Re: Nokia N800 discontinued?
 

Hi folks --

Does anyone actually know for a fact that the 800 is discontinued? Or is this just speculation and rumor?

I'm new here -- sorry, don't mean to start off by confronting anyone! I've been shopping for a pocket computer for a while, and I've pretty much settled on the N800. I was planning to wait a bit longer to buy one, so if they have indeed been discontinued, then that makes a difference to me.

I guess I fall in the "geek" category. But I think the 800 is a better deal in some ways. It seems to me, the only advantages of the 810 are the keyboard and GPS; and from what I hear, neither one is all that great. Looking at the price difference, you can get an N800 and a nice BT keyboard and GPS, for less that the cost of an N810. The 810's dinky keyboard isn't much better than an on-screen keyboard; for any lengthy typing, I don't want to have to use a shift key to get to the digits. Also, the 800 has two full-size SD sockets, compared to the 810's one miniSD.

So, does anyone here have a contact at Nokia, or maybe a distributor or journalist who has the straight story?

Thanks --

Re: Nokia N800 discontinued?
 

What I meant was -- how many people (who are not geeks) go out with the specific intention of buying an SDHC. As you say, most people go out and buy a 'card' for their digital camera, but few consumers actually know or care about what SDHC is, as long as the 'card' works. That was my point.

Re: Nokia N800 discontinued?
 

FWIW, the Newton community in NewtonTalk is still pretty much alive and kicking, even though the Newton got 'Jobbed' back in 1998 - 10 years ago.

I've noticed that so many people go into a doom-and-gloom mode when they hear that the N800 may be discontinued. No idea why, since it doesn't change the existing functionality of the N800 today. I going to call this the 'USR Syndrome', as in how USR was 'controlling' the NS-5 robots from a central source. Symptoms of suffers of USR Syndrome basicially have it stuck in their heads somewhere that these devices stop working once they are discontinued. Interestingly enough, sufferers of USR Syndrome also display huge emotion and mental issues grasping with the circle of life (and death) :P :D

Re: Nokia N800 discontinued?
 

Sure, if you use a fairly loose definition of "most".

The N800 was released on January 8th, 2007 at $399 in the US.

Assuming we define life to be the period from then until the start of this topic on February 24th, 2008*, then the N800 lasted for about 415 days.

The initial price drops from $399 into the $350 range occurring around April, assuming exclude this price drop from the calculations, the next major price drop was at the end of August to the $250 range.

The first major drop occurred approximately 260 days from release.

260/415 = ~63%

Thus, N800 was at or near its release-day price point for only about 60% of its total lifetime.

For comparison, the 770 was released on November 14th, 2005 in the US, and the first big price drops occurred around June 2006. Around 230 days.

Applying this historical data to the N810, it seems likely that N810's big price-drops should occur sometime around July. In my opinion, historical data doesn't have a particularly large amount of meaning in this context, though. Especially considering the impending introduction of the WiMAX tablet and the not-really-an-update nature of the N810 release.†

*This date is based on the starting date of this thread, and really has no basis in reality. I only used what I had to work with. :p

†We're still due for a real generational upgrade, which the WiMAX tablet seems unlikely to provide (judging by the timing and the RX-48 product code).

Re: Nokia N800 discontinued?
 

In the US you are certainly right, but in Europe it was a different story. In France for example the price didn't budge one cent until the N810 was announced.

Re: Nokia N800 discontinued?
 

Trust me, back in 1998, electronic devices were practically obsolete 2 months out the door :) Look at the Palm devices, and the Apple Newton 2000/2100.

But I digress -- you're right about having multiple models not hurting shareholders. Product differentiation allows for greater reach and hence higher revenues, although this could be offset by the high cost of marketing vs the margins that Nokia has to make to make this a profitable product line.

Yes, this is what I meant. I forgot the price cuts in the US.

All what we know is that the N800 disappeared from various shops. Those who might know more are not allowed to talk.

About the N810: I thought the same as you do until I got a N810. Now, I appreciate the GPS (which actually works quite well), the transflexive screen, the keyboard (especially when using the command line), the smaller form factor. I miss the 2 slots, maybe we should have had 2 micro-SD slots instead of the obsolete mini-SD. Sandisk just announced a 12GB micro-SD.

Re: Nokia N800 discontinued?
 

1. don't wait too long

2. what difference?

- the n800 is a 'classic' piece of engineering, IMHO... i'd be very surprised to see any improvement on functionality in a future device (but, eh, who knows, right?)

:-)

Re: Nokia N800 discontinued?
 

Totally agree.