One thing that I have a question about is the 'signing' of apps. Does
Softbank require that they are signed with a Softbank-specific key, or is
this about Nokia's official signing service a'la Brew? When I was working in
the content department of VFKK (for a very short time before O-san told me
point blank, on our first meeting, that he had nothing against me except the
color of my skin) there was a man (looked like a boy, but hey, he had the
right genetic structure) who was in charge of this kind of thing who I
worked very closely with. He insisted that Vodafone test each app that it
allowed to be installed. He was involved in allowing Opera to be one of
those apps as a test case. Actually, if memory serves, it was a question of
Opera or NetFront. I don't remember which won, and I am pretty sure that the
experiment was a one-off exercise. Nobody in VFKK liked Nokia phones except
the gaijin or a few weird employees brought on by the gaijin, and the
aforementioned O-san wasn't going to be the one to listen to that worthless
bunch. The one really big project that required an opening of S60 was push
e-mail from Visto. Even that, though, was tightly controlled, and not given
much effort, because no one could imagine that any Japanese would buy a
Nokia handset to have that functionality. Given that there was a wholesale
housecleaning after the acquisition, and basically no gaijin are left
(ironic, really, because that included one Korean-Japanese in HR, who would
seem to share something with Son-san), and lots of people who joined
specifically to work for a gaishi-kei company also left, my guess is that
not a lot of effort is being put into making the Nokia relationship one that
bears much fruit. Being open is more work, at least initially, and could
upset the content providers, of whom there was a deathly fear, so my guess
is that it is locked down by Softbank just because they can't be bothered.
But to get back to my question, since I am not that familiar with it: If a
vendor went to the trouble of signing their app with an official Nokia key,
could that app be installed on a Softbank S60 v.3 phone? And if so, what is
the problem? A lot of apps are available. In fact, I have two S.60 phones,
an N70 (which is v.2, I think) and a 5500 (v.3), and haven't seen much
problem using the official software from Nokia to install apps. I have Tom
Tom (car navigation) on my N70, and will probably get it for my 5500 as
well. Certainly, it makes developing a pain, but if you are developing you
could afford to buy an unlocked phone straight from Nokia, and I would just
consider that a cost of tools. I guess I am just a bit confused about the
open-ness issue. If signed apps can be installed, it is fairly open. Sure,
not fully, but then again, there is a real question of how open a phone
should be: If you want to call someone, it just needs to work. If there is
absolutely no checking that apps meet a minimum quality level, and then end
up causing problems, people, by their ignorant and predictable nature, blame
either Nokia or Softbank. (the app works, but there is a problem with my
phone)
The annoying thing is for us, who may be somewhat more sensible (I hope!)
and would like to not have these limits on our phones. Ah, well, there isn't
much I can say to that.
Just my two pence...
On 1/29/07, Kyle Barrow <kyle@pukupi.com> wrote:
>
> I think user perception will keep Softbank from ever locking down a
> Windows mobile: it's Windows so I should be able to install my own
> apps on it. S60 unfortunately isn't perceived the same in Japan as it
> is elsewhere.
>
> Kyle
>
> On Jan 28, 2007, at 01:08, Craig Kovatch wrote:
>
> > Perhaps SoftBank just didn't spend as much time trying to lock down
> > the X01HT, since it's the first generation of such a product in Japan.
> > The locks on Vodafone's Nokia models from a year or two ago are easily
> > worked around or defeated, but nobody has figured out the newer models
> > yet. Perhaps things will similarly get more locked for WM5 as time
> > goes.
>
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>
Received on Mon Jan 29 18:42:53 2007