The demise of Nokia, or a brave new world...
Mat Newman February 12 2011 07:14:00
I am a Nokia fan-boy.Around Lotusphere this year, whenever I pulled out my trusty N97 and used it in front of people (of course, no-one had ever seen one, hardly anyone at Lotusphere had a Nokia) there were always questions; What is that? What does it run? What are the features?
Yeah, not bad for an almost 2 year old device. Front camera and back 5MP DVD quality camera, LED flash, Native video calling, 48GB of storage, online AND off-line GPS including voice-guidance with maps loaded on the device for Europe, Asia and North America, FM Transmitter, touch screen and Flip-up keyboard, TV/Projector out, USB, Full web-browser, Traveler, SameTime, Skype, Facebook, Sportskeeper, etc, etc...
But it runs Symbian. The biggest difference between Symbian and iOS are Menu's. And this is where iOS has been a hit from a user perspective. On Symbian, instead of moving forward through several screens to get to preferences and options - as is the case with iOS (Back <- Back <- Back, anyone) - Symbian uses a menu based interface to navigate through applications. Not a big deal for someone like myself who is slightly more technical, but obviously not as popular with the general public as the iOS implementation.
The true benefit of Symbian is the ability to do real RAD, just like in Notes. Using the API's and tools available it is easy to create powerful, extremely functional applications that run in a true multi-tasking environment, with the ability to access any function on the device, with an extremely small footprint.
Playing music/podcasts through a rental-car's radio, while getting email, while driving with the voice-guidance from the GPS and maps is something I do regularly. Add the solid Phone performance - it IS after all a phone FIRST, right! - and I often found myself handing the phone over to my passenger to make calls long after their iThing/Blackberry lost signal.
So what was after Symbian? According to Nokia: Meego. The game started with Maemo, but lets not go there.
I had been tooling up to write Meego apps, and had already begun playing with the API's and tools available since November last year. WildFire! for Nokia has been my first project. BTW. I run Linux as my operating system, so it was GREAT that the tools were available for my platform from day 1.
Then appeared the 'We're standing on the burning deck' memo a few days ago.
Yesterday came the announcement.
Followed quickly by condemnation from the Nokia developer community.
Nokia is now abandoning Symbian and Meego on their SmartPhones for Windows 7.
My initial reaction was disbelief and consternation: (modified for a 'G' rated audience) "No way, you're kidding me ... right?"
I have completely abandoned Microsoft, and joined the growing Linux/Mac fraternity looking for a 'better way'. My evangelical passion for IBM Lotus software, and the appearance of Symphony for Linux/Mac made the transition easy. No big deal on my mobile device, I've never owned a Windows mobile, but have had to (shudder) support many users who suffered on the platform.
The promise of QT on Symbian/Meego showed the path ahead for extending Lotus technology easily to mobile devices.
And now that's gone.
I'm not completely surprised that the new North American CEO of a European company has decided to get into bed with an American company (Microsoft) in an effort to boost Nokia's profile in the USA, which is virtually non-existent.
Time will tell if this decision marks the resurgence or death-knell for my favourite mobile device manufacturer.
Take note Nokia - as I discussed with a senior exec at Lotusphere a week ago - the E7 would have been my next phone if it had at least the equivalent features as my 2 year old N97. It doesn't, so I'm not buying.
IF I ever buy another Nokia device, it will have to be functionally superior than the one I already own.
And in case you haven't already guessed, the implementation of Windows Mobile on the device had better be rock solid and have lightning fast performance.
I've already stated you've lost a customer. You've also lost a developer, and a fan-boy.
It's completely in your hands to win me back.
It's up to you to prove that the Windows 7 decision isn't the beginning of your demise, but the promise of a brave new world...
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