Nokia accuses Apple of Siri bias

15 May 2012 Last updated at 16:18 Since launch, iPhone users have discovered unexpected answers from Siri The debate over "what is the best smartphone ever?" took an unexpected twist after Apple's voice-activated assistant Siri appeared to favour the iPhone's rival.

Over the weekend, users of Siri were told the answer was Nokia's Lumia 900.

But Siri now responds to the same question with a jovial: "Wait... there are other phones?"

Nokia has accused Apple of "overriding the software" after the quirk was noticed.

Apple would not confirm that a change had been made.

The Siri software, which is featured on Apple's iPhone 4S, uses the computational search engine Wolfram Alpha to serve answers to some questions.

'Flattered'

For a question such as "what is the best smartphone ever?", Wolfram Alpha would pool available reviews and comment in order to come up with what it feels is the right result.

In this instance, the "best" result was determined by reviews on the website of US retailer Best Buy.

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Siri has offered some unexpected responses since launching on the iPhone 4S last year.

Scottish users of the feature were said to be frustrated over Siri's inability to understand their accent.In December, Apple denied that it was stopping Siri from locating local abortion clinics, saying any misinformation was "not intentional".When asked: 'What is the meaning of life?', Siri will reply "42", a nod to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.Nokia's Lumia 900 - which launched in the UK this month - came out on top.

However, when asked the same question, the software no longer attempts to search Wolfram Alpha to find its answer, instead producing a default answer.

Nokia spokeswoman Tracey Postill told the Sydney Morning Herald: "Apple position Siri as the intelligent system that's there to help, but clearly if they don't like the answer, they override the software."

However, when contacted by the BBC, Nokia said Ms Postill's comments were "lighthearted" and "taken out of context".

"We were certainly flattered and honoured," Nokia spokesman Doug Dawson added.

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Nokia bets on Windows Phone

26 October 2011 Last updated at 09:29 GMT By Tim Weber Business editor, BBC News website, at Nokia World Nokia unveiled its new Lumia phones at a London event Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has launched two new smartphones based on Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7.5 operating system.

The Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710 mark the beginning of Nokia's fightback against Apple's iPhone and rivals using Google's Android software.

Nokia's new boss, Stephen Elop, had previously warned that the company was stuck on a "burning platform".

Today he said the launch marked the "rebirth" of Nokia.

In an unusual move for the company, it will start shipping the Lumia 800 range almost immediately and hit the shops in France, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain and the Netherlands in November.

The firm also announced four new basic phones.

Rory Cellan-Jones looks at Nokia's new Lumia 800 smartphone

The brightly coloured handsets are pitched at developing countries.

Mr Elop said the phones would blur the boundaries between feature phones and smart phones, bringing the internet "to the next billion people".

The new range will be called Asha, a name that clearly identifies Nokia's target market: the name is derived from the Hindi word for "hope".

Although the phones will be relatively cheap, they will sport features like touch screens, 5 mega pixel cameras, bright screens, 32GB storage for music and long battery life.

Smartphone fightback

Profit margins in the market for basic phones are razor thin, and so Nokia's main focus will be on its new smartphones.

Until recently, the company was the world's largest maker of smartphones.

However, its market share has been falling rapidly, and in one of his first moves after taking over at Nokia a year ago, Mr Elop ditched Nokia's two operating systems for phones - the venerable Symbian and the Linux-based MeeGo - and struck a broad alliance with Microsoft.

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The question is will Indian and Chinese consumers continue to want Nokia phones if they are shunned by American and European buyers?”

End Quote Now Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7.5 operating system, also dubbed Mango, will power all Nokia's smartphones.

Mr Elop acknowledged that the Lumia 800 was a design development of a previous Nokia phone, the MeeGo-based N9.

Mr Elop said the "Lumia is the first real Windows phone" and predicted the company would be the leader in "smartphone design and craftsmanship".

The Lumia 710, which comes in a range of funky colours, will be pitched as the "affordable" Windows phone.

The phone's product manager, Kevin Shiels, said the new phones would have integrated cameras with high-end Carl Zeiss lenses.

In an explicit dig at Apple's iPhones, he demonstrated how Windows Phone shows information and updates directly on the first screen, without having to tap into applications.

Speaking at the Nokia World congress, Mr Elop said Nokia had "some tough decisions to make, but [we] have started to deliver some early results".

Nokia had been seen as "reliable, trustworthy", like a mother that will "comb your hair... but that's not good enough," he said.

"We expect people to see something special when they hear Nokia," said Mr Elop.

Nokia services

To distinguish itself from other makers of Windows phones like HTC, Samsung and LG, Nokia is betting on a range of services.

The BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones interviews Nokia boss Stephen Elop

Key among them is the integration of location-based services like Nokia Maps, real-time navigation software Nokia Drive, a live-streaming music service Mix Radio and Liveview, an augmented reality service.

Nokia's navigation service Drive will be free. It will not run in an app but will use HTML 5 technology, and will be updated with traffic information in real-time.

Nokia will also deliver its phones with the ESPN sports hub, which will provide free access to text and video news from ESPN.

The biggest innovation, though, could be Nokia Pulse, a service that combines elements of social networking with location services. It allows users to share with friends and family experiences - from pictures to whereabouts to activities, integrated with Nokia's mapping service

Cold water

Shortly before Mr Elop announced the switch to Microsoft Windows Phone, he sent an email to his staff, in which he compared the company to a man on a burning platform, who had the choice of burning to death or jumping into the icy waters below.

The launch of the new phones is Nokia's splash landing. Mr Elop will hope that the new hardware and software offering will be popular enough with consumers to allow the company to swim.

The Lumia 710 is a cheaper alternative to the 800 model

But it is not just Nokia that has a lot riding on the launch of these phones.

Software giant Microsoft has been struggling for years to break into the mobile phone market. Its most recent offering, the Windows Phone 7 software, has been well received but gained little traction in the market.

The company will hope that Nokia's close relationship with mobile phone network operators around the world will give it the access to consumers that has been lacking so far.

The Lumia launch, with 35 network operators, will be accompanied by a campaign called "The Amazing Everyday" involving viral marketing stunts.

Microsoft is reportedly supporting both Nokia and Samsung with tens of millions of dollars to advertise new Windows Phones in the market.

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Apple overtakes Nokia and Samsung

29 July 2011 Last updated at 11:55 GMT Handsets from Apple (left) and Samsung (right) saw the biggest growth Apple has become the world's biggest seller of smartphones, according to industry analysts.

The US firm overtook both previous leader Nokia and Samsung in the second quarter of the year, when total smartphone sales hit a record 110m.

The figures from Strategy Analytics also showed that 361m handsets were shipped, up 13% on the previous year.

Nokia remained the biggest seller of all types of handsets, but the numbers shipped and its market share fell.

It shipped 20% fewer handsets in the second quarter - 88.5 million.

The Finnish firm's market share dipped to 25% - its lowest level since 1999.

'Star'

The report describes Apple as the "star performer" during the quarter, more than doubling its handset shipments to a record 20.3 million units.

All handsets Smartphones Total market share

However, its share of the overall market was 6%, making it the world's fourth biggest mobile phone seller behind Nokia, Samsung and LG.

Samsung shipped 74 million units, rising 16% from 63.8 million in the quarter a year earlier.

The company's market share rose to just above 20%, and Samsung is now "breathing down Nokia's neck", the report said.

Strategy Analytics said Nokia was plagued by problems.

"An unexciting touchphone portfolio, inventory corrections in Asia and Western Europe, wavering demand for the Symbian platform and limited presence in the huge US market continue to weigh on Nokia's near-term performance," the report said.

Third-placed LG shipped 24.8 million handsets during the three months, with volumes down 19% from a year earlier.

China-based ZTE shipped 18 million handsets, giving it a global market share of 5%.

Seperately, Taiwan's HTC said it had shipped 12m handsets in the second quarter of the year, helping its profits double to 17.5 billion Taiwan dollars ($607m; £372m).

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Nokia beats Apple, Google as top brand in Philippines

A recent survey by Nielsen and Campaign revealed that Nokia is the top brand in the Philippines, across all markets (not just tech), beating Apple and Google.

The report, published last month (full story requires paid subscription here) puts Nokia as the #1 favorite brand in the country.

The top 10 brands that made it to the list are the ff.

Top 10 Favorite Brands
Nokia – 84%
Nescafe – 80%
Lucky Me – 75%
Energizer – 73%
Jollibee – 65%
Selecta – 57%
C2 – 51%
Gatorade – 51%
Cobra – 49%
SM Malls – 49%

Interestingly, Nokia is also the only tech brand that’s on the list. Not even Apple or Google, which usually get very good ratings in the US, made it to the top 10.

The survey was conducted from a random sample of 1,000 respondents in urban areas in the Philippines.

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