Nokia introduced N-Gage in 2003 as a standalone handheld gaming device, which developed a small but enthusiastic following. Nokia later discontinued the device and instead came up with a plan to develop phones that would support the N-Gage platform. After a delay, it began introducing phones that could play N-Gage games in early 2008.

On Friday, Nokia posted a note at its N-Gage Web site informing users that the company would no longer publish new games for the platform, and that the N-Gage.com Web site and community aspects of the platform will be shut down at the end of 2010. Nokia will keep selling the existing games through September 2010.

Instead of N-Gage, Nokia wants customers who are interested in gaming to turn to its Ovi application store.

“As mobile gaming evolves and begins to encompass social gaming, we want to offer one store front with an even broader portfolio of games — games for everyone. It’s much more convenient to have one place to get all your mobile games, and this is what Ovi Store provides,” it said.

Nokia hopes to add more community elements to the Ovi Store that might replace N-Gage Arena, a site where gamers could chat in a forum and post their high scores. “We are actively working on offering more community elements through Ovi,” Nokia said.

Some N-Gage fans wrote of their dismay after hearing that the forum will be shut down. “A sad day indeed,” a user going by the name nce007 wrote on the forum. That user and others seemed unimpressed with Ovi. “Ovi cannot replace N-Gage in my opinion,” nce007 wrote.

“I just cannot believe that such a wonderful platform which had great potential is being phased away in such a manner to Ovi?” wrote another user who goes by apurvguptal.

Nokia has also been toying with the strategy behind Ovi since it launched last year. Ovi.com is a central site where people can find various services hosted by Nokia, including photo-sharing, e-mail, calendar and navigation services. Ovi.com now includes Nokia’s new application store. But earlier this year, Nokia shut down a Seattle office that was developing an online sharing service, halted investment in the Ovi Share photo-sharing service and shut down Mosh, a social-networking site.

AT&T is partnering with mobile phone giant Nokia on its venture into laptops. Mobile professionals will be able to purchase Nokia’s Booklet 3G for $299 with a two-year mobile data plan commitment.

The Booklet 3G will be available exclusively in Best Buy stores throughout the holiday retail season, and users will be able to buy the mini-laptop without a data commitment for $599. The Booklet 3G is powered by the Intel Atom processor, has a chassis made from a single piece of aluminum, and will run its operating system is Microsoft Windows 7.
The computer has Wi-Fi, 3G capabilities, GPS, a 120-GB hard-disk drive, and will be able to access programs from Nokia’s Ovi catalog. The system comes with a 16-cell battery that Nokia said will deliver up to 12 hours of battery life.

For Nokia, the move comes as smartphones and laptops are becoming increasingly similar in terms of pricing and capabilities. Computer makers are also seeing this trend, and companies such as Apple, Acer, and even Dell (Dell) are jumping into the smartphone market to capitalize on the mobile computing convergence.

AT&T is looking at netbooks and laptops as a way to generate additional revenues on its mobile data networks. The company has long had success discounting cell phones to get customers locked into a two-year service contract, and it is trying to replicate that business model with devices such as the Booklet 3G.

It is unclear how strong consumer demand is for subsidized netbooks, as many of these devices can be purchased outright for less than $400 and can be used with home Internet connections or open Wi-Fi.

The Booklet 3G will be available Oct. 22, and the $299 price tag will come with a data plan that costs about $60 a month. AT&T said the mini-laptop would also be offered with other rate plans and at pricing to be announced.

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