Nokia aims for convergence

Nokia, the world's largest handset maker, announced two new services as it moved to expand its business from hardware to the Internet, says International Herald Tribune.

Controlling 40% of the handset market, Nokia is seeking to marry services with its devices, and announced two new services delivering the Web to their cellphones.

Nokia also announced new handsets aimed at the convergence market, including the N78, which succeeds the N73, with better connectivity; an FM transmitter allowing users to play music from the device over a car radio or home hi-fi system; and geo tagging, which will add the GPS co-ordinates of a photo to the meta datafile on the picture.

Although the penetration of voice/data convergence solutions is relatively low at present, a Datamonitor survey of 800 IT decision-makers indicates an increase of 59% to 75% penetration over the next two years, reports NCC.

Voice and data convergence solutions enable the integration of all types of traffic, which can include voice, data, and video, onto a single IP network.

The technology is now mature, and as enterprises realise the many benefits convergence can provide, such as decreased call costs and reduced maintenance, more investments will be made.

Apple TV's software update is now available. Apple CEO Steve Jobs talked about "Apple TV Take Two" at Macworld Expo, in San Francisco in January, says Macworld.

The major upgrade to the software that controls Apple's TV convergence device offers a host of new features, such as the ability to purchase and download video and music directly from iTunes instead of having to use a Mac or PC first.

Apple TV now supports movie rentals through the iTunes Store, a new service also introduced last month that enables iTunes users to download movies and watch them (once, in a 24 hour period once they first start watching) for between $2.99 and $4.99, depending on the video quality and how recently the movie was released.