Source: International Herald Tribune
Nokia was set to announce on Monday three new
cellphones for business users and a new version of its Intellisync
Mobile Suite software for corporate road warriors.Analysts said that Nokia’s move — along with a similar software
upgrade that Microsoft announced last week — should intensify the
battle to take market share from Research In Motion, the Canadian maker
of BlackBerry devices and software that dominates the market for
corporate wireless e-mail services.The announcements were scheduled for Monday morning at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona.
The E90 Communicator, one of the three devices Nokia is unveiling,
is an update to a Nokia line that has achieved a kind of cult status
among the geekier business set. It looks like a typical candy-bar-
shaped phone, but flips open horizontally to reveal what is essentially
a miniature laptop computer.David Petts, senior vice president of sales, marketing and services
for Nokia’s enterprise solutions group, said the phone had all of the
latest wireless technology, including Wi-Fi and what is currently the
fastest form of 3G data networking, HSDPA, or high- speed download
packet access. The screen on the new phone is wide enough to view full
Web pages without having to scroll to the left and right, he said. The
Communicator also has a 3.2 megapixel camera, and a video camera for
teleconferencing that faces the user when the phone is flipped open.
The device will be available in the third quarter of the year for about
€750 to €800, or $975 to $1,040, without a contract, Petts said.The second phone, the E61i, is an updated, slimmer version of
Nokia’s E61, a typical one-piece, flat e-mail phone with a full
keyboard below a large screen. The new model adds a 2-megapixel camera
and a media player, as well as a miniature touch pad that replaces the
navigation key.Like its predecessor, it supports Wi-Fi and most major corporate
e-mail services, including Blackberry, Visto, Good and Microsoft
Exchange. Petts said that Nokia, knowing that many companies have more
than one wireless e-mail system, wanted to offer "freedom of choice"
and not try and lock customers into its Intellisync product. The phone
will start selling in April for about €400, Petts said.Nokia’s third new phone, the E65, available this month, is a
candy-bar shaped "slider" with a normal numeric keypad. The phone
emphasizes advanced voice functions for business users like one-touch
conference calling and easy transferring of calls.… [Rest of this article talks about RIM and WinMo]
A $1000 phone.
Now I know why Santa is from Finland.