Comments on: What the N900 Means to Nokia

By: For Nokia’s Ovi, the World (Minus the U.S.) Is Enough – GigaOM

For Nokia’s Ovi, the World (Minus the U.S.) Is Enough – GigaOM — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:39:58 +0000

[...] and easier on the Nokia platform,” Ojanperä said. This includes Symbian S60 and Maemo OS, which currently powers the recently released N900 device. (Related: “With N900, Nokia Still Not Close to the [...]

By: tino

tino — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:51:35 +0000

I started using Maemo tablet since the n800. The way Nokia treat the app communisty/market is depressing. On a rough guesstimate, it has 3-5 times less apps than WM, and 10 times less apps than the iPhone (and I am just talking about the free ones.)

I have gone back to using PalmOS phone recently. And the completely 100% dead PalmOS platform still have much more useful apps than Maemo, which is a pretty mature platform at this time. If Nokia hasn’t been able to get any app on the platform at its 3rd, 4th iteration, its never going to get any decent apps. That’s just common sense.

Either Nokia has to rebrand it and relaunch the Maemo platform, or make it much more attractive to develop on. It’s never going to work. And I am not saying there is anything wrong about the OS. Think BeOS and a bunch of other failed platforms.

By: Is the Symbian Foundation DOA? | google android os blog

Is the Symbian Foundation DOA? | google android os blog — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:37:30 +0000

[...] will take a further cut. Then, to rub salt in the wound, Nokia, the long-time Symbian supporter, came out with the N900 tablet and smart phone based on Maemo, which runs on [...]

By: Nokia’s North American Struggles | Mark Evans Tech

Nokia’s North American Struggles | Mark Evans Tech — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:35:52 +0000

[...] For more on what the N900 could mean for Nokia, check out GigaOm. [...]

By: links for 2009-11-11 | stuart henshall

links for 2009-11-11 | stuart henshall — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:02:09 +0000

[...] I'm generally with @gigaom that the N900 is the the future for Nokia at the intelligent rather … It's sad to see the launch of the N900 is a mere bleep in the US after the Droid launch this last weekend. While Nokia was never headed to Verizon they should have sown up a deal with T-Mobile even if AT&T was impossible. The N900 has one big thing going for it. A fully functioning firefox browser that will take plug-ins etc. It also has a philosophy going for it that can take the brand into the next decade. Unfortunately that story isn't being told. It is the only phone in the US assortment hat could create the noise to bring Brand Nokia back into the consideration set. [...]

By: Mikko Alasaarela

Mikko Alasaarela — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:56:07 +0000

I fully agree with Jason. Nokia should fully embrace Android. They keep doing fabulous hardware that is crippled with always-so-buggy and always-late-in-the-game software. With Android OS, they could push out a slew of new phones that easily beat the competition in hardware and match competition in software.

But it may be overly optimistic to assume Nokia giving up the OS efforts it has going on. If I could decide, I would just simply axe out the OS department and focus solely on developing integrated user experience on top of Android.

By: Maemo vs Android: la pelea interesante | Denken Über

Maemo vs Android: la pelea interesante | Denken Über — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:42:27 +0000

[...] una excelente nota en GigaOM: What the N900 Means to Nokia en la que se menciona la necesidad de Nokia de tener un equipo que tenga sex-appeal hasta en la [...]

By: Rich Wong

Rich Wong — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:23:53 +0000

In my view, its not going to be enough … its not just about the mousetrap (the product alone), its about getting scale channels of distribution which are very immature for Nokia, AND its about building a healthy ecosytem around the platform. NOK hasn’t had a great history with stable developer platforms so I think its going to hurt them on this 2nd point. Might be great in Stockholm or Helsinki (probly not) but not in San Fran.

Rich Wong
Accel Partners

By: Berryman

Berryman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:34:24 +0000

Although it appears to be an interesting phone and operating system, Nokia isn’t going to win any significant marketshare “in the vital U.S. market” until the N900 is offered through a mainstream carrier–preferably Verizon or AT&T.

By: titanas

titanas — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:32:54 +0000

Maemo 5 is for starters. Maemo 6 will bring the main course on the table with Qt and all.

By: Jason Lackey

Jason Lackey — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:32:49 +0000

Yes, building a mobile OS from scratch is indeed a daunting task, one which not everyone is suited for. While this will probably be viewed as violently offensive in Espoo, I still think that an N97 running Android would be one hell of a fine phone.

The N900 strikes me as being a Finnish Pre, pleasant and full of potential (yet unrealized in the builds I have played with but I am told that the latest and greatest most beautiful ROMs are nice indeed). However, Nokia themselves can’t get their act together enough to figure out what platform they are going to use (S40, S60, Maemo….) and they are but one of many players. This is where Apple has truly nailed it, no fragmentation, no different platforms, just a very large number of good phones running the same OS and thus there IS an app for that. Much of the charm of a good platform is that there are apps and accessories available. Development on S60 is dead and has yet to really start on Maemo. Meanwhile the mobile world is converging on Android and iPhone while WinMo withers and RIM struggles for relevance.

BTW if I can’t get Android on the N97, can I at least get Maemo? To be honest, I like the N97 hardware better than Maemo, although I am not sure if the dodgy touchscreen is software or hardware related.