Re: Will Joe Average understand why the N900 is special?
 

Does anybody really think Nokia plans on having the vast majority of its phones running Symbian in 2012? I sure don't. They're not buying QT and throwing their money at maemo for nothing. By 2012 the kind of processing power in the N900 will be mainstream. With cycles that cheap, the traditional phone OSes are going to be pointless. Look at how many features even dumbphones have now. In two+ years, people are going to be expecting real computer functionality from their "phones", and with good reason. Everything smaller than full-sized keyboard will be displaced by "smart phones", just like PDAs have been already.

N900 isn't the finished product. It's a rung in the ladder for Nokia to be on top when the portable computer convergence roller coaster really begins.

Re: Will Joe Average understand why the N900 is special?
 

It's interesting that Amazon (at least) are billing the N900 as a 'mobile computer', not as a phone. As well as probably being a more fitting description it might get buyers thinking about it in as a netbook competitor rather than as a really smart smartphone, and if that happens you're into a whole different mindset where people don't routinely expect carrier subsidies etc.

Re: Will Joe Average understand why the N900 is special?
 

Apple have played to their strengths and reaped deserved rewards for doing so. Their devices 'just work', and are packaged with careful attention to 'style'. They are fashionable, sleek and useful to many people. Yet, in many respects, they are a toy. Toys have great value in society, but they don't always make value.

The N900 is the latest step in bringing the power and utility of computers into tighter integration with our lives. Where you used to have to go sit down at a terminal, you can now perform the same tasks concurrently with your life. It is an ever-present link to the networked world.

Re: Will Joe Average understand why the N900 is special?
 

as much as your post made me laugh, it's sadly true...people are too stupid to appreciate something like the N900 (ofc i don't mean people from maemo.org lol)

Re: Will Joe Average understand why the N900 is special?
 

I disagree, the form factor and marketing is directed as a phone. MID is a nearly unknown term. netbook just got hot over the last 18 months... and mids are further outside of the mainstream. to explain a mid you have to take five minutes and say "well its like a netbook, but a tablet and smaller and no it isn;t a phone.. but it could be. no no no its not a ****ing iphone its different because its a real computer.. " and no one wants that kind of frustration.

You make comparisons to what is known and clearly understood by the majority of people. you dont describe a file minion as like chateau briand but smaller, but rather a ny sirloin... (god i need to break for lunch)

anyway... i think you get my point.

Re: Will Joe Average understand why the N900 is special?
 

I think these two phrases reflect a basic problem. The first is the idea of a platform. People don't buy platforms, they buy products. How many users of the iPhone know who makes its CPU, what speed it runs at, or what OS runs on top of it? They are interested in what the iPhone can do for them. If they need it to do something that it can't do out of the box, they'll look in the iPhone store and, if it's not there, they will either trade it in for a different phone or give up.

This brings up the second phrase which I will rephrase as "what do advanced users want?" For me the answer is a rich suite of applications which the N900 seriously lacks at the moment. In fact, I can't think of a single thing that the N900 has to offer an advanced user right now which can't be matched or bettered by another phone.

Granted, there is a great deal of potential in the OS but Joe Average is looking for results. I don't buy a car based on how it can potentially be tuned to perform, I buy it based on how it performs when I drive it away from the dealer. A car tuner might look at what he could do to a car when deciding what to buy, a developer might look at what he can do to a phone when deciding what to buy, but Joe Average is into immediate gratification.

Next year the answer might be different. All the advanced developers will have created applications that advanced users lust after while Nokia will have improved the UI so that Joe Average can see the advantages. Next year. Not now.

Re: Will Joe Average understand why the N900 is special?
 

Amazon is describing it as "Nokia N900 Unlocked Cell Phone/Mobile Computer with 3.5-Inch Touch Screen, QWERTY, 5 MP Camera, Maemo Browser, 32 GB--U.S. Version with Full Warranty"

"This unlocked cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Not all carrier features may be supported. It will not work with CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless, Alltel and Sprint."

Re: Will Joe Average understand why the N900 is special?
 

I try and explain the N900 as a bastard mutant lovechild of a netbook and a cellphone ;)

Apple have proved that millions of people love their sleek, pocketable devices - they've hit the sweet spot regarding form factor. These devices are constrictive, whereas the N900 etc is bringing the flexibility and open nature of a linux netbook to this more highly portable format.

Re: Will Joe Average understand why the N900 is special?
 

Interesting: Amazon.co.uk is describing it as "Nokia n900 Mobile Computer with Maemo software"

Different marketting for different markets?

Re: Will Joe Average understand why the N900 is special?
 

As an "advanced user" I want the POTENTIAL. Apps can always be written, but without the underlying hardware/OS to back them up its pointless. Android has shown that, the ability to write apps is easier than ever, but the hardware and the OS/Java platform is so lacking many "cool" ideas cannot be implemented.

With maemo you have essentially a desktop equivalent linux install. Anything that can be written for Linux can in POTENTIA be ported to maemo (yes I know screen size issues etc aside). The only limitation is memory (mostly resolved by the ability to swap) and the CPU (pretty beefy in the n900). The OS is completely Opengl compliant which means any eye candy you could want can easily be implemented (and in many cases simply recompiled).

This device is a launch pad for the next generation of portable devices which will be targeted at the upcoming audience of VERY tech savvy kids coming up through the ranks. They will expect MORE from their devices.

That being said.Maybe this phone isn't for you "Average Joe" but I really don't think it couldn't be used by one.

Oh and as far as Apple hitting their mark. i quote my brother.

"No one every went broke appealing to the lowest common denominator"