What does it mean when Nokia releases its own Mac software suite? It means the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world is starting to pay close attention to a new and fast growing market segment called the Mac.
 I'll get my people to speak to your people and set something up: not any longer, it seems! Nokia now speaks fluent Mac. |
You know there is something afoot when the world's largest handset maker, Nokia, releases Mac software.
Has it got something to do with Apple's 3x industry growth rates?
Or maybe Mac users appreciate the Nokia UI (at least more than others)?
Or maybe Nokia is simply worried that when the iPhone ships it's going to be the only phone that properly syncs media to iTunes.
Whatever the reason, it doesn't matter to end users. Any way you slice it, Nokia Media Transfer 1.0 (beta) is a good first step.
Even though Mac users have been able to transfer content via Bluetooth to their phones, the Nokia Media Transfer (NMT) application lets you transfer photos and videos directly from iPhoto, transfer music (including podcasts) to iTunes and even import your own photos back in to iTunes to your 'N' series handset in style.
There is also a handy device browser that lets you transfer other files to and from your phone. Nokia is definitely getting the 'Mac' vibe as the website even includes some high quality Flash-based tutorials.
The software requires OS X 10.4.9, iTunes 7 and iPhoto 6 and is a free download. As Nokia says, it's still in beta so look out for some problems.
If you don't happen to have an 'N' series Nokia you might like to try PhoneDirector from MacMedia. PhoneDirector ($US50) lets you manage similar content to NMT but also allows you to do more sophisticated phone management like address book and calendar syncing, as well as sending SMSs on your Mac via your phone carrier. You can create themes for your phone too.
Finally, if you don't care about transferring media but just want to sync basic contact and calendar information between your Mac and your Nokia (and you phone isn't natively supported with iSync) check out Nova Media's range of iSync plug ins ($16). They are so easy to install you'll wonder why Apple didn't just support more models of phone by themselves.
 First installer screen |
 Second installer screen |
 Third installer screen |
 Fourth installer screen: iPhoto syncing preferences |
 Fifth installer screen: iTunes syncing prefs (our Nokia N80 doesn't have much memory obviously!) |
 Sixth installer screen |
 Installation finished |
 Nokia in your menu bar: not quite perfect integration with the iApps, but still very easy to get to! |
 Nokia in iPhoto: your phone appears as a camera when plugged in, and iPhoto can import from it like any other camera. (Of course, other phones with mass storage modes can do this automatically |
 Transferring files: it's all happening in the menu bar, baby! |