Device Arena

Nokia hosts games industry leaders from around the world today in Rome, Italy to discuss openly about how to evolve, innovate and cooperate together to grow the mobile games business globally. In addition to discussions around trends in mobile gaming, publishers’ perspectives and visions of the future, attendees learn how the N-Gage service has been doing since its launch six months ago, hear how Nokia Games Publishing is innovating with new games like Dance Fabulous, and see concepts of the top three finalists of the Mobile Games Innovation Challenge.

“With the N-Gage service now live for six months, we have a truly global service on offer with sales transactions in over 130 countries and tens of millions of N-Gage compatible devices available,” said Tero Ojanper?, executive vice president and head of the Nokia entertainment and communities business. “The most active players reside in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Australia and Spain, but we’ve seen active players worldwide with repeat purchase rates over 35% globally. Game trials have also proved to be important, with download to purchase conversions up to 30%.”

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Qt Software today announced the porting of Qt to S60 on Symbian OS(TM), the world’s leading, open smartphone platform. Qt is a powerful C++ application development framework, which makes it easy for developers to create applications once and then deploy them on any of the Windows, Mac, Linux, Windows CE, Windows Mobile and embedded Linux platforms. With the inclusion of the S60 platform, developers have an additional 80 million* target devices that they can support with their Qt-based applications.

“Qt brings an elegant and intuitive C++ development tool to the S60 platform, improving the ability to develop richer user experiences on the platform, and making S60 on Symbian OS even more attractive for developers to target with their applications and services,” said Sebastian Nystr?m, Vice President of Qt Software, Nokia.

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Nokia today announced the top 10 developers of its Mobile Games Innovation Challenge. The winners, to be announced at an exclusive awards ceremony later this month, will take home a total prize value of EUR 70,000. The three most innovative game concepts will be offered Nokia Publishing pre-production contracts. In addition, the first winner will be awarded EUR 40,000, the second EUR 20,000, and the third EUR 10,000 to enable further development of the chosen concept.

An independent panel of industry experts from across the globe has spent the past few weeks deliberating through over a hundred entries to come up with a shortlist of the most innovative mobile games concepts. Entries were judged on game innovation, fun, feasibility of execution, and market potential. The top three developers who best meet these requirements will be invited to present their concepts at the upcoming Nokia Games Summit in Rome, Italy on October 29, 2008.

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Nokia today announced that several leading U.S. publishers have joined the Nokia Media Network, a premium advertising network that provides brands reach to millions of mobile consumers through advertising on blue-chip mobile publishers, operator partners and Nokia services, furthering Nokia’s reputation of providing wide audience reach on high-quality publisher mobile sites.

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Eduardo Montes, 57, former Member of the Siemens Managing Board has resigned from the Board of Directors of Nokia Siemens Networks B.V., effective as of October 6, 2008. He will be replaced by Siegfried Russwurm, 45, Member of the Siemens Managing Board and Head of Corporate Human Resources, effective as of today. Within the Siemens Managing Board, Russwurm has special responsibility for Europe, CIS and Africa and is therefore the expert for Nokia Siemens Network’s key regions.

After the change the Board of Nokia Siemens Networks will consist of the following seven members: Nokia President and CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (Chairman of the Nokia Siemens Networks Board); Siemens President and CEO, Peter L?scher; the Head of Nokia Operational Human Resources, Juha ?kr?s; Siemens CFO, Joe Kaeser; Member of the Siemens Managing Board and Head of Corporate HR, Siegfried Russwurm; Executive Vice President, Services & Software, Nokia, Niklas Savander; and Nokia CFO, Rick Simonson.

Nokia

Nokia turned up the volume on its music offering today by unveiling the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, a mobile device for music that brings innovative new features to the mass market. Delivering on Nokia’s vision to provide the best total music experience possible, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will be among the first devices to support Comes With Music, Nokia’s groundbreaking service which offers one year of unlimited access to the entire Nokia Music Store catalogue.

When it comes to music phones, people all over the world want a device that is a great music experience - with more memory, loud and powerful speakers, easy synchronization - and must still work well as a mobile phone with direct access to important contacts and content. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic delivers on all counts and allows consumers to access and share content.

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At the Nokia Remix event held today in London and Singapore, Nokia announced the debut of its pioneering Comes with Music digital entertainment service which offers consumers a new way to discover and enjoy music. Customers who buy a Comes With Music device will be able to explore and enjoy a diverse catalog of music of international and local artists with unlimited access to millions of tracks for a year, keeping the music once the year is over and revolutionizing their digital music experience.

“Comes With Music sets a precedent for consumer value and convenience that the rest of the digital entertainment industry is already copying,” said Tero Ojanper?, executive vice president and head of the Nokia entertainment and communities business. “Trying out a music recommendation is spontaneous as customers can download without worrying about the cost of an album or a track - the freedom and simplicity of the service is unparalleled. And Comes With Music gives you unlimited access to the millions of tracks in the Nokia Music Store and the music is all yours to keep - because it’s not a revolution unless you get to keep your music.”

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Today sees the introduction of S60 5th Edition, the latest release of the world’s leading, open smartphone platform, S60 on Symbian OS. The S60 5th Edition has the most advanced set of features that enable new innovations and new experiences for consumers that want to fully embrace the use of smartphone products.

With S60 5th Edition, the user interface is extended by the introduction of touch and with full support for tactile feedback. Enhanced display resolution support and a new Widescreen mode further compliments the touch UI and enables engaging visual experiences. Also, for the first time, the platform includes a framework for the use of advanced sensor technology. This all allows S60 device manufacturers to create innovative new device concepts for a wider range of user segments, while preserving the rich capabilities of the existing software platform. The first S60 5th Edition based device, designed for music lovers, was announced today - the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

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Nokia and OZ Communications today announced that Nokia is to acquire OZ, a privately held company with approximately 220 employees and headquartered in Montreal, Canada. OZ, the leading consumer mobile messaging solution provider, delivers access to popular instant messaging and email services on consumer mobile devices.

“With OZ, Nokia is renewing its mission of Connecting People by enabling consumers to easily connect and communicate using their favorite Internet communities,” said Niklas Savander, Head of Nokia Services & Software. “OZ’s team and technology will help Nokia to address the fast growing consumer messaging market.”

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Qt Software today announced that Qtopia, a platform for creating user interfaces and applications for advanced consumer electronics based on Linux, has been renamed and launched as Qt Extended 4.4.

Qt enables developers to build innovative services and applications once and then extend the innovation across all major desktop, mobile and other embedded platforms without rewriting the code. Qt Extended extends the Qt application development framework, bringing increased functionality to embedded Linux. Qt Extended inherits the Qt WebKit Integration, which helps device manufacturers enrich applications with live web content such as online maps, music stores and instant messaging.

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