Comments on: Nokia Needs to Step on the Symbian 3 Gas Pedal

By: When Will Nokia’s Smartphone Transition End?

When Will Nokia’s Smartphone Transition End? — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:01:11 +0000

[...] many expectations that this platform would be used for high-end Nokia phones. In April, I said that Nokia needed to step on the Symbian^3 gas pedal and a week later, the Nokia N8 was announced, which brings us full circle as both the first and [...]

By: Brian S Hall

Brian S Hall — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:09:21 +0000

I tend to agree. Nokia should move fast, but they need to get this right before just getting it out the door.

They have the most mobile phone sales in the world, by far. They are everywhere (except the US, essentially). So, they have the distribution, the carrier relationships, the name recognition, the infrastructure services.

I believe the world is transitioning from 4 billion mobile phones to 4 billion smartphones. If Nokia's newest smartphone OS is solid, they can get a good share of that. If not, they probably are forever consigned to second tier status, at best.

By: HD Boy

HD Boy — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:43:41 +0000

Ouch. Why should anyone get excited by an operating system like this that delivers the same basic ideas for a cell phone interface that Apple devised four years ago? What's the point? I'm supposed to buy into this derivative system, but without the iPhone ecosystem of innovative Apps and peripherals? Tell me they have something more, something original and groundbreaking. Like Microsoft, Nokia's time has passed.

By: Grzegorz Daniluk

Grzegorz Daniluk — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:48:18 +0000

In February Nokia showed "design preview". Which looks a bit like ... Flash presentation :-) In contrast Microsoft showed real software. Hence I guess that Microsoft should deliver first. Not Nokia.

However if Symbian 3 is just a face lifted software, then delivery in the third quarter of this year is possible.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:25:24 +0000

Hopefully the delay is because they are making sure their Symbian^3 device is all that it needs to be. I'm sure hardware wise it will have great specifications but the forward and backward compatibility of Symbian^3 (all existing Symbian apps plus QT) as well as the desire to have an intuitive and robust user experience is a huge challenge. Better they get it right than push it out and try to correct it with firmware updates. There are over 300,000 QT developers so if they get all the basics right, the apps will come.

By: sfmitch

sfmitch — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:14:17 +0000

I actually think Nokia has the time to do it right the first time.

While Nokia has had no success in US, it just released results (smartphone shipments up over 50% YOY) that show the sky is not falling on Nokia.

Bringing out Symbian 3 fast but non-polished would be a mistake. Better to make sure they when they deliver, Symbian 3 is great.