Bringing the PureView to future Lumia and Windows phones was rumoured and hinted at, but was never fully confirmed by Nokia.
Well now it has, thanks to Nokia US President Chris Webber, who said, 'you can expect we'll be bringing PureView technologies to the Windows Phone platform in future Lumia devices'.
The PureView system debuted on the Nokia PureView 808 in February at Mobile World Congress 2012.
It may sound like it, but the PureView camera is not capable of taking 41-megapixel shots; it uses a system called oversampling, in which it combines data from seven neighbouring pixels and consolidates them into one pixel's worth.
Through this process, an image of about 5-megapixels is generated. The resulting image, though, is of far superior quality compared with a standard 5-megapixel camera.
In addition to still photos, the PureView will also provide users with full 1080p video capability.
The camera itself is quite large, about one centimetre in length, width and depth, making any phone that uses it rather bulky.
It is not clear when these devices will arrive, but we now know that they are coming and that Nokia is 'absolutely committed' to bringing the technology to the market.
Microsoft will be hosting a ‘sneak peek' on 20 June for the first unveiling of Windows Phone 8. The new Windows Phone is expected to have some camera improvements, but it is unsure whether the company will include the PureView.
Microsoft Windows Phone 8 'to merge Nokia and Bing Maps' - Digital Spy
Nokia Said to Near Sale of Vertu Luxury-Phone Unit to EQT - Businessweek
Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) is nearing a deal to sell its Vertu luxury-phone unit to Swedish private-equity firm EQT Partners AB as it divests assets as part of a turnaround plan, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
The transaction values Vertu at about 200 million euros ($250 million), said one of the people, declining to be identified as the talks are private. A deal could be announced as early as this week, another person said. Church Crookham, England-based Vertu is known for its jewel-bedecked mobile phones that sell for an average price of more than 5,000 euros.
Nokia is selling assets as Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop seeks to revive a mobile-phone business that’s been devastated by competition from devices running software from Google Inc. (GOOG) (GOOG) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) (AAPL) The Espoo, Finland-based company is betting on a software partnership with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) (MSFT) to rebuild its cachet in the critical North American market, where it has struck deals with carriers AT&T Inc. (T) (T) and T-Mobile USA to sell its flagship Lumia smartphone.
“Vertu is a bet on a very specific, niche market, though it’s a niche that’s growing,” said Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst at researcher IDC in London. Its new owner will face the challenge of modernizing Vertu devices’ technology, which has until now been largely based on Nokia’s obsolete Symbian operating system, to compete with devices like Apple’s iPhone, he said.
Multilingual Hotline
Representatives at Nokia, EQT and Vertu declined to comment.
Vertu, started by Nokia’s then-chief designer Frank Nuovo in 1998, is the dominant player in the luxury-phone sector, with about 60 percent of the Western European market in 2010, according to IDC.
The unit has sought to stand apart from rival offerings like Research In Motion Inc. (RIMM) (RIMM)’s Porsche-branded BlackBerry devices with its “concierge” service, a 24-hour, multilingual hotline that assists clients with requests ranging from restaurant reservations to sourcing esoteric gifts.
Luxury phones have been a rare bright spot for Nokia, whose shares have declined almost 40 percent this year, the worst performance in the 27-company Stoxx 600 Technology Index (SX8P), which was up 0.8 percent. The shares rose 0.2 percent to 2.26 euros in Helsinki yesterday, valuing the former global handset leader at about 8.5 billion euros.
Vertu, which doesn’t disclose its earnings publicly, saw “high double-digit sales growth” in 2010 and 2011, driven largely by demand from emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East, President Perry Oosting said in September. The unit operates more than 80 retail stores in locales like Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive and Paris’s Rue Royale.
The Vertu deal would be Stockholm-based EQT’s second acquisition this month. The buyout firm yesterday announced the purchase of BSN Medical that values the German bandage supplier at 1.8 billion euros. EQT, which is partly owned by Sweden’s Wallenberg family, in October raised 4.75 billion euros from investors for a new buyout fund focused on Northern and Eastern Europe.
To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Campbell in London at mcampbell39@bloomberg.net; Adam Ewing in Stockholm at aewing5@bloomberg.net; Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in London at achassany@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net; Jacqueline Simmons at jackiem@bloomberg.net
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