Nokia's nose bloodied in standards stand-off

Yeah? You want to make some-Finn of it?

Nokia's GPRS service faces a further delay as the industry's standards body refuses its request to have the standards changed. The mobile manufacturer still hasn't released a GPRS handset, though its rivals Ericsson and Motorola have, and the news threatens a further delay. Nokia asked for the new technology to be incorporated into the specifications for the high-speed GPRS service, which was turned down. An article in the September issue of the industry newsletter Nonvoice News claims: "Nokia's problems with the 3GPP [standards body] could lead to even greater delays in the launch of their long-awaited GPRS handsets, which will surely cost them dear in terms of market share." The company issued a hasty statement last week insisting that their GPRS handsets were still on schedule. It claims that: "The first units of the [GPRS-enabled] Nokia 8310 will become available in September, while the Nokia 6310 will start selling in the 4th quarter, and the Nokia 8390 at the end of 2001." Nokia needs to make standards-compliant handsets that operate with equipment from other vendors. Other handset makers have had their contracts cancelled because their equipment wasn't standards-compliant, Nonvoice News reports. However, the company needed the controversial software, called PBCCH, to help its handsets interoperate with its own network equipment.