nokia

Nokia has committed another $250 million to its venture funding arm, Nokia Growth Partners, the company announced today.

With that sum, Nokia Growth Partners members will be able to invest in "high potential businesses within the mobile ecosystem." The venture capitalists will focus their efforts in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

China could be an important opportunity for Nokia, so the company has expanded its presence there by appointing former AMD China president David Tang as managing director. Lu Guo, former Keystone Ventures vice president, will act as principal in China.

Nokia's latest fund is its … Read more

A few months after jumping in to the free music streaming sector, Nokia is getting ready to give its Lumia-only service a jump-start with a premium upgrade.

Nokia Music+, an upgrade to the free Mix Radio service that Nokia launched last September, will offer Lumia owners unlimited skips and unlimited downloads, the Finnish handset maker announced in a company blog post today. The service also will offer higher-quality streams, allowing downloads at eight times the existing quality.

The new service will also offer lyrics for users' mobile devices and a Web app for home use.

"Nokia Music is great … Read more

We are just one month away from the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, where the biggest names in the mobile industry will unveil new products.

We're having a difficult time containing our anticipation, especially since CES offered relatively few smartphone announcements. Year by year as the mobile industry grows, so to does the scope and importance of Mobile World Congress.

So what are our CNET editors expecting to see when they touch down in Barcelona next month? Well, I quizzed Senior editors Jessica Dolcourt and Brian Bennett on their predictions and used them as the basis of … Read more

Nokia is readying a flagship smartphone for Verizon Wireless, a new report claims.

Verizon is planning to carry the Lumia handset later this year, The Verge is reporting today, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the company's plans. That device, codenamed Laser, will "be a variant" of Nokia's Lumia 920, but it's not clear what sort of features the handset will have.

According to The Verge, Nokia's device will be put on the same playing field as Verizon's other flagship devices, including the iPhone.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop hinted at a … Read more

A record 700 million smartphones shipped last year, with Samsung and Apple together accounting for half the market, according to new research released today.

While global smartphone shipments increased 490.5 million units over 2011, the 43 percent growth rate slowed in comparison to 2011's growth rate of 64 percent over 2010, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. The research blamed saturation in North America and Western Europe for the slower growth.

"Large marketing budgets, extensive distribution channels, and attractive product portfolios have enabled Samsung and Apple to tighten their grip on the smartphone industry," the market … Read more

Nokia's got a pulse again, but it will take a lot more juice to fully jolt the company back to life.

The Finnish mobile device maker today reported its fourth-quarter results, and the signs are encouraging. After several quarters of losses, the company returned to profitability. Its Lumia smartphone brand, which features the Windows Phone operating system, appears to be taking hold, with the company selling 4.4 million units worldwide in the period.

Stlil, Nokia has a lot of more work to do. While it made steady progress in North America, this remains a relatively small market for … Read more

Nokia might be down, but it's certainly not out.

The company today reported its fourth-quarter earnings, and offered up performance that might make its doomsayers think twice. During the fourth quarter, Nokia was able to generate a profit of 202 million euros ($269 million), a massive gain over the 1 billion euros the company lost during the same period in 2011. Still, Nokia's profit came amid slumping revenue that fell from 10 billion euros in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 8 billion last quarter.

On a full-year basis, Nokia could only muster 30.2 billion euros in … Read more

Starting tomorrow, Nokia will whip out a new color palette for two of its phones. In addition to white and dark gray, the Nokia Lumia 822 Windows phone will now come in red.

For its part, Motorola goes soft on the Droid Razr M, which you'll be able to pick up in pink, as well as the more traditional white and black.

Earlier this morning, Verizon also announced that it will carry Samsung's Ativ Odyssey Windows phone, beginning tomorrow for about $50.

You'll be able to buy the new shades both online and in stores.

Nokia could be planning to bring its true 41-megapixel PureView camera to a Windows Phone handset this year, according to a new report.

The company is working on a device, codenamed EOS, that will come with its full PureView camera, The Verge is reporting today, citing people who have knowledge of Nokia's plans. The device will be the first Windows Phone from Nokia that comes with the company's genuine PureView camera.

Although Nokia throws the "PureView" name around rather casually, the true, high-end camera has really just been available in its Symbian-based Nokia 808 PureView handset. … Read more