It looks like Nokia is rethinking its smartphone policy when it comes to its Nseries. The manufacturer is said to focus on Maemo instead of Symbian and therefore all of its future Nseries phone will run Maemo by 2012.

Is Nokia thinking about ditching Symbian? That wouldn’t be such a good idea, would it? Nokia owns Symbian and it should figure out a way of making it more interesting and adapt it to our current needs instead of trying to replace it. But that’s what Nokia seems to be doing. Let’s not forget that the Nseries usually carries Nokia flagship phones. And if the next flagship phones are coming with Maemo OS, should we assume that Maemo will become the preferred mobile OS when it comes to Nokia mobile handsets?

via thereallymobileproject

Tags: Maemo, Mobile News, mobile os, Nokia, Nokia, nseries, symbian

This should be a big boost for mobile app developers. Rhomobile today announced the release of Rhodes 1.0, the industry’s first open source framework for rapidly building mobile applications for all major smartphone operating systems.

Rhodes allows developers to write a smartphone application once using simple HTML and it automatically builds native applications for all smartphones including iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian and now Android.

By enabling developers to code smartphone applications in HTML instead of in diverse and complex native device operating system languages, Rhodes reduces development costs by up to five times and eliminates the need to develop specific applications for each mobile OS. Rhodes’ unique framework allows for creation of robust mobile applications that can take full advantage of smartphone capabilities such as GPS, PIM data and camera.

Rhodes is ideal for mobile applications that require interaction with hosted enterprise application (SaaS) backends like CRM and ERP and allows the user to work offline with synchronized local data.

Rhodes Features:

• Makes developers five times more productive for even a single smartphone OS
• Allows developers to write apps in HTML and simultaneously build for all smartphones
• Supports iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android
• Features the world’s first Ruby implementations for all of those smartphones
• Full access to device capabilities: GPS, PIM contacts, camera
• Allows users to work with synced local data for rapid access and ease of operation when disconnected or offline
• Available as open source realtime on public repositories

Rhodes is available under unique and flexible pricing options suitable for a range of smartphone application efforts providing low cost options for the enterprise to enable their mobile workforce and encouraging entrepreneurial innovation. Rhomobile offers dual licensing under GPLv3 for open source apps and commercial licensing options for enterprises and ISVs.

The Rhodes framework is now available here.

(Source) Press

Tags: application efforts, Business, Cell Phones, device capabilities, enterprise application, entrepreneurial innovation, gplv3, iPhone, mobile applications, mobile os, Mobile Software, mobile workforce, open source apps, open source framework, pricing options, rapid access, smartphone, smartphones, system languages

It looks like Acer is looking beyond the standards Windows platform for its smartphones. Acer is planning to produce smartphones running on platforms besides Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS by the end of the year, the company confirmed.

Acer representatives in Taipei, Taiwan, confirmed that they will launch handsets running on alternative platforms before the year is out, but declined to say which operating systems the phones would use. When Acer launched their lineup of smartphones at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, company officials hinted that Acer was thinking of launching phones using Google’s Android platform.

All of Acer’s phones run on a widget-based version of Windows Mobile 6.1. Acer has said it plans on releasing phones later this year, most likely in the third or fourth quarter, running on Windows Mobile 6.5.

(Source) Fierce Wireless

Tags: Android, Barcelona, Cell Phones, company officials, fierce wireless, fourth quarter, Google, microsoft, mobile os, Mobile Software, mobile world, operating systems, platforms, taipei taiwan, widget, windows platform, world congress

Samsung has another phone kept under wraps and it is called the Samsung Acme i8910. It has similar specs as the Samsung Omnia such as GPS, WiFi, 3.5mm headphone jack and 8GB / 16 GB internal memory. Additionally, it is said to have an 8 megapixel camera and can record HD videos.

Another thing left uncertain is the area of which software the Samsung Acme i8910 will run on. It has been rumored that to use Windows Mobile OS and can support DivX playback and is DLNA compatibility.

We’ve known that Samsung is planning around 11 devices for release at the MWC this month. If this is accurate, then perhaps this rumored Samsung Acme i8910 Smartphone will be one of them.

(Source) Gaj-it

Tags: Cell Phones, GPS, megapixel camera, mobile os, OMNIA, Samsung, Samsung, smartphone