Nokia skips Australia in Symbian Belle roll-out

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Joe capitalises on a life-long love of blinking lights and upbeat MIDI soundtracks covering the latest developments in smartphones and tablet computers. When not ruining his eyesight staring at small screens, Joe ruins his eyesight playing video games and watching movies. Twitter: @Joseph_Hanlon

Nokia has this week rolled out the major Symbian Belle update to its customers in many places around the world, but it seems that Australia will have to wait longer before the update is available for Aussie handsets.

The new user interface on the Symbian Belle update.
(Credit: Nokia)

A Nokia spokesperson told CNET Australia that the company is "in discussions with operators on this, but do not have anything to share at this time". A similar message came from a Vodafone rep on the telco's customer blog, saying "We're still in discussions with Nokia around the release of this update locally, but have nothing to confirm at this stage."

Posting to Nokia's Discussions blog in January, forum member "andrewaussie" claims to have received a message from Telstra in regards to the update, after making an inquiry. Telstra's response read, "Nokia have not provided firm timelines on the 'Belle' update yet. We do plan to do this update for at least the N8, but as of now do not have any timelines we can communicate".

All statements suggest that the update is yet to begin the testing phase at the Aussie telcos, and that it might be months, not weeks, before the telcos can green-light the update locally.

The anticipation of an extended delay is reminding members of the Nokia Discussions forum of the four-month delay that Aussies endured while waiting for the previous major update to the Symbian platform, codenamed Anna.

"I didn't think it could much worse after waiting for three and a half months for a late Anna update, but then I find out it has gotten worse; I'd rather it be late than be treated in this manner — cold shoulder with vague statement of more uncertainty," says forum member a340500.


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Letterboxfrog posted a comment   
Australia

No news from Nokia 1 month on! The update is still listed as being "In Planning" with the carriers having seen diddly squat. If this is how Nokia treat their existing Symbian user base, how can Nokia customers on the Windows Phone platform be assured they are going to get updates in a timely manner, if at all?

 

Joseph Hanlon posted a reply   
Australia

Though it's cold comfort for Symbian users, Microsoft has taken charge with WP updates so far, delivering them worldwide at the same time. Hopefully this doesn't change in the future.

 

Letterboxfrog posted a reply   
Australia

I hope you are right.

 

AlexP2 posted a comment   

I got null responses from Nokia support - no definite release. I figure they just want us to install cracked versions of the OS, since Australian Telco operators couldn't get their arses into gear for the OS of most of their Nokia customer base (cheers guys). We must love the user pays model, the user pays to pay, again and again :p the stagnant Oz telco market, milking away...

 

NicholasF posted a comment   

yes the article is right i wasn't denying it or having a stab at who wrote it i was just saying hey should look at this and look into it so they can give more people who don't use nokia forums some more information on/ about the belle update /

yes Nokia are shooting theme selves in the foot with this one but just because the fan base has drooped in numbers doesn't mean that there isn't one here and it's those people who want as much information about the update as they can get.

i just found it interesting that we got skipped on the update list and then they have decided to give it to us after some testing like the Anna update so it might take months not weeks.

 

Joseph Hanlon posted a reply   
Australia

Be very interesting to see whether Nokia can fast-track this through the operators testing system on account of the strong backlash this decision has received. This certainly is a bad time for Nokia to be upsetting its still-loyal fans.

 

Andy74 posted a comment   
Australia

Actually, the article is right...the initial announcement from Nokia was that Australia will not get the Nokia Belle.
Now, after articles like this started to show and people inundated Nokia's customer service with complaints, it looks like they changed their mind...too little and too late I would say, their fanbase here in Australia shrunk a lot in the last couple of years. After the Anna debacle, 4 months late, and this latest gem of customer service standards, i don;t see Nokia winning any popularity awards.
Thanks for the article Joseph.

 

NicholasF posted a comment   

hey guys might wont to do some reseach into this one but it looks like AU user's will get the update after all

http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/t5/Software-Updates/Update-on-Nokia-Belle-Availability-for-Australia/td-p/1301641

User @ Sykee works for nokia and has never failed to let us know as much information as she can

 

Joseph Hanlon posted a reply   
Australia

All the information I came across (and reported) suggested that the update would come to Aus, but that it looks like it will be quite late. There was some suggestion that the update wouldn't come at all that originated on the Nokia Discussion forums, but Nokia refuted that fairly quickly.




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