While Nokia and Blackberry wasn’t the only mobile handset companies that are in the red zone, the companies that co-existed during that era the likes of Sony Ericsson, Motorola (now owned by Google) just went slipping away from the market leaders.

FROM THE PRESS :

Mobile phone maker Nokia Oyi on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 1.07 billion euros (US$1.38 billion) as sales slumped 21 percent even as the company’s first smartphones running Microsoft Corp’s Windows hit markets in Europe and Asia.

The loss, widened by a 1 billion euro loss booked on Nokia’s navigation systems unit, compares with a profit of 745 million euros in the same period a year earlier.

Nokia said net revenue — including both its mobile phones and its network divisions — fell from 12.6 billion euros in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 10 billion euros, with smartphone sales plunging 23 percent

—AP Report

NEW YORK (AFP) – Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, the co-chief executives of Research In Motion, have resigned following months of investor pressure for a change at the helm of the struggling BlackBerry maker.Chief operating officer Thorsten Heins was named president and CEO of the Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM, which has been steadily losing market share to Apple’s iPhone and handsets powered by Google’s Android software.RIM saw its share of US smartphone subscribers fall to 16.6 percent at the end of November from 19.7 percent at the end of August, according to comScore.

“”An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator. An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator…. these are NOT three separate devices!” “And we are calling it iPhone!”(that was exactly Jan 2007 when Steve Jobs and his men revolutionized the way smartphones shaped in now with the help of iPhone (incidentally Bill gates wrongly predicted Apple won’t be able to sell mobile phones).Google’s Android, Samsung, Light owes so much to Apple for shaping the smartphones as we see it today.

source: wikipedia

So what went wrong with Nokia and Blackberry?

Nokia still produces very good hardware on it mobiles it’s the software that has been a letdown the Symbian, Ovi platforms neither was able to cope up with the multitasking, user friendly and the multi touch gestures of the iOS and Android’s. Though Nokia has taken a partnership with Windows mobile platform.

The selling point for Blackberry‘s was accessing email on the go with its highly secured email servers. After speaking to a few people in Dubai I was surprised to know people still believe that Blackberry is the only device you can access emails on the go Phew!.The QWERTY keyboard which once cools to show of with is now actually a bulky feature to use with compared to touch screens.You might be surprised that blackberry which launched its tablet series under the brand name Playbook came without even a email client in its platform for tablets. No wonder Playbook is going for a sale in Dubai under the “BUY ONE GET ONE FREE “scheme during the Gitex and Dubai shopping festival sale.

Can Nokia and blackberry stage a comeback ? comments please…

Source: Du music store website screenshot

• DRM Free Content – All songs are DRM free and the user can download the song and transfer to any device .
• FREE Re-Download Option –You can re-download any of the previously downloaded song for FREE by visiting the My Account section up to a maximum of 3 times.

The subscription charges are AED 1 daily  in which you can download 5 songs per day.If you are the lucky you might get a SMS/text from Du to test out the free subscription for a day.

DU music store Review:

Song Collection: There is a decent collection of music in DU music store and since it’s a new service it’s bound to add more music files in the store.

Usability and download: The site musictore.ae can be accessed only on mobile and searching and downloading songs is easier especially if you have a  3G connection and you can attempt downloading the same song 3 times if downloading fails in the previous attempt.

DRM free music: Songs once downloaded can be used in any other device without any restriction (its not mentioned how many devices its legal to copy).

Song  quality: here is the sad part you aren’t gonna get 320 Kbps or at least 128 Kbps sound quality for DRM free 5 songs for 1 AED .The sound quality might be around 64Kbps as a 3 min song occupies only 1Mb of space. For non techies the sound quality is somewhere close to a AM station and much poorer than a FM radio station.

Final thoughts: Listening to a FM radio station is much better than downloading from Du music store, if you still want a decent collection of DRM FREE songs(not worried about quality) with a cheap price tag try the Du music store.
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The mad rush to shopping malls will begin on Jan 5^th and if you spend a certain amount by the DSF promoted malls you are always on the cards to win luxury cars and a chance to be a millionaire. Recharge your mobile with a minimum top up during DSF and you get bundled food vouchers, car service vouchers and a chance to win Nissan car daily. Few of my friends from India had asked me what’s so special about DSF my reply was shopping is a daily affair in Dubai with so many malls to choose from (see I used word malls not stores as there are more malls here )and to make shopping even more special they have a festival dedicated to it that too for a month and to my Dear friends who have never been to Dubai shopping festival just visit the offers that will be running on this page and iam pretty sure you will fly to Dubai  for the last week of DSF or at least for the DSF 2013 and its worth every penny even if you are flying from the other phase of the earth, Who knows you could be the lucky winner of the mega grand raffle winning  luxury Infiniti QX 56  worth Dh350,000, in addition to Dh100,000 in cash every day for the next 32 days of DSF surely going to be a life changer for many.

An advice for shoppers please don’t watch the movie confession of a shopaholic during DSF as its going to dampen your “SHOPAHOLIC SKILLS” and if you don’t find any reasons to shop here are a few

Reasons: 1) shop for those things that you might require for an entire year it’s going to be awesome sale. 2) As soon as DSF ends Valentine’s day will be round the corner so shop something for you valentine right now.3)if you had a tough 2011 believe 2012 will be yours and try all the raffles going on during DSF who knows lady luck might just smile at you. 3) Bundled offers: This is my favorite you buy a laptop and get all the accessories and a whole lot of freebies with it and similarly there will be so many bundled offers so look out.4) For people outside Dubai this is the best time to come to Dubai, weather is cooler and you have good deals on Air tickets and visas from UAE air carriers .5)If you love multi-cultural entertainment along with an international shopping experience, live performances, mouth-watering cuisine, authentic handicrafts and merchandise from 40 +countries head over to Global village.so as they say “Dubai at its best” during DSF.

Now to the point this page will be posting the offers, discounts and raffles information from various sources like social media platforms like twitter, Facebook, Press release, reputed websites, malls and from  flyers catalogues and print media(yes I am doing all the hard work for you.).so this is the page to be and I will be updating this page as and when I receive DSF offers details from various sources and humble request to visitors on the site BE SOCIAL and share this page on Facebook , twitter and other platforms.

LET THE GAMES  SALE BEGIN !

last Offer Updated on  12:00 PM 2/02/2012

• Malls DSF offers in a nut shell:

• Paris gallery DSF offers.

• Dubai outlet mall : spend 200 AED and get a chance to win Jeep wrangler sahara unlimited.

• Burjuman articipate on facebook www.facebook.com/itsBurJuman and get a chance to win the DSF Money Box. Every new participant raises the stakes of your reward!

•  Axiom DSF update:

• Mall of the Emirates

Do you think you know all your Brands? Are you a true Brands Only shopper? Prove it here: http://on.fb.me/BrandCHand get a chance to win AED 3000 weekly.

• JadoPado’s  #notDSF page Sale.(The cheapest we found so far..online).http://jadopado.com/notdsf/

• participate in Dubai mall Facebook contest to win 5000AED shopping vouchers visit http://bit.ly/wqIfHk
• for the contest.

• Win Gold everyday. Free Jumbo gift vouchers with Sony products. Great bundle offers on laptops. Amazing deals on mobile phones. This DSF, head to Jumbo, the official DSF Electronics Retailer, for the best deals.
• 
• Free with every laptop 10 megapixel digital still camera / 250gb hard disk drive / deskjet printer. T&C apply.
• Effective from today, the iPad will cost 5% per cent lower in the local market as Apple kicks off a strategic campaign to coincide with the Dubai Shopping Festival 2012. The new price lists have already been intimated to Apple’s retail partners and they will now be looking to consolidate iPad’s dominant standing – estimated at 80 per cent – in the local tablet space.Thus, a 16 GB version would cost Dh1,999 as against yesterday’s Dh2,099. Apart from the 5 per cent price cut, the individual retailers will sweeten the deal further by bundling add-ons such as iPad cases for free.

• Jumbo SonyEricsson offers:

• Jumbo HTC  smartphone offers.

• Win Windows 8 original OS when it gets launched.follow the steps in the box below:

link here :giveaway-windows-8-giveaway-techplugged-com

• Etisalat iPhone 4S offer

• Du iPhone 4S offer

• Win one of eight Nissan models every day at Eppco and Enoc when you make a minimum purchase of 20 AED.The Nissan Grand Raffle is giving shoppers the chance to drive home one of eight Nissan models every day. They include the Tiida Sedan, Tiida Hatchback, Altima, Juke, Qashqai, Xterra, Murano and Patrol — with the lucky winner receiving a different model each day. Raffle coupons will be available at ENOC and EPPCO stations and can be obtained with a minimum purchase of Dh20 for all non-fuel purchases.

• Solve the facebook puzzle and beat the clock to enter the draw for a chance to win a luxury holiday for four in Dubai! The prize includes four roundtrip tickets, hotel accommodation and shopping vouchers to be used during the festive DSF season! link here.
• Sega Republic :Win loads of exciting prizes with SEGA Republic in DSF Carnival 2012!
  Spend AED 200 to get a chance to pick a guaranteed prize. More excitingly purchase worth AED 300 and get two chances to win two guaranteed prizes!
• The Infiniti Mega Raffle gives coupon buyers the opportunity to take home a luxury Infiniti QX 56 model worth Dh350,000, in addition to Dh100,000 in cash every day for the 32 days of DSF. In addition, three bonus winners will be drawn as part of the bumper raffle on the final day. Each raffle coupon costs Dh200.
• Gold raffle :Every day, the Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group will give away half-a-kilogram of gold to a winner. On the last day of DSF, three kilograms of gold await a shopper. Shoppers will receive coupons to enter the raffle after spending Dh1,000 or more on gold purchases at any of the participating outlets across the city. A scratch-and-win campaign also offers shoppers the chance to win gold and diamonds worth up to Dh2 million.

Spend AED 300 or more at Dubai Mall:First class round trip for 2 to Milan, Paris, London or New York, for 5 nights including 5* accommodation National Bonds up to AED 500,000 – 5 winners x AED 25,000 / per weekIn addition, log on to The Dubai Mall Facebook and Twitter pages to enter for a chance to win many more prizes Promotion valid from 5th January to 5th February 2012.Terms & conditions apply.

• For every purchase of Hugo Boss perfumes you are entitled to get a scratch coupon & win Apple products in Paris Gallery store at The Dubai Mall, Downtown Dubai. *The offer is valid till Jan 10th.

•  Head over to BurJuman and shoppers have the chance to win Dh25,000 worth of shopping vouchers in three weekly draws. Plus customers also have the chance to drive away in a luxurious BMW X5 at the end of DSF.Spend qualifier is just Dh200 and weekly draws will take place on January 12th, 19th and 26th. The grand draw will be on February 6.
• Mall of the Emirates, Deira City Centre and Mirdif City Centre are all set to offer some hardcore retail therapy this shopping season, with enough bags of goodies to even forget your festive spending of last season. we are talking up to Dh1 million in prizes to be won. How it works is simple enough: during this DSF month, shoppers spending a combined total of Dh300 across the three malls will get the chance to win weekly shopping sprees worth Dh250,000.
• Deira City Centre is also running creative fashion workshops for kids during the day where budding fashionistas can style up and get their photo taken. Parents can then download photos as a keepsake from the Deira City Centre Facebook page, and get the chance to win a Dh500 gift card daily.

• SAMSUNG GRAND PRIZE !!

• Ecity blackberry offer :

• Geant DSF offers :

 

• Jackys DSF offers :

• Jacky’s DSF offer:

•  LG DSF OFFER: VISLINK:

• Jackys DSF offers.

• Axiom telecom DSF offers:

• Axiom Blackberry deals :

•  Al-futtaim DSF offers.

•  Axiom Samsung offer.

• Axiom Sony DSF offer.

SHARE THE OFFERS WITH YOUR FRIENDS USING THE SOCIAL ICONS ON THE LEFT SIDE

• Axiom cheapest BEE Android offer.

• Axiom Nokia Offer.

• AL-FUTTAIM Panasonic DSF offers.

• MarkaVIP DSF deals. :MarkaVIP

• Sharaf DG DSF offers: complete DSF offers catalogue at goo.gl/HJ5ym

Shop Amazon’s New Kindle Fire

• Joyalukkas DSF offer:WIN BIG AT JOYALUKKAS! 19 KILOS GOLD and AED 2 MILLION IN CASH
  TO BE WON THIS DSF!SRIKE GOLD EVERYDAY! Buy jewellery worth AED 1000 for a chance to
  WIN HALF KILO GOLD EVERYDAY PLUS THE GRAND PRIZE OF 3 KILOS OF GOLD! BUY DIAMONDS & WIN CASH! Buy diamond jewellery or pearls worth AED 1000 for a chance to SCRATCH and WIN INSTANT CASH!Offer valid in all Joyalukkas showrooms in Dubai until 5th February, 2012 *Conditions apply.

• Samsung Galaxy Tablets and mobiles offer(official).

• HP laptop DSF offers.This DSF (Dubai Shopping Festival), keep on shopping with HP.Receive a scratch card to win up to AED 10,000 instantly!That’s like getting your money back, with a little extra to keep on shopping with HP this DSF

• At BurJuman, not only do you get a chance to win Dhs 25,000 worth of shopping vouchers in three weekly draws but there’s also a luxurious BMW X5 to be driven away at the end of DSF!

• Denon DSF offers.
• Valid till :     5th February 2012Avail special DSF prices and bundle deals on Denon Music systems starting at AED 999 and also get an iPad 2 for AED 500 with selected models on Denon AirPlay. View e-flier for more details. For more information call 04 353 2444.Available at:The Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates and Al Fahidi Street, V.V.Sons, DG+, SHaraf DG, Plug-Ins, Emax

• Plugins offer:
• 

Why people find or think that Google plus is a failure?

Most common answers are “my friends and families are on Facebook”

1) comparing with Facebook user base of 750 million with Google+’s 62 million.

According to Paul Allen Google + is Adding 625,000 new users per day and Predicting 400 million users by end of 2012. that’s a staggering number as Google + will be integrated with almost every Google product and to add to it Android phones which is eating  away the market share of smartphone will have direct Google plus sign ups from Android phones.

2) My friends and families are on Facebook.

This is logical you want your group of friends to be on the same social network,but you can take a step forward by using the hangouts(multiple user video chat) feature in Google + and truly a killer feature that’s not available on Facebook. Simply as I use, Facebook is where I connect with old friends. Google+ is where I find new ones.

 3) Who actually uses Google +?

A) Simple answer ” power users” which includes the techies,bloggers,photographers,artists.While

the majority of bloggers had a positive review about Google + platform and were quick to add the

Google plus plugins like “+1 button”,Google+ “add to circles”,”Author=rel” tag and the upcoming

+ direct connect feature which allows users to a Google + brand page directly to their circles

from a Google search results page.

Since Google search is the first stop destination for most internet searches the above mentioned

Google plus plugin tools gives a huge boost in Search engine rankings for a particular web page

so webmasters will be looking for more of +1′s than on Facebook likes as only +1′s will be the only

social parameter that’s gonna influence Google SERP’s.

4) One login account and numerous services.

A)The hallmark of Google Account is you can use many Google services with one Google account and ultimately

Google + integration or the +1 button will be available on all Google products.Imagine using +1′s on Google TV, Google earth,and maybe in Androids , chrome books.

5)Facebook brand pages or Google+ business pages which will take off eventually ?

Apart from the SEO benefits for small business there is a  community of cloud based Google apps users (both free and paid)Google apps for business offers powerful messaging and collaboration apps that meet business-critical needs for small and large-scale business and

Google+ could easily become a powerful communication and collaboration tool for enterprise users.

 6) GMail and YouTube integration

It’s already happening your Gmail(users 260 million) has Google+ circles integrated and the new re-designed YouTube (3rd largest search engine) just shows more possibilities of users landing on Google+.

 7)Android with Google+ integration another huge market share.

Well as of now you Google+ can be accessed via Android browser or Google+ app.Android’s market share rose from 43.8 percent at the end of August to 46.9 percent at the end of last month in U.S comScore REPORT and Androids are even eating up Apple’s share.so there is another huge user market

Must Read:android-following-the-same-success-story-of-what-windows-did-to-mac

Well even though the article mentions about the ever-growing Google products and services which will eventually have a share of Google+ platform the features like hangouts,Google voice are unmatched while most users still talk of 750 million users on Facebook i still feel Google + has already beaten Facebook on the features it has.sometimes numbers doesnt matter in deciding a quality product.

The regions are mentioned here.

Hangouts will appear in different regions and when it happens below.

Youtube 2011 top videos

source:jess3.com

• Hardware:
o Processor: Connexant with Graphics accelerator and HD Video processor
o Memory (RAM): 256MB RAM / Storage (Internal): 2GB Flash
o Storage (External): 2GB to 32GB Supported
o Peripherals (USB2.0 ports, number): 2 Standard USB port
o Display and Resolution: 7” display with 800×480 pixel resolution
o Input Devices: Resistive touch screen
o Connectivity and Networking: GPRS and WiFi IEEE 802.11 a/b/g
o Power and Battery: Up to 180 minutes on battery. AC adapter 200-240 volt range.
• Software:
o OS: Android 2.2
o Document Rendering
• Supported Document formats: DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODT, ODP
• PDF viewer, Text editor
• Multimedia and Image Display
o Image viewer supported formats: PNG, JPG, BMP and GIF
o Supported audio formats: MP3, AAC, AC3, WAV, WMA
o Supported video formats: MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, FLV
• Communication and Internet
o Web browser – Standards Compliance: xHTML 1.1 compliant, JavaScript 1.8 compliant
o Separate application for online YouTube video
o Safety and other standards compliance
• Other: Additional Web Browser: UbiSurfer-Browser with compression/acceleration and IE8 rendering.
• Full set of accessory options:
• Car charger
• External antenna
• Keyboard case
• Convert it into a laptop!

Prebook the tablet using the link :www.ubislate.com/prebook.html

About Schemer :

Google Schemer is a Google service for sharing and discovering things to do. Users can list things they want to do, share it with other people and mark it as done once they have already accomplished it. Schemer is likely to be integrated with Google+ and you need to join Google+ to be able to use it. It is intended to help to find people with same interests, share their goals and have conversations with them. User will be able to add tags and locations as well. The site’s partners include Food Network, Zagat, Bravo, IGN, Entertainment Weekly, National Geographic, and Thrillist.

To enter for a chance to get invites, just follow the steps below.

1) Become a fan of our TECHPLUGGED Facebook Page:

2) Then do most of the following:

Follow the instructions in the box below…

1. Liking your giveaway on Facebook. (+1 entry)

2. Becoming a Facebook Fan of your website. (+1 entry)

3. Leaving a comment about your giveaway. (+1 entry)

4. Tweeting about your giveaway. (+1 entry)

5. Sharing your giveaway on their Facebook wall. (+1 entry)

6. Sending Facebook invites to their friends. (+1 entry for each invite)

7. Distributing a unique invite link to your giveaway. (+1 entry for each friend that visits your giveaway and +5 entries for each friend that joins the giveaway) This is a great way to make sure that your users tell all their friends about your site.

-Do remember the more you share the more chance of grabbing the invites.

- Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TECHPLUGGED hashtag)

#You require a Google plus account to use Schemer.

. Anyone in the world is eligible, as long as you have an internet connection.

Good luck!