Nokia buys another map company

Nokia has agreed to buy bit-side GmbH, a Berlin-based services and software company with 39 employees. It says integrating the company in its Services unit will strengthen and accelerate its mobile development for Nokia Maps. Nokia acquired digital map company NAVTEQ last year. [Press release]

Nokia predicts 10% sales drop in 2009

It's the big one. Nokia has published its Q4 results, which saw sales down 19% year-on-year but up 3% on the previous quarter. It sold 113.1 million units, which was down 15% year-on-year and down 4% on Q3, giving it an estimated market share of 37% in Q4 2008 (down from 40% in Q4 2007 and down from 38% in Q3 2008). It says it expects sales in 2009 to be down around 10% from 2008, having previously estimated a 5% drop. [Press release]

Vodafone takes new angle on mobile TV

Vodafone UK has launched a trial scheme with Babelgum Mobile that'll let customers watch video clips 'free' on compatible handsets: initially the Nokia N96, N95 and 6210. Babelgum is a web TV service that, unlike many other video sites, generates its own original programming as well as showing clips from other television channels. [Press release (pdf)]

Nokia to launch 3G dongle in 2009

Nokia says it'll start selling its first 3G internet modem in early 2009, according to press reports. [Source: WashingtonPost.com]

Nokia Comes With Music DRM can be beaten

There are reports that Tunebite, a €19.90 software package, is able to circumvent the Digital Rights Management used by Nokia's 'unlimited' Comes With Music service. Tunebite plays music at high speed and then copies them to a non-encrypted file, so it doesn't actually 'crack' the DRM encryption. [Source: ElectricPig.co.uk]

Smartphone sales slowing

Research and advisory company Gartner says smartphone sales have slowed to their lowest year-on-year growth rate since it started tracking the industry. 36.5 million smartphones were sold to end-users worldwide in the third quarter of 2008, which is an 11.5% increase from the same period in 2007. Nokia maintained its market leadership with 42.4% of market share - down 3% from 2007 - with RIM and Apple taking second and third place respectively. [Press release]

New Mobile News podcast now online

In this week's Mobile News podcast we're talking to Kari Rantanen, who's director of sales and marketing for Nokia's new Smart Home Program. There's also our usual look at mobile industry headlines from the last seven days and a quick preview of the young-at-heart Samsung Tobi handset. As always, you can download or listen free at TheFonecast.com and on the Mobile News website... and you'll find us on iTunes and via RSS too.

The Mobile News podcast is presented and produced by Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge at TheFonecast.com

13% of us rely on mobiles to find the way

In a Nokia press release that's full of comedy facts - more people get lost in London than anywhere else in the world, one in three Londoners deliberately gives people the wrong directions, 10% of Spaniards consider a sense of direction matures with age, the average person wastes 13 minutes when they get lost - there's some mobile-related stuff as well. Apparently 13% of people now use a mobile phone as their main navigation tool. [Press release]

Control your home with a Nokia phone

Nokia is developing a 'smart home' platform - the Nokia Home Control Center - that'll let users monitor and control their home via mobile phone or PC. Consumers can monitor and control their electricity usage and security systems, either from within the home or remotely. The first products are expected by the end of 2009. [Press release]

Nokia leaves Japan (almost)

Nokia says the current economic climate has caused it to leave Japan. It'll stop selling most phones and will end marketing activities in Japan, although a number of researchers will remain and the company will continue selling its luxuty Vertu phones. Nokia currently has around 1% of the handset market in Japan. [Source: Forbes.com]

Yahoo launches voice-enabled mobile search in UK

Following April's USA launch, Yahoo has launched its voice-enabled oneSearch mobile service in the UK. Instead of using a keyboard, users can speak their internet search queries. It's currently available on some BlackBerry devices and Nokia S60 phones. [Source: ZDNet.co.uk]

Nokia puts IBM Lotus Notes email on S60 phones

Nokia and IBM have announced that IBM Lotus Notes will now be supported on many Nokia S60-based mobile phones from December. It means that users of Nokia S60 3rd Edition devices can access corporate email via Lotus Domino Server software - giving them real-time access to email, calendar, address book, diary and to-do list data. Nokia says this collaboration means nearly 90% of business email can be accessed with Nokia devices without the need to purchase additional servers, third-party software or licenses. [Press release]

Mobile Phones of the Year 2008

Hey heck, it's time for reviews of 2008 and annual awards. At least, that's what consumer web site Reevoo is telling us. Its top five highest-rated mobile phones of 2008 are the BlackBerry Bold 9000, the Sony Ericsson W980i, the Apple iPhone 3G, the Samsung F480 Tocco and the Sony Ericsson K660i. The top phone for Christmas - based on ratings in the last 30 days - is the Nokia N96. [Press release]

Mobile manufacturers agree rating system for chargers

LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson have launched an energy rating system for chargers, making it easier for consumers to choose the most energy-saving devices. The new rating system indicates how much energy each charger uses when left plugged into the wall socket after charging is completed. The ratings covers all chargers currently sold by the five companies, range from five stars for the most efficient chargers down to zero stars for those consuming the most energy. Ratings will be shown on each manufacturer's web site. [Nokia press release]

Nokia says mobile industry is slowing down

Nokia says the current global economic situation means the mobile industry will ship fewer devices in the fourth quarter of 2008 than previously expected. In addition, mobile device volume will be down in 2009 compared to 2008. Nokia estimates that around 330 million mobile devices will be shipped worldwide in Q4 2008, up from the estimated 310 million produced in the third quarter of 2008 but resulting in an annual figure of 1.24 billion devices instead of the previously estimated 1.26 billion. [Press release]

Nokia considering unlimited game and video services?

There are suggestions that Nokia's "Comes With Music" unlimited music service could be expanded to offer unlimited games or movie downloads in the near future. [Sources: NMA.co.uk; NokNok.tv]

Mobile phones used for traffic monitoring

Nokia and the University of California have just launched the Mobile Millennium project, which combines anonymous GPS information from mobile phones with data from existing traffic sensors. From today, any San Francisco Bay Area resident will be able to automatically submit and receive traffic information between the San Francisco Bay Area and the Lake Tahoe ski area, either on compatible smartphones or iusing a PC browser. [PDF fact sheet]

Global smartphone sales up 28%

More research from Canalys. These figures say smartphone shipments have risen 27.9% worldwide (from Q3 2007 to Q3 2008), hitting 39.9 million. This means smartphones now represent around 13% of the total mobile phone market, up 2% from the previous quarter. Nokia has retained its market lead, but its share has been eaten into by Apple and BlackBerry devices. [Press release]

Mobile phone market shows effects of global financial crisis

Research company IDC says the global financial crisis is being felt by the mobile phone industry, with sales down significantly in the third quarter of 2008. Their figures show that manufacturers shipped 299 million handsets in Q3 2008, up 3.2% from last year but down 0.4% from the previous quarter. Historically, the third quarter has seen an increase as manufacturers prepare for Christmas. Average selling prices for mobiles have also begun to drop. Nokia leads the list of mobile manufacturers with a 39.4% market share, Samsung is second with 17.3%, Sony Ericsson has moved up to third place with 8.6%, Motorola is fourth with 8.5% and LG is fifth with 7.7%. Strategy Analytics has calculated similar figures; they say 303 million cellphones were shipped worldwide in Q3 2008, up 5% year-on-year, which is the industry’s weakest growth rate since 2002. [IDC press release; Strategy Analytics report]

Nokia's quarterly figures are down

Nokia has reported its figures for Q3 2008. Revenue from sales is down 5% year-on-year and down 7% from the previous quarter. Profits are down rather more; it also says its share of the mobile market has slipped from 40% in Q2 2008 to 38%, as it had warned in September. However, it expects its mobile device market share in the fourth quarter of 2008 to be no worse. [Sources: Press release; Mobile News]