GLOBAL – So, what’s going to be hot this year? Well, we’re no astrologers, but to be fair, it doesn’t take a genius to work out what will be tripping off the tongues of folks around Nokia, and the wider Nokia community, this year. We’ve been scratching our heads, and come up with our little list. Feel free to add yours at the end. Full rundown, after the jump.
Before we kick off, can we just qualify that we’re not commenting on, or referencing, future unannounced products or services here. It’s simply a list of what we think will be popular topics for the year that is 2009, along with a little reasoning as to why.
Product: N97
There’s no need to explain this one, to be fair. The world was wowed at the launch last month, we’ve been impressed every since. The product folks say we can expect to see it fully in the flesh sometime in 2009. We can’t wait.
Product: 5800 XpressMusic going global
Right now only available in a few countries, the 5800 XpressMusic is already proving to be a huge success. And, with wider availability on offer through 2009, we’re excited at the prospects for Nokia’s first touchscreen.
Concept: Phones without chargers
There’s no telling where this one is going to go right now, but the environmental folks at Nokia have high ambitions around the concept of selling phones without chargers. Why? Well selling phones without chargers means phones can ship in smaller boxes (saves energy, packaging and money) and consumers only get what they actually need – this is for those who already own Nokia devices. A definite talking point.
Service: Maps
Already evolving at a pace even we didn’t expect to see, Maps, navigation and GPS will all continue to be hot topics in 2009. Why? Well, the proliferation of GPS-enabled devices will be a start. The evolution of the Maps app will keep it on people’s lips along with the range of cool new GPS-enabled apps. Bring it on.
Service: Ovi
What’s in store for Ovi this year? Lots, if 2008 is anything to go by. Take a look at what we have in Ovi right now against what it was 12 months ago. Comparable? Of course not. So what’s it going to be like 12 months from now? We don’t have a clue, other than it’s going to be nothing like it is today – simply put, even better.
Thought: Peak Phone
Charlie asked this one at the back end of last year. Have we hit Peak Phone yet? Did we hit it last year? It’ll be a long time before we find out for sure, meanwhile it’ll make one hell of a geek dinner table topic, from now right through to December, for sure.
Global: Financial crisis
The second half of 2008 was consumed by little else than the words credit, crunch and various negative adjectives. The immediate future doesn’t sound any more fantastic with caution paving the way through to what could well be a brave new world. What’s it to be like? Time will tell, meanwhile expect to spend plenty of time having fun guessing.
Service: Music
Comes with Music attracted plenty of coverage during 2008. As we move across 2009 it’s sure to be doing the same, as the service is predicted to roll out in more countries. It isn’t just about CwM though, the Nokia Music Store too should give us plenty of topic-fodder for this year, along with the myriad music devices we’re bound to see through 2009.
Service: Mobile Email
The ambition for Mail on Ovi is simple – connect the people to the Internet who aren’t yet connected. Through their phones. The concept makes sense to us, and as the service rolls out through the year we’ll be getting a clearer picture of how it’s being recieved. As big as Hotmail, Gmail and all the rest? Ask us this time next year. The predictions right now are pretty clear – 400 million email enabled handsets by 2010.
Thought: Sustainability
This crosses every part of our lives though seems to have evolved out of environmental issues and is now rearing it’s head across all parts of our lives and business. That’s a good thing. It’s at the centre of what Nokia is all about, with new questions about Sustainability being used to improve life and business across the planet. That, we think is a good thing, and will, we reckon, continue to be one of the hottest talking points of 2009.
Now, how about yours. What’s on your agenda for the next 12 months?
Photo by 12218772@N00