Laugh/cry about Nokia all you want, but when it comes down to cold, hard figures, they’re still performing well. They’ve seen a 65 per cent increase in net profits for the last quarter, shipping 126.9m units in the period.
Those 126.9m units shipped in the fourth quarter are 12 per cent more than the previous year, no doubt helped by their recent N900 and N97/N97 Mini launches, which went down a storm in Europe and Asia. Americans still aren’t embracing Nokia like the rest of the world though, with only 3.8m of those 126.9m units being sold in the States.
Giving away Ovi Maps with turn-by-turn navigation for free should help those numbers rise even more, but they’ll be needing to work on some solid hardware launches to reel in the punters. Reports of cutting smartphone launches in half just don’t help matters, Nokia. You’ve still got to get your act together. [TechCrunch]
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Walmart’s told the Christian Science Monitor, of all people, that they won’t be selling the Nexus One through its Walmart Wireless arm, despite a product page saying otherwise. That page has now disappeared, and blamed as a “technical error.”
It could be seen as good news, or bad news. Giz commenter Aja175 summed the leaked product page up neatly with “Wow, there goes the nerd exclusive club. Nexus 1, coming to a trailer park near you!” after hearing the news two days ago, but there’s no denying what Walmart’s reach would’ve given Android.
Walmart’s Ravi Jariwala told the Christian Science Monitor:
“Sorry to disappoint but we have no plans to carry Nexus One in Walmart stores or online at Walmart.com at this time. Due to a technical error, this item erroneously was displayed on our site. We’re working with our partner Let’s Talk to have it removed as quickly as possible, and apologize for any confusion.”
The page has now been taken down, so if you’re wanting that animated-wallpaper-packing Nexus One in the States, your only options now are T-Mobile or straight from Google…until Verizon gets it, anyway. [Christian Science Monitor via Wireless Week]
[Thanks, Carlos!]
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According to a study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, hand-held phone bans have no effect on the frequency of car crashes. Wait, what?
Now, this seems different from specifically texting while driving, which is demonstrably dangerous. But in the four states the IIHS studied, the implementation of a ban on hand-held phones behind the wheel made no difference in the number of accidents:
Month-to-month fluctuations in rates of collision claims in jurisdictions with bans didn’t change from before to after the laws were enacted. Nor did the patterns change in comparison with trends in jurisdictions that didn’t have such laws.
Honestly, this makes some sense, given that it’s not phones themselves that are the problem, but the distraction they cause. There are plenty of other legal methods of taking your eyes off the road, and a hands-free conversation isn’t necessarily any safer than one where you’ve got your phone in your hand.
It’s unlikely that this will cause any states with bans of cellphone use while driving to backtrack, but it may force other local governments to look a little more broadly at what’s behind all those collisions. [NY Times via IIHS]
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