event

Nokia has announced the dates and location of this year's Nokia World - the event that covers everything 'Nokia'. While Nokia World 2011 in London was a blast, we're looking forward to the next event from the manufacturer as it's most probable that Windows Phone 8 ("Apollo") handsets will be unveiled. All we know for the moment is that it's going to be a fairly sizeable show with it being held on Nokia's home turf in Helsinki, Finland.

September 25-26 are the set dates and the Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre is the designated venue. 2012 will be the first year that the event has been held in Finland, which couldn't be better timed with Helsinki being officially titled as the World Design Capital for the year.

For more information, be sure to hit the links below.

Source: Nokia, Nokia Conversations

If you're in Malaysia, you best get your spare cash together as today you can finally purchase the Nokia Lumia 710 or 800 (see our earlier coverage). At about 5:30 pm local time, Nokia's big push into that market will finally begin and the first 100 buyers of the Lumia 800 will get a pair of Nokia Purity HD Stereo headset by Monster, Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse and an "exclusive Nokia premium worth up to RM 1,000". Not too shabby!

Though they have a few hours before all of this happens, people are already lining up. The last count was about 80 people with 5 or so hours before the purchases can be made--not huge but that's not bad either.

The blog Smashpop.net is covering as it happens, adding new photos as the day goes on so make sure to keep up. You can also follow them on Twitter for live updates @smashpop.

To all of Malaysia...congrats! (I've always wanted to say that)

We previously touched on Paris being the next location where a giant Windows Phone is to be constructed, just like the event in New York last month. Today, we've got an idea of what the setup looks like. In the photo above we can clearly see the erected display (behind a tree) with what appear to be demo stands situated just in front. Luckily this is in France, since here in the UK the health and safety baboons would not like the event being that close to a main road.

The massive structure (as well as everything else that's planned) will be unveiled this evening, and will run on for 10 days in Champs Elysées. Professeur Thibault speculates that the Nokia Lumia 800, HTC Radar and Acer Allegro will be on display.

Source: Professeur Thibault

It looks like the big phone that was erected in New York earlier this month is heading for Paris, according to a report over at Smartphune.fr. The proposed 10 meter-plus mammoth of a Windows Phone is set to be constructed at the intersection of Champs-Elysées and Avenue Dutuit and will remain standing from December 9th to the 18th. 

While the report is still awaiting confirmation, many sources are pointing to a Zune Santa Clause playlist being played, the ability to send SMS and mail (via terminals) to Santa,  and children will be able to provide Santa with their wishes. Gregory Olivier, Director of Marketing and Consumer Communications at Microsoft, had the following to say about the coming holiday season:

"In this holiday season, we wanted to allow the public to discover the new features offered by Windows Phone 7.5 in offering an original and creative, with an iconic character."

Source: Smartphune.fr, via: MonWindowsPhone

Looking at Microsoft's mobile platform for your next project but don't have the knowledge or experience yet? These events are for you should you reside in the UK (or be able to attend). Microsoft is holding two developer training events, one in London (17th September) and the other in Manchester (24th September), both starting at 09:30 and ending at 18:30.

What's required to attend? Absolutely nothing at all. You don't even have to understand the basic functionality of the OS, it will all be covered on the day and will include the starter skills for app development. Some Mango features will be discussed as well including multi-tasking and advertising SDK. You are - however - required to bring your own laptop with the Windows Phone Developer Tools installed.

Did we mention that it's free? Also, attendees will each receive a Windows Phone Design Guide Sketch Pad of their own. Can't make it to these events? Don't fear, they've stated that this is merely the start of the series and more will open up across the UK. For more detail on future events, be sure to follow @UKMSDN on Twitter.

Register for the events below and be sure to check out the FAQ and details on the announcement post (link below):

London - Saturday 17th September

Manchester - Saturday 24th September

Source: MSDN

Live in the UK and within travelling distance of London? Fancy attending a small event for the good of Windows Phone? Of course you do! Microsoft is holding a small research and feedback panel in central London on the 10th and 11th of August (6.15pm OR 8pm). Attendees (only 24 places) will receive £60 for their trouble, food (presumably accompanied by drink) as well as a few "surprises" - Microsoft funded pub crawl anyone?

What do you need to do to enter with a chance in being one of the lucky 24? Simply fill out this survey and the team will get back to you. In all honesty, we'll be attending should the pub crawl turn out to be true.

We have learnt of some fantastic news for any England based developers (abroad too if you can get to the events by March) with two local hackathons based solely on Windows Phone 7 development. The one-day events - which are entirely free – are built on the previous successful DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper sessions that focused on developers learning, interacting and sharing unique ideas in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. The event is hosted in Manchester on March 18th, with Birmingham following on the 25th. Both beginning at 18:00 (6pm) on a Friday.

The events have one single goal: to get as many apps ready for Marketplace submission as possible (within the 24 hours), while having fun along the way, learning tricks and networking with fellow developers. As mentioned on the official website, one should attend if:

• You’ve got a great idea for an app and need help getting started
• You’re building an app but need help on implementing some features
• You have an app that’s nearly ready and need advice on how to get it through the Marketplace submission process
• You want to collaborate with other WP7 devs and contribute to the creation of open source libraries, controls or components