Nokia’s new handset could be a harbinger of home networking’s future

Already some wireless customers are foregoing traditional cameras and MP3 players, opting instead for multipurpose devices that have cell phone capability. Before long, cell phones also could replace remote controls.

A new version of Nokia’s multi­media N95 8GB cell phone released last month could be the first step in that direction. Nokia said the product is the first cell phone to support emerging Digital Living Network Alliance standards, which are aimed at enabling multiple devices in a home to communicate with one another. The N95 is certified as what the DLNA calls a “media server,” enabling it to display images or play audio and video content stored on the cell phone on another DLNA-capable device in the home.

Nokia’s device also supports mobile media controller functionality, although the DLNA has not yet finalized an applicable standard. That capability allows the N95 to function as the “ultimate remote control,” said Mikko Puuskari, director of digital home standardization for Nokia. “You can use the N95 to control audio content in the home, or you can select a movie and play it on devices in the home, and it doesn’t even go through the phone.”

In the future, Puuskari said, the N95 will be able to control home devices from a remote location. “You will have the same experience when you are traveling,” he said. “When you are outside the home, you will have all your content with you.”

Puuskari declined to reveal a time frame for that capability but said it would be “not too far in the future.” He added that Nokia hopes the DLNA will specify the Universal Plug and Play (UPNP) standard as the communication method for this functionality. Nokia already has considerable experience with UPNP, a standard that lets a device announce itself to the network.

With a suggested retail price of $779, however, the N95 costs more than many wireless customers may be willing to pay. Avi Greengart, mobile device research director for Current Analysis, said that earlier versions of Nokia’s device have sold well in Europe but have not caught on in the U.S., where they have limited distribution.
“Nokia is a little bit ahead of the consumer on this,” Greengart said. “DLNA doesn’t work in a vacuum.”

He added, however, that “Nokia getting out in front on this makes sense from a technology investment and brand perspective.” Noting that Nokia’s phone already can support digital camcorder–quality video, Greengart said it makes sense to offer users a way to upload that content to a PC or television.

Several manufacturers have begun to offer televisions that support DLNA, Puuskari said — although he added that consumers have not yet begun to demand that capability. “We have some work to do in educating the consumer and retailers,” he said. “It’s one of the priorities for DLNA this year.”

Puuskari added that Nokia has seen strong interest in the DLNA cell phone from North American operators. DLNA cell phones could appeal to companies such as AT&T and Verizon, which have begun to offer home networking capability as a means of supporting their broadband FiOS and U-verse services.

“This possibly would fit into some other plan the service providers have of unifying wireline, wireless and Internet assets,” Greengart said. “Now the service providers tie them together through pricing bundles, but they all have stated that their goal is for content to flow from screen to screen. This could be a technology to ease that transition.”

But multiplay support will not be service providers’ initial motivation for backing the N95 phone, according to Greengart. “Service providers’ primary reason for selling it is that they want subscribers that are looking to buy an expensive handset,” he said.

Multimedia handsets, he added, are growing at “an impressive clip.”