all packed up into a metal chassis we still reckon is among the best physical design around today. No word on when other European pre-orders will open, not to mention North American availability – the E7, like the N8, has a pentaband modem for use on both AT&T and T-Mobile USA – but we’re guessing it’ll be sometime in February too.
Is AT&T seriously gearing up to sell a subsidized Nokia smartphone once again in the US of A? Given the company’s long absence from being included in any US carrier’s smartphone section, it still feels more like a dream than an impending reality, but that image above is certainly hard to ignore. According to Pocketnow‘s sources, the first press images of the Nokia X7 are legitimate, and the AT&T branding isn’t by accident. Purportedly, the Symbian^3-based phone will be hitting Ma Bell’s shops as early as this month, bringing along an eight megapixel camera (with dual-flash), four speaker grilles (two of which have drivers underneath) and a ClearBlack display. Hit the source link for a look at the rear.
Update: Our dreams have been dashed by Pocketnow, who says its original source was out of date — AT&T had apparently planned to stock the X7 under the name “Nokia Journey” in time for a Mobile World Congress launch, but those plans have reportedly been canceled by AT&T itself.
Nokia’s leaky X7 smartphone has made another appearance, this time showing up in what looks like official render form. Still bearing AT&T branding, the shots passed to Pocketnow also came with word that the smartphone could arrive on the US carrier as early as this month.
We already know from the first leak that the Nokia X7 runs Symbian^3 on a 360 x 640 display, and has an 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash. A second leak revealed Nokia’s AT&T ambitions; the manufacturer had expressed a desire to make more of a splash in the US market with high-end devices back at Nokia World 2010, though it remains to be seen whether Symbian can woo buyers already endeared to iOS and Android.
