Good night Nokia - Good morning Nokia Microsoft Mobile

Today Nokia officially belongs to Microsoft, and according to a leak so it seems a name change is imminent.

Nokia-Microsoft deal is going to close soon and a leaked Nokia’s letter to its existing Devices and Services business suppliers base reveals two interesting things. First revelation is about renaming of Nokia Oyj to Microsoft Mobile Oy, which will be a wholly-owned Microsoft subsidiary and may be the name of Microsoft’s mobile devices arm. Good thing for suppliers is that current terms and conditions that they have with the Devices and Services business will not change post deal-closure.

"Please note that upon the close of the transaction between Microsoft and Nokia, the name of Nokia Corporation/Nokia Oyj will change to Microsoft Mobile Oy. Microsoft Mobile Oy is the legal entity name that should be used for VAT IDs and for the issuance of invoices."

Nokia has already announced that 25th April will be the date of Nokia-Microsoft deal-closure. The deal faced hurdles in China due to local vendor’s apprehensions and in India due to the ongoing tax issues. 

In an interesting development, HTC has shown interest in buying Nokia’s Chennai plant, if it is up for sale!

This is an era that is being laid to rest today. It is a little sad especially considering that Nokia once dominated the world's mobile phone market. One cannot help but wonder how, and when everything went south... 

Marketing Technology Landscape Rewritten (again)

Scott Brinker at the Chief Marketing Technologist Blog recently released an updated version of the widely circulated landscape of Marketing Technology. The 2014 version has a few updates but also plenty of omissions. 

It comes with one main caveat: this graphic is not comprehensive. It is just a sample, albeit a large one, of the many different kinds of software available to marketers today. There are many more companies — indeed, entire categories — that were not included, merely due to the constraints of time and space.

And by the time you read this, it will inevitably be out of date due to new launches, re-launches, expansions, exits, and mergers. The pace of change in this field is breathtaking.

Click the image for a larger pic.

Tablets gaining (more) ground

Sales of tablet, such as Apple's iPad and Samsung's Galaxy Tab, are increasing rapidly. According to a new forecast from research firm Canalys, tablets are expected to account for half of the personal computer market next year.

In the overall market for personal computers Canalys adds up both desktops, laptops and tablets. Using this broad definition, overall sales are up 18 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period the year before. The total increase is due to the fact that tablets sales have increased, while desktop and laptop sales declined .

Canalys also expect the tables to continue to grow in popularity. In 2014, the forecasters believe a total of 285 million tablets is going to be sold in the world, and it then increases to 396 million tablets in 2017.

The two major suppliers of tablet are Apple and Samsung, and they will, according to Canalys, maintain their lead in the near future. But Canalys also notes that competition is increasing rapidly, and a number of other companies are working hard to grow their individual tablet development. Above all, these companies use Google's Android operating system, the same system that Samsung uses. It is calculated this OS will be used as the basis for 65 percent of all tablets sold .

Canalys also expect that Microsoft will increase its share in the tablet market. Microsoft recently bought Nokia's mobile operations, and thus have their own production of both mobile phones and tablets, to complement Microsoft's current tablet Surface. Microsoft is expected in 2014 to account for 5 percent of all tablets sold.

Appolution

When the iPhone was launched in June of 2007 it was an immediate improvement over previous smartphones and palm pilots. Many a Treos and Nokia 7110s cried out in terror as they were retired that day. While the original iPhone was a noticeable improvement over previous mobile devices, it was still very limited. After all, it had only half a screen of applications and lacked basic tools like a task manager.

Fast forward to 2013 and the iPhone has become a much more integrated device for managing productivity. More recently, a new breed of iPhone apps have begun to hit the App Store that have more intuitive and sleek interfaces. Here are my top pick that may have slipped under your radars.

Evernote

Evernote is my go-to app for organizing the big-data of life. I keep everything in it; meeting notes, audio notes, quotes, blog ideas and drafts, important documentation, articles that I've saved and a great deal more. Evernote is the last notebook you'll ever need. The true power of Evernote resides in its unique search capabilities that allow users to filter notes and documents quickly to access the information they need.

Dropbox

On the surface, Dropbox is another app that allows users to sync, store, share and access files across all their devices. Because Dropbox supports Apple, Microsoft and Android platforms, it is by far the best app for collaborating, storing files and backing devices up.

1Password

Unfortunately, humans are generally not very good at creating or remembering strong passwords that don't include our pet's names or the last 4-digits of our social security numbers. 1Password encrypts and stores all that info, so that user need only remember 1 password. It has a built in Internet browser that will automatically log users in to websites and auto fill account information as they browse on their iOS device.

Interval Run

Finally I thought I’d end this list with a tip for all you runners out there. Want a virtual coach in your ear buds? Then try out this app that tells users when to start running and when to (finally) take a breather. I searched high and low to find an app that would let me customize my intervals any which way I wanted. Noticing that most apps only would let you program one set at a time (5*20 sec) I felt like the hunt was lost. Then I found Interval Run which solves all my interval problems. In addition to Tabata workouts, the app let’s users customize longer running workouts, from 5K plans to hour-long runs. Cost: $1.99 – worth every penny!