Lotus Notes Traveler available in the OVI store. Sort of.
by Volker Weber
Ed likes this:
Nokia handset users can now access Lotus Notes Traveler directly through the OVI store. We send the Mobile Installer down to the device, and the user simply needs to be able to point to their Lotus Notes Traveler server for configuration. This is a great improvement in visibility for the Nokia marketplace and another step forward in the growth story for Notes Traveler overall.
He also has a screenshot where the E75 is selected as the current phone, a model that was released almost two years ago. So I went to the store and checked a few current models that people would buy today. The super important one would be the E7.
Here is the result:
No dice. So I checked a few more of the current lineup.
Want to guess how many of those work with Exchange? With no download or installation required?
Comments
Ouch. Let me guess: all of them?
Not quite. The first four come with Exchange support built in.
Exchange support. They all NEED support
While it is good news that Traveler is available on OVI, why only just small number of handsets? Wouldn't the consumers of Traveler get upset when they discover that it doesn't work with their device? Couldn't that put some people, who support the devices in the organization, in an uncomfortable position?
If you have an account in the Ovi store, you will set your phone, which then filters the applications you see. Traveler simply won't show up for the current crop of phones. People would not know it exists, or they would complain they can't find it. To get these messages you see above, I had to go to the app page and then set a different phone.
If you say "we support Symbian with Lotus Traveler" and your boss or customer buys a shiny new E7, you may find yourself in an uncomfortable position. But than won't happen because you first check out how much of the propaganda is true, wouldn't you?
In case this is unclear: do not not not buy a Symbian phone other than the first four models listed above. These are currently the only ones upgradable to future versions of Symbian, more specifically the new Qt-based user interface expected for this year.
My mistake. And it is a big one. I hear "Traveler supports Symbian" (or in this specific case, "Nokia handset users can now . . .") and I think "Traveler supports ALL Nokia devices."
I am wrong.
I go looking for documentation. The same phrases are repeated on the wiki, on the Traveler site, in the TechNotes, "Nokia Series 60 3rd Edition, Nokia Series 60 5th Edition." (If I am not finding the proper documentation, I hope that someone will show me something different).
Example 1
Example 2
That is not the same as thinking (or saying) "Traveler supports Symbian." Traveler supports a very specific, very small subset of Symbian. Worse, IMHO, Traveler doesn't support current models that people would buy today. The super important one would be the E7.
I have been lazy, you have made that fact very clear. Thank you for the post and providing me with a much better understanding of Traveler, Symbian, and supported devices.
Traveler works just fine for those phones. For some reason Ovi store claims that it doesn't. I get the same problem with several other programs, like Spotify.
However, if you have upgraded to the latest Lotus Traveler on your company's server, it should be no problem with getting Traveler to work on the phones listed above.
I think this is an Ovi store problem, not an IBM or Lotus-related problem.
(Oh, btw. Spotify installed just fine as well when I didn't do it through Ovi store)
Hogne, the Ovi store adheres to the GIGO process. If IBM wants to publish to Symbian^3 devices, the Ovi store will show the app.
If you happen to know that Traveler works on those phones, and IBM doesn't, maybe you can tell them. Then they can update their documentation and tell the Ovi store to show the app.
Ok, thanks.
I will check with my contacts at IBM in Norway. My device is an N8-00 and it works beautifully.
Thanks Volker for bringing some attention to this problem. Here is the answers I received after I had ordered my N8
Nokia Care:
"Currently Lotus Traveler not supported on N8 but hopefully there will be support in the future. No exact schedule, though."
"not yet working but hopefully at some point"
whilst Nokia Care USA sent me this: The spec does show support for IBM Lotus traveler
Upon investigating it does seem that the current S60 Version works for some but makes problems (specifically after firmware updates) for others
Hi all,
We read your post and wanted to contribute from a Nokia perspective.
Currently, the Lotus Notes Traveler client is available in the Ovi Store and supports S60 smartphones such as the Nokia E71, the Nokia E72 and the Nokia N97.
We are looking to extend this support to smartphones with the renewed Symbian OS like Nokia E7, Nokia N8 and Nokia C7 so Lotus Notes Traveler and other mobile solutions from IBM will be available for these smartphones.
Hope this helps for the moment. If there are any updates we will be happy to send you a message.
Best regards,
Pina
@Pina: Well, my Nokia N8 runs Traveler just fine. I can even do a live search in my company's address book.
I downloaded it from out lotus traveler server. I even did an upgrade of the traveler client a week ago. No problems.
thanks pina for the info
Nokia is one of the main sponsors of lotusphere this year. lets see what in addition to traveler they come up with
Thanks, Pina. Yes, please let me know when Traveler supports the OS formerly known as ^3. And I can't wait to use an E7 myself.
The E7 is not available yet (end of February). Some phones have traveler included in the latest Firmware eg E71 as far as i remember.
It is so easy for an IT guy to determine the OS version of any Nokia phone. At least, there is a small table:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S60_(software_platform)
Therefore, telling your boss 'we support symbian' is a stupid idea. It supports certain versions and one may easily shortlist compatible phones.
Obviously, wrong strategy belongs to phone companies like Nokia or Samsung. 100 models and 100 different OSs each incompatible with other!
BTW: As in each application, Ovi Store has a warning on top (check with your phone version blah blah).
Christian, it is. Groundhog day.
vowe,
Just curious; how many phones do you have ?
:)
That changes often, since I have have many phones that are not mine. On average there is about two new phones a month, sometimes two a week. But they all go back. At any time, probably a dozen.
It may not be officially supported, but I have installed Lotus Traveler on my Nokia N8, without any problem. I personally think its a much better experience than the iPhone.
Hi!
No, the Traveler version 8.5.2.1 does not fully support Symbian 3 phones. It works BUT not as it should. I mailed Ed Brill att IBM and he said that they are working on the Symbian 3 version that fully integrates with the built in mail client and it should arrive early 2011.
Well, it is early 2011 NOW but no Lotus Traveler for Symbian 3. So as usual we have to wait. And what do we think about waiting?
/N
Hi all,
I just recently got a Nokia C7-00 as at the Nokia Europe site, Nokia C7 Specifications, it says:
Email and messaging
* Easy-to-use email client with attachment support for images, videos, music and documents .doc/ .docx, .xls/ .xlsx, .ppt/ .pptx, .pdf, .zip
* HTML support for email
* Unified push email client supporting multiple protocols: Yahoo!® Mail, Gmail™, Windows Live™, Hotmail and other popular POP/IMAP services, Mail for Exchange, IBM Lotus traveler
* Email web widget for home screen
* Unified MMS/SMS editor
* Conversational view for SMS
Now I feel frustrated as some of you who cannot install IBM Lotus traveler from OVI store. I tried changing the model to my old Nokia 5230 and selected the "send to phone" option at OVI site, then I got a link to download the software directly from the phone and it works with my Nokia 5230 but with my C7-00 I only got a message that the OVI store is not available. I can open the OVI store directly in the C7-00, but when searching for the Lotus traveler, it cannot find it.
Any suggestion on how to bypass this OVI restriction?
I have always trusted Nokia which seems a very solid and reliable company.
Before buying my Nokia N8, in January 2011, I read many articles stating that the 'Lotus Notes Traveler' would be shortly available....well, unfortunately more than 6 months later, the application is not available in Ovi nor any other source to be downloaded.
Would some Nokia authorized voice, be able to give me a serious availability estimate?
Hi !
I am not an official Nokia voice, but the fact is that the problem is the the IBM side in terms of releasing this latest version of Lotus Notes Traveller. Even though there is a beta release since several month somewhat available to Developers. According to infos from Nokia this release is working fine on several SYMBIAN^3 versions (Anna) or whatever they are called now.
So once again.... older Symbian 3rd of 5th edition work with old Traveller version available in OVI store, but not on latest Sybian Devices like E5/E6/E7/N8 etc.....
very sad for business customers which are relying since many years on Nokia.
I can tell from my company that we use Nokia E Series since ages to replicate with Lotus Notes..... now.... nothing available since almost 6 month.... mayority already moved to Android and iphones......
rgds
M
