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N-Gage to quietly dis-Ngage? |
axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
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From: Londinium
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Rumours are afoot that Nokia will discontinue production of the n-gage.After slumping sales and games dropping off the charts its hardly surprising.
Via: theinquirer.net
ALTHOUGH NOKIA HAS admitted to some pretty stringent cuts in its R&D budget, its entire N-Gage games unit looks in doubt, according to rumours afoot.
The INQ's Nordic mole claims Nokia is plotting to get rid of its entire Bochum, Germany facility by Q1 2006. That's not just N-Gage R&D we're talking about, it's the production facility as well.
Nokia was refusing calls at press time. Sven Mole was pretty much adamant that this is the end for the N-Gage as we know it, although Nokia could easily switch N-Gage production elsewhere.
Last week Nokia admitted it was dispensing with around 250 R&D staff in Finland while around 100 or so other R&D staff would go from other locations.
There had been some surprise that Nokia had also admitted that it was abandoning its 'image ware' line of cameraphone compatible necklaces. It had been assumed that the high end smartphone/cameraphone sector was where Nokia's key strength lies.
It'll be interesting to see if Nokia can regain the high ground next month @ 3GSM Cannes. Nokia knows what my number is. We've tried enough times in the last two days to get a denial of this rumour. We'll be happy to run the denial, if Nokia folk can be bothered to pick up their phones.
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Jake Blues
Joined: May 24, 2004
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how long did it take for you to think of the thread title?
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PeterKay
Joined: Jul 08, 2003
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From: The Ummah
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Cool title - i agree 
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Debu
Joined: Jan 15, 2003
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From: Colchester, UK
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Axxxr, isn't our news reporter for nuthin'.
Back on topic: It was kind of obvious, after the kind of sales figures they had on the ngage.
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axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
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From: Londinium
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Quote:
| Nature wrote:
how long did it take for you to think of the thread title?
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Its good isn't it....Actually its the title from the theinquirer article!  ..So its not really mine!
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[ This Message was edited by: axxxr on 2005-01-19 13:25 ] |
plasmadog
Joined: May 06, 2004
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From: Beantown, India
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i quite liked the n-gage.
it's still the cheapest symbian smartphone with fm radio and can accomodate a 1Gb MMC card, which is great for music on the move.
i can't say the same about the styling though.
well.. n-gage R.I.P
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govigov
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
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From: Back home - Cochin
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Not suprising. But the "image ware" is news. Why did they do that. Prob it had far few takers than anticipated.
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slattery69
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
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From: north east england
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i dont think it would have helped the ngage that all the games were cracked and on the internet within 5 mins of release and also that the can be play on any s60 phone
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BOOYAR
Joined: Aug 19, 2003
Posts: 310
From: UK
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Brilliant.
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Krubach
Joined: Dec 05, 2002
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From: Sunny Portugal! :)
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Quote:
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On 2005-01-19 18:09:03, plasmadog wrote:
which is great for music on the move.
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Please correct me if i'm wrong, but did the N-Gage QD support MP3? I thought it didn't... 
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[ This Message was edited by: Krubach on 2005-01-19 17:33 ] |
whizkidd
Joined: May 14, 2004
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From: India
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You could always use any MP3 player in it.
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axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
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From: Londinium
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And now this according to theregister.........
Nokia has denied online reports that the mobile phone giant is about to can its N-Gage handheld console.
According to a company spokesman cited by Computer and Video Games.com, Nokia remains "completely committed" to the platform.
"Nokia has no intention of shutting down the N-Gage," he said. "We are completely committed to the platform. It's not going anywhere."
Ah, isn't that the truth.
The handheld console was recently dropped from the UK software chart produced by market watcher Chart-Track on behalf of the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA). The decision was made, it's said, because of low sales and less interest in the data.
And when Nokia last week announced a plan to cut back on R&D costs, the axe fell most sharply on the company's multimedia division, which is responsible for the N-Gage.
Nokia is said to have given N-Gage 18 months to prove itself a viable platform. Launched in October 2003, N-Gage didn't rack up 1m shipments until September 2004, though Nokia had previously said it expected to ship rather more than that in the device's first year.
The launch, last May, of the N-Gage QD, which fixed many of the design limitations of the original console, certainly gave the platform a boost, but it's unclear whether it will have given it enough of a lift to justify the money Nokia has spent developing and promoting the console.
Indeed, said the spokesman: "There's been so much money and effort poured into the system we're not going to pull out now."
In October 2003, the N-Gage had few rivals. Now it's up against smaller players like Tapwave and Gizmondo, and, more importantly, the big boys, Nintendo and Sony, with the DS and PSP.
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Posted: 2005-01-19 13:56
