Out with Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, a 30 year Nokia vet and in with Steven Elop, former president of Microsoft’s Business Division. Due to leave September 20th for his new digs as the Nokia CEO, no replacement has been announced at Microsoft to replace Steven Elop quite yet. Steve Ballmer has released a letter (see below) that announces Elop’s resignation and how Microsoft will continue forward.

CNET – In a late night press release, Nokia said it has hired Elop to replace Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who will leave his position on Sept. 20. Kallasvuo, a 30 year Nokia veteran, will also leave the company’s board but remains non-executive chairman of Nokia Siemens Networks.

“The time is right to accelerate the company’s renewal; to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success,” Nokia Chairman Jorma Ollila said in a statement.

I wonder how this will effect the upcoming Nokia N8, Nokia N9 and MeeGo plans.

[ Links: CNET, Ballmer's Letter to Microsoft Employees ]

Not sure how I feel about this. The commercial feels cheap and unfinished and it looks far too much like the Nokia N8, which is a Symbian device, not the purported Nokia and Intel MeeGo device that will replace the Nokia N900/Maemo 5 device. Just looks like a N8 with a very thin slider keyboard. Rumored specs include:

MeeGo OS
HDMI connector
USB (host mode)
CPU:1Ghz Cortex A8
Camera: 12MP, with flash
Video: 1024 x 600
Support 720P video format, and 1080P HD playback
64G internal storage

Just putting the rumor out there. More updates later.

Seems like the patient – or in some cases, rather impatient – owners of the Maemo 5 (Linux) based Nokia N900 cellphone has finally gotten the update they’ve been looking forward to for quite some time, PR1.2 or 10.2010.19-1.

New games join the veritable arcade already on offer in Ovi Store. Jurassic 3D Rollercoaster, Zen-bound, Angry Birds (level pack), Sygic, Kroll, Weatherbug, and GoGadget are all available to keep you entertained. Important to note though that Ovi Store will do a full switchover this week Thursday, May 27, so these games and other for-purchase apps will show up then.

The prior leaked version was 10.2010.12-9, so that’s at least 7 weeks of testing and bug fixes. Let’s see how the rest of the week shakes out. And lets see if the apps based on Qt 4.6 also start flooding out too.

[ Links: Nokia N900, Nokia Conversations, Nokia PR1.2 Leaked ]

Apparently the long-awaited update for the Maemo based Nokia N900 has been leaked as a global PR1.2 update and has finally updated a lot of stuff after the prior PR1.1 and PR1.1.1 updates; which ushered in a few updates and bug fixes. What’s been confirmed so far is:

• Qt updated to 4.6.2
• Portrait Browser Mode
• Updated Application Manager
• Skype and Google Talk video calling
• Improved virtual keyboard
• USSD call codes now work
• Improved camera options
• Build No: 10.2010.12-9

Among other UI and software updates, unfortunately there’s not an update for the Flash version but it’s not the 10.1 Flash Player (version 9.0.260.0). PR1.2 is apparently quite the update.

As it stands though, Nokia has not officially released the PR1.2 update and this build is 4 weeks behind the latest known PR1.2 update, but as it stands this leaked version is a global release that has plenty of bugfixes and features that many Nokia N900 owners have been waiting for. I’m impressed with the Skype video calls… that’s a killer app in my mind. More over at Talk.Maemo.org (TMO).

Update: Ovi Maps 3.0 also confirmed.
Update: Flash Player has been updated from 9.0.246.0 to 9.0.260.0.

[ Related Links: Maemo "PR1.2 Is Released" Thread, Nokia N900 PR1.1 Update ]

In a move that more than likely caught the entire world – well, the people that actually care about open source on phones, pocketables, netbooks, televisions (upcoming) and so forth – by surprise.

I’m sure you’ve heard the news: Moblin and maemo are merging! We are taking the best pieces from these two open source projects and are creating the MeeGo software platform. Both teams have worked for a long time to support the needs of the mobile user experience – and MeeGo will make this even better. We want it to be fun, focused, flexible, technically challenging and ultimately, something that can change the world.

As far as how this fits into the Nokia Linux based Maemo handset platform, which so far has produced the Nokia N900 to date, has yet to be discussed. But products are to be released in the second half of 2010 based on the MeeGo open source OS, of which “MeeGo” is copyright the Linux Foundation.

[ Links: MeeGo ] [ Discussion: Talk.Maemo.Org ]

Call it a work in progress, but some illustrious members of Maemo.org have gotten Google Android (Eclair) to boot and be functional on the Maemo Linux based Nokia N900. Why is it a work in progress? The touchscreen works, as well as the keyboard on the N900; however you will not be making any phone calls via Android on the N900 quite yet. In fact, not all sounds or modules have been interfaced yet.

However, it’s pretty darn cool. Read more about it over at Maemo.org – [ thread here ]

Earlier in the week, Nokia came out with their PR1.01 and people were wondering when the “by Christmas” update that Nokia promised was coming. Well, question no more. Nokia’s PR1.1 update raises the Maemo 5 build to 2.2009.51-1.

First up is support for the Swiss keymat variant with hardware and virtual keyboard layouts supporting the combination of German, Italian and English characters. We’ll also see full compatibility with certain SIM cards from network operator 3. Although only a small number of SIM cards were impacted at the time, this release means the N900 is now fully compatible with 3 SIM cards.

Mail for Exchange also sees an update which will it allow it to work with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. This should bring the possibility of Exchange integration to a much broader group of users.

Ovi Maps also gets the update treatment, with improvements made to search performance and route calculation. Beyond these major changes come a range of smaller usability improvements which have been worked into the release and are based on the excellent user feedback the team have received (keep it coming).

Microsoft Exchange 2003 support, an updated Ovi Maps, among other fixes that people have been plain out begging for since the initial release of the Nokia N900.

The rollout is being staged across multiple territories, so if you do not see it now, be patient. Read more about it at Nokia Connections or at the Nokia Maemo 5 Wiki.

[ Links: Nokia Connections, Maemo 5 Wiki, Maemo Talk ]

Did you preorder one? If not, don’t feel too bad because the slightly delayed Nokia N900 is now shipping to Europe, Middle East, Russia and North America. Preorders are definitely going to be filled first, but shortly thereafter it’ll be easily enough to pick one up.

Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a speech the company started deliveries of the phone on Tuesday.

The N900 model is Nokia’s first phone running the Linux Maemo operating system, which analysts see as a key for Nokia to regain ground in the coming years.

In the US, T-Mobile will be the carrier of choice initially. Let’s hope later announcements include expanded frequencies that will allow 3G support on AT&T or other US carriers.

[ Nokia N900 ] [ Related: N-Series Maemoproject.com Viral Ads ]

Seems like Nokia is going viral for the upcoming and heavily anticipated Nokia N900 [ site here ] for their advertising.

It sorta starts at Major Compete [ site here ] and you’ll see a note:

M _ _ m _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _

With some good deduction, it lands you on Maemoproject.com [ site here ] which… well, is just a looping video of a room with four visible chairs, a table, some glitchy video and… well, a hint that something that’s forthcoming. What else could it be, I don’t know.

Update: It was for a contest where you can enter to win a Nokia N900 and other items.

[ Nokia N900 ] [ Maemo Project ] [ Major Compete ]