Rumors are abound that Nokia may be looking to release a new version of its Booklet 3G netbook sometime next year.

I use the term “rumors” loosely as the basic idea seems to be that Compal Electronics, the company that manufactures the current Booklet 3G, is “working overtime to satisfy demand,” according to DigiTimes and, therefore, “market rumors are circulating that Nokia will take advantage of its current netbook momentum by releasing a new version in 2010.”

Yes, that does indeed sound plausible — why not? A computer product released in 2009 that sells well would probably see some sort of update in 2010. And as chipsets get smaller and faster, it’d be silly for Nokia to just sit on a single Booklet offering.

Now information about when a new model would be released might be more helpful. If Nokia’s going to push one out on January 1st or something, it might be a good idea to hold off on buying the current Booklet 3G. From the sounds of it, though, it doesn’t seem like we’re anywhere close to a situation like that:

“Compal is expected to have a good chance of landing the orders, according to the report. However, no special insight was provided as to why Compal will receive the orders except for the fact that the Taiwan-based notebook maker is currently Nokia’s netbook manufacturing partner.”

So take this news with a grain of salt. If the current Booklet 3G is successful, though, it’d be odd if Nokia didn’t update the line sometime next year.

[DigiTimes]

Disclaimer: Jeremy Kessel has a J.D., but is still waiting for his (July 2009) California Bar Exam results. Thus, he is not (yet) a licensed attorney. Barry L. Cohen, who also shares some insights below, is a licensed attorney. Regardless, this post is not meant as legal advice or analysis and should not be construed as such.

As many of you are aware, Nokia filed a lawsuit against Apple last week in the Federal District Court in Delaware. Nokia’s complaint alleges that Apple has infringed on 10 of Nokia’s patents for various, “fundamental” GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) technologies. In particular, the patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption. Nokia believes that all 10 patents have been infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced back in 2007.

This brings up the question: Why wait until now, Nokia, to sue Apple? Clearly, without speaking directly to Nokia’s legal team, all of the following is pure (albeit educated) conjecture. Nonetheless, with intellectual property (i.e. copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets) becoming increasingly important and relevant to (technology) companies around the globe, it is worth taking a few minutes to explore some of the possible motives/strategies behind Nokia’s latest legal muscle flexing.

As I am not yet a licensed attorney (I find out next month), we turned to Barry L. Cohen, Esq., who specializes in commercial and business litigation and intellectual property litigation and licensing at Thorp Reed & Armstrong, for his thoughts on the Nokia v. Apple matter at large. According to Mr. Cohen, because Nokia has been successful in licensing the patents at issue with dozens of other companies, the Finnish company most likely felt confident that it would be able to reach an agreement with Apple as well. When the negotiations reached an impasse, Nokia was essentially left with no other choice but to pursue legal recourse.

Filing the lawsuit against Apple is most likely, at least in part, a deliberate strategy to put more pressure on Apple to agree to the terms that Nokia has requested with regards to licensing the patented technologies. Because the 10 patents at issue include “fundamental” cellular technologies, the lawsuit may also have been motivated by some (or many) of the other companies who are already paying licensing fees to Nokia and want Apple to do the same.

Alright, now that we have explored (somewhat superficially) why Nokia has prompted the suit against Apple, this in turn leads to another question: Why would Apple refuse to license the technologies if they are imperative for the operation of its iPhone? Again, without speaking directly to Apple, we can only speculate. It is possible that Apple has licensed similar technologies from Ericsson (who, along with Nokia and Qualcomm hold some of the largest mobile technology patent portfolios in the world), thereby eliminating the need to license the patents at issue from Nokia. Or alternatively, Apple may believe that it is not infringing or that Nokia’s patents should be invalidated. However, considering that some 40 other mobile companies have licensed these key patents, this is extremely unlikely (possibly even impossible, depending on which company holds what patents).

According to Mr. Cohen, it is more likely a money issue. The longer that Apple goes without paying licensing fees, the cheaper Apple can sell its iPhone and the bigger market share it can build up. Alternatively, Apple may not have wanted to pay or could not agree on the amount of the royalty rate that Nokia was requesting. Given the scale (i.e. millions of devices), even a tiny discrepancy in price could result in hundreds of millions of dollars, going one way or the other.

Regardless of the actual motivation behind the lawsuit, considering that less than 1% of cases go to trial, it is most likely that Nokia is using the suit as a bargaining chip. Both companies, whether they actually like it or not, can afford to see cases like this through to the end, as the legal costs, even in the mutltiple millions of dollars, are relatively insignificant in the big picture for Nokia and Apple. Rather, suing Apple will provide Nokia more leverage in obtaining some variety of settlement (i.e. receiving royalties for its patents), and on the flip side, might even help Apple save a few bucks if a third-party mediator is brought in to help resolve the dispute.

Some may argue that Nokia is a total hypocrite, given its recent expensive and drawn-out legal clash with fellow mobile big shot, Qualcomm. But, as Mr. Cohen points out, Nokia is clearly no dummy (yup, that is a legitimate legal term). Nokia has clearly weighed the pros and cons of filing the lawsuit and what it will mean to their licensing strategy. Whether or not the strategy works, will depend in part on Apple, who is also not a fool.

Finally, I do not believe (as John does) that this suit was directly motivated by Nokia’s recent financial struggles. As someone who has studied intellectual property and has a general sense of the value that a company’s IP assets hold, I agree with Mr. Cohen and everyone else who thinks that this is ultimately a negotiation. Nokia is an enormously powerful mobile technologies company. Sure it is facing increased competition from the likes of Apple, HTC, Samsung, etc, but I do not believe this lawsuit signifies some sort of last gasp, or in the words of John (no disrespect, of course), a “mercenary approach, [a way to] cash in on some of the iPhone’s success.” For better or for worse, this is the new way of the technology road. Companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing and obtaining IP assets, and at the end of the day, they will continue to do whatever it takes (i.e. sue each other on an endless merry-go-round) to protect and enforce their IP rights.

Nokia, for example, has a few thousand patents dealing with UMTS alone while this one, #7,599,665, seems to deal specfically with radio hand-off between GSM/EDGE, UMTS, and WiFi.

The invention relates to a method for selecting radio resources for a communication session in a wireless communication terminal. In order to facilitate the selection of quality of service between diversified terminals, terminal capabilities are described by a set of capability parameters, the set including at least one parameter indicative of the terminal’s capabilities. Based on the set of capability parameters, a dedicated quality class set is defined for an application instance residing in the terminal, the quality class set including at least one quality class for the application instance. When a session is to be established between at least two application instances residing respectively in at least two terminals, at least one quality class is negotiated for the session, the at least one quality class being determined based on the dedicated quality class sets of the at least two application instances. Based on the negotiation, radio resources are then allocated for the session.

For the record, UMTS is essentially 3G networking. The lawsuit press release can be found here

Nokia has been struggling to gain traction in the high-end phone market now that we live in an iPhone world and this may be a last ditch effort to derail futre models or, assuming they’re going for a bit more mercenary approach, cash in on some of the iPhone’s success. Our in-house guy with a law degree/MobileCrunch intern Jeremy is on the case.

As we promised, we got you pictures and a hand-on review of the newly released Nokia Booklet 3G. Hi-res versions at the end.

The device is only 10.4 in wide by 7.3 in long by 0.78 in thick. Some might accuse Nokia of “Applism” due to the single piece aluminum body. But who isn’t doing that these days? (*cough* HP Envy 13 *cough*) The Booklet still feels solid, despite making the air look bulky. Not like some netbooks that feel like you can snap them in half by speaking too loudly. Here’s my hand for scale.

It has everything you’d expect from an on-the-go device. A 10.1 in screen with a maximum resolution of 1280×720. 1.3 megapixel camera with integrated microphone, 78-key keyboard, and internal accelerometer. A 16-cell battery gives 12 hours of usage on a single charge. The device will have 3G, WLAN, WWAN, and GPS capability at launch, and the WiFi comes in all three flavors, 802.11 b/g/n.

You have 3 USB 2.0 ports, a SD memory card slot, a combination headphone-out / microphone-in jack, and a hot swappable SIM card slot. Nokia also added an HDMI-out port if you ever find yourself on the road with a flat panel TV.

The Booklet will come in three colors, blue, white and black. Windows 7 is standard, along with a host of Nokia and Microsoft software. All in all, its a very good device. It might be small, but it’s not cramped to the point of being uncomfortable. Boot-up time from a cold start is about a minute, but out of sleep mode only takes a few seconds.

Look for it at any Best Buy location on the AT&T network.

Don’t get me wrong, the Nokia Booklet seems like a fine netbook. It’s going to rock Windows 7, an accelerometer, 120GB hard drive, 16 hour battery life, and HDMI out. I just don’t see many consumers choosing this premium option over Verizon or AT&T’s subsidized netbooks. Why would they? There is a $400 difference in price and you’ll still have to get a monthly data plan.

But then again, the pricing in Best Buy’s system might just be there as a place holder. Retails have been known to do this and in fact, Best Buy did the same thing with the Palm Pre.

Yama hama, that’s one expensive netbook. Nokia’s impending Booklet 3G has shown up on the company’s Italian website priced at 699 Euro – just over $1,000 US.

While there’s been speculation that the machine could be subsidized by US carriers, it’s going to take one hell of a two-year contract price to bring the bottom line down to an appealing level.

The Booklet 3G’s specs, according to the product page, include a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU, Windows 7, a single gigabyte of RAM, 120GB hard drive (4,200RPM), WiFi/Bluetooth/GPS/3G data connectivity, an accelerometer, HDMI out, and a 10.1-inch HD display. Remember, too, that Nokia’s promising 12-hour battery life.

It’s expected to ship out in the end of October, presumably after Windows 7 becomes available to the masses.

Nokia Booklet 3G [Nokia Italia via SlashGear]

The N97 Mini should ship out in October with an estimated retail price of EUR 450 although Nokia’s CEO stated at Nokia World 2009 that the phone will be available for free in “many, many markets.” Now, we aren’t sure what markets he’s talking about, but we have a strong feeling that America isn’t one of them. Nokia isn’t loved here like in other places around the globe. Sorry. That’s the fact, Jack. At least Nokia loaded the little guy with all sorts of new social networking functions.

I like the XpressMusic line. I really do. It is fun to watch Nokia try something different and these two new models are no exception. The X6 has 32MB storage and Comes With Music unlimited downloads. It will cost about $650.

The X3 looks like a cousin to the Motorola RAZR and has a 3.2-megapixel camera, FM radio, and takes MicroSD cards. It will be $160.

No word on US availability but don’t hold your breath.

via Giz

NokiaBlog has some red hot photos of the Nokia netbook. His thoughts:

I suggest picking it up from a table to really appreciate the Nokia Booklet 3G. It feels and looks like a lighter, smaller version of Apple Macbook. Even the keyboard and battery feel similar. That’s not definitely a bad thing because I love my Macbook.

There you have it, folks – the man loves his Macbook. The netbook should be priced at about 600 euro if and when it comes out.

UPDATE – More specs:

Windows 7, 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor, 120GB hard disk, 1GB RAM, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and HDMI, 720p screen and a 1.3-megapixel camera.

Hot on the heels of the recently-reported Nokia Booklet 3G netbook, word on the street is that Nokia’s also planning an ARM-based smartbook as well (not pictured above).

It’s thought that such a smartbook wouldn’t show up until the middle of next year but, according to DigiTimes, Nokia’s about to “settle ODM orders” with either Compal of Foxconn. It’ll be interesting to see which OS Nokia goes with, assuming this actually happens.

It’s already got its own Linux-based Maemo platform. Then there’s Android or, perhaps less likely, some flavor of Symbian. On a somewhat unrelated note, did anyone have that Nokia 9110 Communicator pictured above? I sure did. It was huge. I couldn’t wear my favorite ultra-tight pants!

Know what’s popular nowadays? Netbooks! Nokia is officially jumping on the netbook bullet train with the “Booklet 3G” — an Intel/Microsoft-based netbook that promises 12-hour battery life, a weight of 2.75 pounds, and apparently built-in GPS. The “3G” portion of the name indicates a wireless data connection as well.

Actual specs and details will be announced by Nokia on September 2nd, but it’s believed that the Booklet 3G will run Windows 7. The 12-hour battery life is interesting, too, as that’s a full four hours longer than most netbooks currently on the market. It’ll be interesting to see which Atom CPU is used in the machine to obtain that kind of longevity. It may be a slower but less power-hungry Z-series CPU since the 10-inch Booklet will have a higher-resolution screen (likely 1280×800 or 1366×768).

Again, not a whole lot of details yet aside from some teaser photos. We’ll find out more next week.

UPDATE: Here’s a video, too. This thing’s looking pretty nice so far:

[via Reuters and CNET]

The whole announcement includes some pretty interesting figures for mobile sales. HTC is the number four smartphone manufacturer, while Palm ranks 10th, with just a little over 200,000 Pres sold. Microsoft holds 9% of the mobile OS market, slightly ahead of Android’s 2%, though expect those two to switch places by this time next year; and Symbian still holds 51% of the OS market.