Earlier this week David Rivas, VP of Technology Management at Nokia, showed off a demo of the interface for the Symbian^3 (S^3) smartphone OS at a demo in San Francisco. The first Nokia phones running the now completely open source platform will be available later this year.
During the presentation, which primarily demonstrated customizing the interface, Rivas talked about the features that will set it apart in the smartphone market. Of particular note were his comments about multitasking.
He pointed out that Nokia has had multitasking on their smartphones for several years, and indicated it will be “coming much more front and center.”
You can see the demo in this video posted by PhoneDog.com’s Noah Kravitz.
Result for: AVI
An analytics firm, the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices (SACHD) has released a forecasting report that says the Sony PlayStation 3 will eventually outsell the Xbox 360 and the Wii, on route to 127 million units sold.
The “Taming the Waves: Games Console Life Cycles and Platform Competition,” report says that Sony’s PS3 will surpass the Wii eventually despite a giant gap now, as the firm believes the PS3 will still be a viable platform for at least five years after the Wii is replaced.
Overall, SACHD sees 103 million units sold for the Wii, and 127 million for the PS3. They did not offer a prediction for the Xbox 360.
“Nintendo has done a great job with the Wii in bringing console games to new audiences,” says SACHD analyst David Mercer. “But its sales are now falling, particularly in mature markets, and its installed base will peak in 2011. Ownership of both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 will hit their highest points between 2012 and 2014.”
The SACHD also says the “global installed base of home consoles will reach over 220 million” by the end of 2010.
Result for: AVI
According to the NYPost, Blockbuster is on its last legs, and is looking for an equity partner as it runs completely out of money.
Citing insider sources, Blockbuster needs $213.5 million in cash to pay off loans and interest for 2010, with a similar amount coming due in 2011. According to latest financials, the company only has about $211 million in cash, and is expected to lose as much as $120 million in 2010, leaving them with no ability to pay off the loans unless they sell more of their assets, or complete larger cost cutting measures.
After the report, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes disagreed with the assessment: “All your numbers are wrong. They bear no resemblance to any materials we have in the market.” Any talks with private equity firms are for “strategic alternatives,” not to add capital infusions.
In February, Blockbuster said they owed $105 million in interest payments for 2010, but did not add what they needed to pay in principal.
