Hasta La Gadget!

Nokia’s US prexy Chris Weber’s been making the media rounds lately, talking up the company’s Windows Phone near-future and offering a peek at the marketing blitz to come. In an interview with VentureBeat, Weber confirmed the death of Symbian and the N9’s North American release, but was much less straightforward when asked about the WP7 launch, saying only that a US focus is paramount to the OEM’s global success. The MS-blessed smartphones are set to debut “in volume” next year, at which point Nokia hopes to have ironed out its complex negotiations with carriers, bringing aggressively subsidized handsets to market. Nokia’s chief also engaged in a bit of mobile OS grandstanding, touting Microsoft’s live tile integrated approach as superior to the “outdated” app focus popularized by iOS and Android. And if you’re wondering just how the OEM plans to differentiate its hardware in this cluttered wireless market, expect to see phones with an emphasis on “state-of-the-art imaging technology and battery performance.” Here’s to hoping Weber’s words don’t come back to haunt him when his bet goes live next year.

Nokia’s Chris Weber promises US-centric push for Windows Phone 7 devices originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A senior executive leaving Microsoft may not always be the best of signs for the company and / or the exec, but it appears that Charlie Kindel’s just-announced departure is an amicable one for all involved. Kindel, as you may be aware, has been with Microsoft for 21 years, and most recently served as general manager for the Windows Phone Developer Ecosystem following earlier terms leading up the Windows Home Server and eHome divisions. So why pack up and leave all of a sudden? It seems Kindel has decided it was an opportune time to launch his own startup, which he’s keeping suitably mysterious at the moment (something to do with “sports, advertising, mobile, social-networking, and, of course, the cloud,” apparently). He has decidedly more to say about Windows Phone, however, which he calls flat-out “the BEST product Microsoft has ever built” (emphasis his), and one that he won’t stop using after he leaves the company. Hit the links below for Kindel’s own message announcing his departure, plus an interview with GeekWire.

Windows Phone GM Charlie Kindel leaves Microsoft to launch startup originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a well-known fact that China’s Great Firewall isn’t particularly friendly with certain foreign online services, and sadly, it appears that we may now have a new victim joining the likes of Facebook, Twitter and, sometimes, Android Market. According to Windows Phone Sauce blogger Kane Gao, many Windows Phone 7 users in China have had limited access to the Marketplace over the last few days — they can’t download any app, but they can still browse content and receive update notifications.

While Microsoft’s service has yet to go live in China, Chinese users could still purchase apps by changing all of their profile location settings to the US. Alas, this trick is of no use now, though it’s unlikely that Microsoft’s the culprit here — it wouldn’t make sense to block genuine US users who are visiting China. Fortunately, Kane had no problem getting to the Marketplace via a US VPN, which is a big tell-tale sign showing that the Great Firewall has decided to barricade WP7’s very own app market. The reason? We’ll never know, and there’s no telling on whether this is a permanent ban, either. Nokia, being a big player in the country, sure hopes not.

[Thanks, JagsLive and Rahul]

China loses partial access to Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, Great Firewall to be blamed? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Groupme, the little group messaging service that made a bit of a splash at Google I/O, turns 3.0 today. There are some shiny new features on board, including a simpler way to exchange private messages and “Questions” for sparking conversations when you’re not sure who to talk to. But, the big news — Groupme 3.0 is now platform and nation agnostic. With the latest update, the service will be available in 90 countries and add Windows Phone 7 to its list of supported OSes, alongside iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android. Even if you’re sitting in front of your desktop you can still take part in the mass messaging fun. The website has been overhauled and now sports all of the same features, like photo-sharing and group management, as the mobile apps. Check out the source link to get the latest version for your handset of choice — provided you’re not a Symbian fan — and don’t miss the gallery below.

Groupme 3.0 goes international and cross-platform, questions everything originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Between the “accidental” unveiling of the Sea Ray, the announcement of Fujitsu’s Mango device, and the less-than-stellar Q2 Nokia had, it doesn’t take a lot of crazy speculation to surmise that Stephen Elop’s quite the eager beaver in ensuring it’ll get the most out of its newfound marriage with Microsoft as soon as possible. Thus, hearing word of a special event being thrown at the beginning of Gamescom, an annual gaming conference in Germany, is definitely a good sign; according to press invites sent out today, the party — to be held on August 17th — promises “exciting actions and surprises,” and we’re pretty sure they don’t mean a free t-shirt. So join with us in determining what these surprises are, but please… don’t try that hard.

Update: Well, don’t ever say we told you to temper your excitement. We just heard from Nokia itself that this is nothing more than a “local developer event,” and to not expect any new devices that we haven’t heard of before. But hey, at least the fall edition of CTIA isn’t too far out…

Nokia and Microsoft hosting special event August 17th (update: no new hardware) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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