Could Maemo have been Android?
 

Just a random thought, but could Maemo have been Android if Nokia had made different decisions? Seems to me if they had decided to include GSM code they could have made a bigger splash. Everyone's all over Android, but let's face it - is anyone really that excited about the phone part? To me it's about the ( open ) mobile platform.

Before I get flamed with 'I want separate devices' comments, I do too, but the iPhone ( and Android ) seems to indicate alot of folks don't.

It appears too me we have alot of devices hovering around the same (elusive ) target - NIT, MID, iPhone, Android, none of which the market seems to be sure of - PDA or not? Phone or not? Open or not? Media player or not? laptop substitute or not? I think everyone wants one of these, what ever they are, but no one really knows what exactly it is they want.

Who will hit the target first?

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

at the time they would have risked undermining symbian, but now, who knows.
in the tech industry things change almost to fast...

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

It ain't over yet!

And no, that comment does NOT constitute policy.

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

meh, i suspect that both maemo and android are fighting a uphill battle.

apple is in the field now, and we all know what that means (im seeing people importing the iphone because its not available for sale around this part of the world yet, for one thing).

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

a) the fact that Apple is in the market doesn't mean anything to me. I had a choice between an N800, iPhone, or iTouch. The N800 was, by far, the winner. And it will just get better from there.

b) I doubt "maemo could have been android". Because Maemo came from Nokia, its competitors wouldn't have gotten behind it the way they got behind an OS from someone they don't compete with. And Google wouldn't have gotten behind it because, in my observation, Google and Nokia are both "this is my toy, I control it" type entities, so neither would have been willing give the reigns to the other.

I see two possible outcomes:

1) more likely: Maemo will incorporate Android compatibility features, so that you can do any Android thing on Maemo... but Maemo and Android will otherwise remain distinct entities.

2) less likely: Nokia will get Google to incorporate Maemo-isms, and then join the Android bandwagon. (less likely because I don't see Nokia giving up that amount of control)

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

...another fight for around 10% market share with a totally proprietary system?

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

...And, Texrat wins the thread. Everyone else can go home.

In summary:
Apple's iPhone OS is an OS tied to hardware, which currently lacks any official SDK.
Nokia's ITOS is an OS tied to hardware, with some open source components.
Google's Android is a CPU agnostic cell phone software stack.

In the long run, Android is the only thing on that list that even has a possibility of usage by more than one company, and most likely it will have the longest lasting API stability. Maybe it won't be successful, but neither ITOS, nor iPhone OS were ever its competition.

-John

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

That's not substantially different from what I said, either.

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

the point i was trying to make is that iphone is riding the ipod wave. and when the sdk ships this will get even "worse". just look at the number of specialized iphone webpages...

most customers dont care about open, they care about "fashionable"...

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

Sorry, but I don't agree. The SDK is only one piece of the puzzle. The iPhone lacks some other pieces of functionality that keep it from being a real useful tool to me.

1) bluetooth FTP
2) bluetooth DUN/PAN, or similar tethering capability for your laptop/etc.
3) bluetooth keyboard
4) landscape mode for virtual keyboard
5) physical keyboard version (or case)
6) sync contacts with thunderbird and/or gmail
7) sync calendar/to-do with sunbird and/or google calendar

The SDK will mean that it's going to have, at some reasonable point in the future, a real ssh client that doesn't cause you to risk bricking your phone (and if it uses the existing virtual keyboard, it'll only be usable in portrait mode, so it'll have a tiny text area, which will suck). Great. That still leaves the other short-comings. And the fact that you've got to deal with draconian policies from Apple (who says they'll digitally-sign your app, so that it can be legitimately installed? hmm?)

Really, through work, I can get a free iPhone, and free service (work will pay for both). I wont be taking advantage of it. I'd rather wait for a solution that involves maemo and/or android.

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

and neither do i consider it. but i keep seeing people that import it, jailbreaked, as it cant be legally bought in norway. and people praise the browser as if its the first time one could get a product that does real web on the pocket. its as if the nokia devices never existed.

and if you talk the iphone down and/or bring the N8x0 into the conversation you get stuff like "oh but the N8x0 isnt a phone", "it does not have multi-touch", "but its a real smartphone, ones jailbreaked one can install all kinds of app on it" and so on...

apple have grabbed a mindshare like nothing else. people that never considered a N800 or a WM/symbian smartphone is all over the iphone.

and as i think about it, one reason could be that it integrates with the existing apple ecosystem. as in, its a ipod (full sync with itunes), its a phone and you can browse the web on it (facebook, myspace, the whole social networking thing).

while both android and maemo may be more flexible and all that, apple got the mindshare outside of the geek sphere. hell, just today im reading about something as "silly" as a virtual piano on the iphone. there has been a explosion of development for it, and thats even before one can officially install third party stuff on it.

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

Seems to date from the 10th (of February). Looks like PyAno is earlier, that's one more iFanboy bashing argument... ;) Unfortunately, we don't have multi-touch hardware, so they do have the benefit WRT chords. Still, we were there first, and they even copied Ty's name. iAno indeed...

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

You do realize the iPhone already has this, and has from day one, right?

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

heh, why am i not surprised...

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

When I was using it in the store, testing out the SMS applet, I couldn't get the virtual keyboard into landscape mode, no. Portrait only. I'll admit that was back in September, but at the time, the apple store folks said it was one of the things you could only do in portrait mode.

Got any pics of it (keyboard or SMS) in landscape mode?

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

According to this Gizmodo review of the iPhone:
That text appears just below a photo of the keyboard in landscape mode.

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

Aah. Then I ammend that to "a landscape virtual keyboard that is usable with all applets, not just safari".

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

They don't care about "open" per se, but they DO care about the results of openness.

Also, I don't believe most customers put fashion over function. Some, but not most. See: Apple's OS market share vs Microsoft's. ;)

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

But this does bring one of the keys to success: marketing. The key to Android's success will be the marketing from the handset company that uses it. The ability to build hype with the average user / non-techno crowd will be the measure of success for the platform.

All of us reading this forum recognize the real reasons for platform success: functionality/openness/SDK availability/blah blah blah. But when you see an N810 on popular TV shows -- THAT's the device that people will want.

Eventually, the hype will give way to questions of real usefullness, but by then devices are in the hands of consumers. THe fact that the iPhone is severely restricted in terms of functionality is irrelevant when people in Norway are importing them.

[ASIDE: I wonder whether Internet Tablet placement in last summer's movies boosted sales. I'm going to doubt it, because brand recognition was probably low.]

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

if your refering to the 770 in the fantastic four movie, the device was on its way of market so...

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

Yeah, look what Stargate SG-1 did for the Tapwave Zodiak!

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

Look out, he's on a roll!

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

BUT-- let us not confuse successful marketing campaigns with success OF marketing campaigns.

Apple has created the perception that they are more pervasive than they really are. That's great for the "cool" factor, but not so much for the bottom line. In fact, were it not for a huge infusion of cash (gasp! by MICROSOFT!) years ago, Apple may very well have been a dead joke by now.

Microsoft's advertising can be dull, their products ridiculed, their current CEO compared to a witless primate... yet they still managed to eke out and maintain more OS market share than Apple. Sure Apple has mind share... and that's worth... what again?

We'll see where Android goes.

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

Apple dominates the MP3 players market. Do you think Microsoft has ANY mind share with the fabulous Zune? Zu-what?

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

Really? I'd have expected that they dominate in mindshare, but all the little, no name, also rans collectively make up a larger portion of the market.

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

What he ^ said

EDIT: besides, let Apple have MP3s. Eventually players will be cheaply incorporated into darn near everything, rendering that narrow market of dedicated players a fool's paradise. Like others in the thread, I was looking at computing platforms and operating systems... especially mobile ones.

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

If you want to use Apple vs Microsoft, you have to come up with some other statement. Microsoft is pure fashion (business fashion, sheepish herd mentality fashion, etc.), and not one lick of function.

Old Apple was, you're right, pure fashion and not much function. But that ended with OSX. Now its fashion combined with function, which is why they're growing again.

The only thing MS has going for it is legacy inertia. Definitely not function.

Re: Could Maemo have been Android?
 

As a longtime Microsoft developer (Visual Studio, SQL Server, etc), I have to strongly disagree. But perhaps that opinion depends on one's experiences.