How #Nokia is reinventing itself with a $60,000 virtual reality camera.

  Last July Nokia revealed Ozo, a high-end virtual reality camera designed to capture video and audio in full, 360-degree glory. It’s the kind of integrated solution that the VR market has been largely lacking; while artists are regularly creating live-action VR content, most of it is coming from custom rigs or cobbled-together solutions. Nothing has stood out as the kind of premium gear that is regularly used to shoot film and television.

Tonight at an event in downtown Los Angeles, Nokia revealed just how much that kind of integrated, professional solution will cost, and it’s not cheap: Ozo is priced at $60,000, putting it well out of reach for the hobbyist. But for Nokia, which is faced with reinventing itself after undergoing cataclysmic upheaval in the past few years, it’s the opportunity to take a leadership position in a nascent industry, much like it did with phones decades ago.

"When I joined in September of 2014, I was tasked with coming up with a new strategy for Nokia Technologies," Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies tells me. After looking through the the experiments the Nokia team had been working on, it was an early prototype of Ozo — first started in 2013 — that caught his eye. "It was a very early prototype; a lab rat. But the video 3D accuracy, and the audio accuracy were phenomenal, even at that stage. And I knew we had a winner, because if you were to think of the market that’s being disrupted, introducing a brand new medium, we were catching it at the right time."

CAMERA COMPANIES LIKE ARRI AND RED ARE NOKIA'S NEW COMPETITORS

Haidamus’ instincts on timing can’t be understated. Ozo will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2016, just as consumers will find themselves with an overabundance of VR viewing options — from simple solutions like Google Cardboard and Gear VR, all the way up to the imminent Playstation VR and Oculus Rift. It’s undoubtedly going to result in a massive uptick in content creation, and Nokia is happy to support every platform or device out there. "There are parts of this market that we’d like to own," Haidamus says. "The content creation piece, and format, of course. And then we’re going to partner everywhere else." It’s a unique take — executives cite camera companies like Arri and RED as points of comparison — carving out a niche that nobody has really bothered to lay claim to yet.

In that regard, the key feature that sets Ozo apart for filmmakers is the inclusion of live monitoring. On film and TV sets, that’s a baseline requirement: directors and cinematographers can see what they’re capturing on a monitor while on set. But for VR, it’s another matter: the computing power needed to stitch imagery together has traditionally meant VR creators have to wait long after they finish shooting to see what they actually captured. Ozo sidesteps that with what Nokia calls "dynamic rendering", allowing filmmakers to don VR goggles and look around the 360-degree field of view captured by Ozo’s eight lenses and microphones in real time.

It sounds like a small detail, but it’s remarkable in action. I tested the feature while the camera was on display, and found the crossfading between the different lenses smooth and natural. It’s not perfect — proper post-production is required for a truly seamless experience — but as a working solution it has the potential to vastly change the way people direct and stage VR.

OZO IS JUST PART OF A MUCH LARGER VR CAMERA PLAN

But narrative isn’t the only use for the camera. This kind of turnkey solution seems ideal for documentarians and journalists — Haidamus tells me they’re talking to National Geographic, and one of the early Ozo demos comes courtesy of NASA — and has tremendous potential in educational and industrial markets. With its streamlined workflow and adorable look (it somehow screams "Nokia design" even though it’s basically just a 9.3-pound sphere), Ozo seems like it could be the most accessible option out there for someone looking to seriously tackle VR storytelling — if it wasn’t for that oh-so-professional price point. But talking to Haidamus, it’s clear Ozo is just part of a much larger VR camera plan Nokia is eyeing.

"THIS TEAM IS EAGER TO GET BACK INTO THE GAME."

"We’re going to make Ozo available for rent at rental houses, to make it accessible, and of course we need to start thinking about how can we make it more accessible to prosumers," he says. "A prosumer [version] would have to be a fraction of this cost, and that has to be something we start thinking about immediately from a product line persepctive. This is going to be the top of the pyramid in terms of quality. There’s going to be something where you might not need every single bell and whistle. Something you can just take as it is, stick it somewhere, press record, and it goes. And that’s something that we are thinking about."

It may all seem rather ambitious for what’s essentially a very, very expensive video camera, but it’s clear Nokia thinks it’s found a niche that it is uniquely suited to capitalize upon — and write a new chapter for the company in the process. "You have to remember that this team is eager to get back into the game," Haidamus stresses. "This is the first product from Nokia Technologies since the phone days, and they just really wanted to outdo themselves."

Theverge.com

Nokia Exec: 'Kids Today Fed Up With iPhone, Confused by Android'

 Kids today! You just can't satisfy them. Well, Apple and Google can't--but, apparently, Nokia can.

According to the Nokia Director of Portfolio, Product Marketing and Sales, Niels Munksgaard, the youth of today are fed up with Apple's iPhone and confused by Google's Android platform. Er…yeah, okay.

"What we see is that youth are pretty much fed up with iPhones," Munksgaard told Pocket-lint in an interview Tuesday. "Everyone has the iPhone. Also, many are not happy with the complexity of Android and the lack of security."

Sure, Niels, because what kids today are really interested in is…smartphone security. That's why people who jailbreak their iPhones or root their Android devices are usually middle-aged.

Munksgaard goes on to say that the youth that "wants to be on the cutting edge and try something new are turning to the Windows phone platform." This of course explains why everyone is jumping on the Windows Phone 7 ship and totally rejecting phones that offer little "cutting edge" improvement, such as Apple's iPhone 4S. And why Android has such a small, shrinking percentage of the smartphone marketshare.

That's all sarcasm, of course. While Windows Phone 7 sales have been dropping precipitously, the iPhone and Android OS continue to shine--Apple sold over 1 million pre-order iPhone 4S's in less than 24 hours, while Android has been the best-selling smartphone OS since the fourth quarter of 2010.

Still, Munksgaard believes that Nokia has something different to offer the market, such as the brightly-colored designs of the Nokia Lumia 800 and the Nokia Lumia 710, Nokia's first Windows Phone 7 phones. Munksgaard says that Nokia wants to deliver services and phones that are different--"The marketplace is extremely crowded. I refer to it as a sea of sameness. When you walk up to a retail shelf at Phones4U and see the number of black mono-blocks sitting on the shelf, it is very confusing to the consumer."

Nokia also plans to offer different services, such as Nokia Mix Radio,Nokia Drive, and Nokia Maps. Nokia Mix Radio, for example, will deliver 15 million music tracks, sorted by genre or taste, that can be downloaded for offline listening. With Nokia Mix Radio you can skip six tracks per hour--so it's a lot like a built-in Pandora. The good news, of course, is that it works out of the box and costs nothing extra.

Pcworld.com

Apple Said to Work on Cheaper IPhones to Ward Off Android-Based Handsets

 Apple Inc. is working on new versions of the iPhone that are aimed at slowing the advance of competing handsets based on Google Inc.’s Android software, according to people who have been briefed on the plans.
One version would be cheaper and smaller than the most recent iPhone, said a person who has seen a prototype and asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. Apple also is developing technology that makes it easier to use the iPhone on multiple wireless networks, two people said.
Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, who remains involved in strategic decisions while on medical leave, would use lower prices to widen the iPhone’s appeal and keep it from losing further ground to Android devices. Less expensive iPhones may also ratchet up pressure on Nokia Oyj, whose handsets are especially popular in Europe and some developing markets.
“Instead of targeting 25 percent of the global mobile- phone market, Apple would be going after 100 percent,” said Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Co. in New York, who has a “buy” rating on Apple shares.
Google’s share of the global smartphone market more than tripled to 32.9 percent in the fourth quarter, eclipsing Apple’s 16 percent, according to Canalys. Apple will face another challenge as Nokia and Microsoft Corp. join forces in smartphone development, a partnership announced today.
Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California- based Apple, declined to comment.
Apple added $1.30 to $355.84 at 9:59 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock had climbed 9.9 percent this year before today.
Smaller, Cheaper

Apple has considered selling the new iPhone for about $200, without obligating users to sign a two-year service contract, said the person who has seen it. Android phones sell for a range of prices at AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and other carriers, and typically come with agreements that include a fee for broken contracts. The iPhone 4, sold in the U.S. by AT&T and Verizon Wireless, costs $200 to $300 when subsidized by a contract.
While Apple has aimed to unveil the device near mid-year, the introduction may be delayed or scrapped, the person said. Few Apple employees know the details of the project, the person said. Apple often works on products that don’t get released.
The prototype was about one-third smaller than the iPhone 4, and it had no “home” button, said the person, who saw it last year.
Apple would sell it at a low price mainly because the smartphone will use a processor, display and other components similar to those used in the current model, rather than pricier, more advanced parts that will be in the next iPhone, the person said. Component prices typically drop over time.
Dual-Mode Phone

Apple is also working on a so-called dual-mode phone, two people said. This device would be able to work with the world’s two main wireless standards -- the global system for mobile communications, used by AT&T and overseas carriers such as Vodafone Group Plc, and code division multiple access, used by Verizon Wireless. It couldn’t be determined whether Apple intended to include this capability in the cheaper iPhone.
Apple is working on a technology called a universal SIM, which would let iPhone users pick from a variety of GSM networks without having to switch the so-called SIM cards that associate a phone with a network, according to one person. Having universal SIM capability built-in would help cut the cost of distributing and managing millions of SIM cards.
The new features could also give Apple an advantage over mobile carriers in influencing customers. The device would be affordable without a carrier subsidy, so buyers wouldn’t need to agree to terms, such as termination fees, that carriers demand in exchange for lowering the cost of the phone.
Global Appeal

A cheaper iPhone would help Apple make deeper inroads in markets such as China and India, where many shoppers opt for lower-priced devices that don’t carry long-term contracts, Wolf said.
Apple has also worked on redesigned iPhone software that would let customers choose a network and configure their device on their own, without relying on a store clerk or representative of a carrier, according to the person.

Apple has gone down-market before. In 2004, when sales of the original $299-plus iPod were still rising, the company introduced the $249 iPod Mini. In 2005, when the iPod Mini was still a bestseller, Jobs discontinued it in favor of the cheaper iPod Nano. Apple began selling the last version of the iPhone, the 3GS, for just $49 in January -- though it required a two- year contract.
Price cuts and the absence of a carrier subsidy may put Apple’s margins under pressure.
Still, Apple is able to get big discounts from suppliers because of the large volume of iPhone sales and by signing long- term contracts. The company said in January that it has executed long-term agreements totaling $3.9 billion in recent months.
Google’s Android operating system also may suffer if Apple makes the iPhone more versatile and affordable. The Google- backed operating system benefited when Apple wasn’t available from Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless began selling the iPhone yesterday.

Bloomberg

Nokia Phones Offering Free GPS for 74 Countries

Nokia on Thursday introduced free driving and walking directions for 74 countries on a range of their mobile phones, in a direct challenge to Google and the entire GPS navigation industry.
The new version of Ovi Maps, available today on 10 phones with more existing models to be added in the next several weeks, will offer voice-guided driving and walking directions featuring text-to-speech, lane assistance, live traffic and road works information, and detailed content from partners including Lonely Planet and Time Out, all for free. Maps will cover 180 countries; navigation will be available in 74, including the U.S. and Canada. By March, all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the software.
"I expect that this will be globally available, including in the United States," said Nokia executive vice president for services Tero Ojanpera.
Not surprisingly, shares of GPS makers Tomtom and Garmin fell sharply on the news.
Google received plenty of press when it recently introduced free voice-guided navigation with the Motorola Droid. But the Droid and its GSM doppelganger, the Milestone, are available in relatively few countries, while Nokia's smartphones are best-sellers across a huge swathe of the world. The 5800, for instance, which is almost unknown in the U.S., sold more than 3 million units in its first six months on the market in Europe and Asia, according to Nokia.
Nokia has offered Ovi Maps navigation for a while, and bundled the service with a Nokia 5800 phone and a car kit to create a "navigation edition" which we reviewed recently. But for almost all of their phones up until now, voice-guided navigation carried a monthly fee and content such as Lonely Planet guides added an additional fee. All of those fees are now gone.
Ojanpera wouldn't explain how partners such as Lonely Planet, Michelin Guides, WCities and Time Out are making money now that Nokia is offering their formerly-for-pay products for free; he also wouldn't confirm or deny that including free navigation would cause smartphone prices to rise. Rather, improved location-based services will enable better mobile advertising and location-based applications, he said.
"It's not about increased prices; it's about having something consumers want," he said.
Nokia's new navigation move comes naturally from their 2008 acquisition of map provider NAVTEQ, which was part of a larger strategy to put location-based services at the forefront, Ojanpera said.
"This is a worldwide map database second to none, which actually enables us to do things that nobody else can do," he said.
Nokia's mapping technology offers several advantages over Google's, Ojanpera said. Ovi Maps can live on your phone's memory card rather than being continually downloaded to your phone, greatly reducing data traffic and letting navigation work even when the phone has no signal. (The maps for the U.S. and Canada take up about 1.6 gigabytes, he said.) The maps also use vector graphics rather than bitmaps, which means they use much less bandwidth when they're streaming to your phone over the network – one-tenth the data traffic of Google maps, Ojanpera said. The low data traffic will appeal to wireless operators, he said.

Nokia's product also has unusually good pedestrian directions, Ojanpera said, including footpaths, one-way streets and other pedestrian-only routes that don't appear on automotive maps. The software includes weather forecasts, 3D renderings of some landmarks, and the ability to post your location to Facebook updates.
Nokia's announcement could have a huge effect on the dedicated GPS navigation industry, especially in countries such as India where Nokia dominates the smartphone market. According to a Nokia press release, there are already about as many Nokia smartphone owners capable of using Ovi Maps as there are dedicated GPS owners in the world.
Ovi Maps is available today for the Nokia N97 Mini, 5800, E52, E55, E72, 5230, 6710, 6730 and X6 phones. Not a single one of those phones is currently available from a U.S. carrier, though some of them are sold unlocked here in the US. We're hoping the software will be available on U.S. carrier-supported phones such as the Nokia E71x soon.

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