Symbian Blog: Articles by Joe Neale

What I Gained by Working for Symbian…

May 14th by Joe Neale

It might seem like an odd request for a company to ask one of their employees to write a blog post about what they had learned while working there, especially during their resignation discussion, but for me it sums up what working at Symbian is like. If you have a moment to spare, let me elaborate…

I joined Symbian just over a year ago from a social media, design and marketing background which included helping MySpace launch in Europe, a period at Comic Relief and running my own digital consultancy. Considering my previous work experience, Symbian seemed like an odd fit, yet they choose to give me a chance as their Head of Online Presence based on my optimism, drive and yearning for knowledge of the mobile space.

On my first day in the office I remember being instinctively surprised by the passion, kindness and intellect demonstrated by those around me. As I am not particularly technically skilled but have all the hallmarks of a geek, I was keen to embrace a deeper, more technical understanding of the platform. It concerned me at first that the Technology Managers and Engineers might view me as little more than ‘the prat from marketing’, so I was pleased when I found absolutely no hesitation in people willing to share their insights, thoughts and hopes for their particular areas of expertise. Read more »

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Symbian supports 1Goal

Apr 19th by Joe Neale

Some issues are more important than mobile device wars or what the next batch of code brings, that’s why Symbian is supporting the 1GOAL campaign.

Today, 72 million children in the world are denied the chance to go to school. These children could be our next generation’s leaders, sports stars, doctors and teachers. But they face a lifelong struggle against poverty.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Since 2000, 40 million more children are in school. Education beats poverty, and gives people the tools to help themselves. 1GOAL is a campaign seizing the power of football to ensure that education for all is a lasting result of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Raising our voices all over the world we believe that, together, we can make education a reality for the millions of boys and girls who remain out of school.

Read more »

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Future of your app

Mar 12th by Joe Neale

“While there are more opportunities than ever for you to unleash your creativity and develop mobile apps, there is a complex landscape of devices, operating systems and app stores to navigate. We’d like to explain why you should spend time, money and effort on developing a Symbian app..”

And so starts the latest engagement campaign under the heading ‘yourapp‘. But why have we done this?

There are a sea of development studios, independent developers and startups out there who have already built successful applications on platforms such as iPhone or Android and are wondering what the next step is for their app. We believe it’s Symbian.

Read more »

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Spotify on Symbian

Nov 24th by Joe Neale

As I’m sure a lot of you are aware the popular and truly excellent music service Spotify is now available on Symbian.

For all of those not in the know, Spotify grants you instant access to a vast array of music that you can store on your device and listen to whenever you want even if you haven’t got decent reception, i.e. in offline mode. The service is currently only available in Europe and does require a monthly fee to use which no doubt helps keep the music flowing, but considering that you won’t ever need to buy another MP3 it seems like a pretty good deal to us!

The beautifully designed UI was constructed by the much hyped The Astonishing Tribe (TAT) who have truly exceeded expectations with this effort.

Have you got any thoughts on the app or found any weird and random songs that might be of interest to other readers?

Thanks a lot and enjoy the music with the Spotify App!

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Get Consumer Satisfaction with Symbian

Nov 5th by Joe Neale

Hi everyone, my name is Joe Neale and I’m Head of End User Programmes for the Symbian Foundation, which involves striving to find the most entertaining applications, ideas and engagement events for our community.

Joe Neale

I have a passion for the development of online communities, mobile and technology so please feel free to say hi and tell me what you are working on or passionate about at one of the many networking events or conferences I attend, I won’t bite. I am also an avid tweeter and am always up for meeting interesting and innovative people with great ideas, so send me a message to @Joe if you are that way inclined! Read more »

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Augmented Reality at SEE and Beyond

Oct 19th by Joe Neale

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Augmented Reality (or AR) is without doubt one of the boom words of 2009 no matter how technically able you are. Thanks to this years recent batch of mobile devices that contain compasses the race to build the biggest and best AR browser is still happening. But what are the next steps? What will the future bring?

This in mind we have a couple of really interesting events for anyone interested in all things Augmented Reality at SEE09 this year, all of which are packed into Wednesday the 28th of October, the second day of our conference.

First stop is our big 12:00 discussion on the Future of Augmented Reality, including heroes in the field such as David Caabeiro, Co-Founder of Sequence Point Software and the ARound tool and Raimo van der Klein, CEO of Layar.

For those wanting to get hands on with the developmental side of AR, David Caabeiro will also be running a workshop from 14:30 until 16:00 titled “Implementing your own Augmented Reality App in which he will provide a walk-through on the development of a so-called “augmented reality browser” on Symbian OS, describing pitfalls, limitations and possible improvements.

Our third AR installment will be a BOF from 14:00-15:00 where Allix Harrison-D’Arcy, CEO of mo-tiv will host an open session on how to create a working framework of standards to support AR.

If you really can’t wait until SEE09 to partake in any of the above, the head over to Mashup* and register for their Augmented Reality themed event where they’ll be discussing, debating and demoing Augmented Reality with some of the brightest sparks in the industry.

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The Great Symbian Science Project

Oct 13th by Joe Neale

With SEE09 approaching fast, it wouldn’t seen right to have a conference without a party, so not wanting to let you (and ourselves) down, we’ve dreamed up something a bit special this year!

Just two tube stops or a 5 minute taxi ride from Earls Court you’ll find the Science Museum. Inside we are going to throw what we believe will be a unique and memorable experience, combining the more traditional networking, drinks and music offering with a host of other entertainment that you might not normally find at parties. Read more »

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Want to meet some of the world’s top geeks?

Jul 3rd by Joe Neale

This Sunday, the 5th of July, Symbian is sponsoring the arrival of The Travelling Geeks in London, a group of influential bloggers from the San Francisco Bay Area.

geek2 Read more »

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N97 launch in New York!

Jun 26th by Joe Neale

So it’s now time for the US market to get its hands on Nokia’s latest flagship phone. New York was the city, the Marquee club was the venue and the N97 was the object of desire. Fans, bloggers, uebergeeks and the media alike streamed into the club for the chance to not only have the first close up look at the N97, but also to try to win one of the coveted devices! Read more »

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Tweets, Beta Keys and Yellow Flying Cows..

May 1st by Joe Neale

The ‘full steam ahead’ mentality in the London Symbian Foundation HQ has not permitted a lot of time to recover from the fantastic success of meeting and greeting the many developers of Symbian applications and services at the Nokia Developer Summit 2009 in Monaco. In this post I’d like to give everyone some feedback about the launch of the developer focused Twitter feed (@symbiandevco) and some exciting information regarding the next round of beta keys for users based in the US, Asia and Europe. Read more »

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