Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

So
No announcement today regarding a new tablet....

I'm worried.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

So that's it Nokia has made their pitch, announced some new phones. No word on a new tablet. Is it likely they'd announce it at any other point in the week?

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

If I was a marketing/PR person (which I'm not), I wouldn't announce my high(est)-end products on day 1 morning, as then nobody would care about any other low-midrange-boring/business model I might talk about later. Of course, the alternative is that Nokia doesn't care about it's Nseries phones (and/or tablets) any more. Which one is more likely ?

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Worried about what, exactly? The hype machine didn't pan out so we have to wait a little longer to hear. Nobody seriously expected the announcement to come at MWC, did they? I mean, the extent of those rumors was "ThoughtFix thinks it might come at MWC". That's hardly a good basis to worry over the fate of the platform. ;)

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

The second.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

What you will see next from Maemo 5 is the complete alpha SDK with the UI framework, but not the lead device.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Well maybe not. but it was oh so plausible. Can't blame a guy for hoping.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Worried by what, exactly? Announcements are important but what really matters is when you start shipping. Peter put it in better words a while ago.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Plausible, yes, indeed. As you can see from the SonyEricsson 12Mpix thing, one can launch very early on. Other way of doing a launch is close to sales start. I must ask for your patience before you know what approach we are using.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

No matter how interesting the software is - it's not sexy. I really think Nokia has a marketing problem (in more than one segment) if the focus is going to be software software software for the next couple of months.
Momentum might grow for the software devs., but what about us users - we really need to see a product before we can get exited. Even though the segment is still niche - isn't the next (step 5) version of maemo hardware gonna be for "the general public"?
For this to work - I think Nokia has to turn things around. Fire up the users by showing what the gadget looks like...


And yes - these are just ramblings from a tech interested user (non-programmer), but there are quite a few of us...

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

I did expected Nokia to annunce the next tablet today. I was pretty sure about it. In fact, if they are serious about Maemo, I think they might have anounced a maemo phone named Communicator and oriented directly to the enterprise. What is the niche of Maemo Tablets? I think maemo tablets are the best platform now to develop powerfull apps for integrated companies. You need it to be a phone so you make sure 100% of time it is alive. And then you have a platform that can read webpages but at the same time can act as a web server or whatever you need in your linux based program.

Then, if tablet's 4th generation is still not something to show off, I don't know if it will ever be or Simbian will become good enough for Nokia to push it further.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Well, it's our job to convince you of the opposite.

On the HW-side of things, we have pretty much said already what we've got: HSPA data, OMAP3 processor, 3D HW-graphics acceleration, and high-definition camera. Whether that is delivered to you in a 150g, 300g, or 600g package in 12mm, 15mm, or 18mm, with or without qwerty, in black, red, silver or red is certainly relevant, but not crucial until you can actually buy the lead device.

What remains the same is our mission for Maemo: high-end Nseries devices with large touch screen that you can put into your pocket (by the way 600g does not fit that category).

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

I don't understand why so many people think that Nokia has a bad marketing strategy just because they don't announce a product well in advance before the actual prodcut launch.

Other companies take the same approach and seem to be quite successfull with it. Just have a look Apple and their zero-information-policy. I guess that must be the reason why nobody wants to buy Apple products. ;-)

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

i would seriously worry if they did or do announce a new tablet, they just killed the wimax edition and meaning a tablet with a beta software inside because sdk alpha for maemo5 just came out that would be probably a sign of danger to the maemo platform.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I would prefer to have an announcement on 'Day X', and then have the product in my hands on 'Day X+1'. The N800 was announced/available in a similar fashion, and probably was a stunning commercial success for Nokia/Maemo.

There is enough information out there to know generally what the hardware is going to have in it. In fact, we have known since the Maemo Summit in the Fall of 2008 the general hardware advances that were to be made in the Maemo 5 lead device. What is not known at all is anything on the UI side of the house... hopefully the next SDK release is imminent since that is to contain the Maemo 5 UI - I'm sure everyone will be extrememly excited to see what the software will allow you to do on the next device.

We've seen the 770, N800, N810, and N810WE so far. I think I can imagine what one would look like with a Hi-Def camera and HSPA connectivity.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

When?
There has been no (AFAIK) intro of the software to general users. Is this going to change with the next SDK (just the name makes me think NO).
I'm not saying that software isn't sexy - because software + highres. screen is what keeps me tied to maemo - it's just difficult to make the software sexy when nothing is shown.

If this is about to change - I'm happy - and going to be surprised if Nokia is able to build steam in the segment without having an actual device to show.

-and by the way, a third reason to stick to Maemo is "this right here" - open discussions from both sides of the fence ;)

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Pandora made me waiting-proof, so I'm happy and very much like the sound of "announce on Day X and ship on Day X+1" ;)

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Is there another thread established discussing the hardware for the upcoming device? I've read the other ones I've found and this the first time I am seeing mention of a hi-def camera on the next device.

This is a feature I think (could be wrong) some members were actually against.

Will the device have a low res camera as well for video calls?

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

http://maemo.org/community/council/c..._2009-part_ii/

Apparently.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Software can be sexy to the person who has seen it. All others will have to wait until they have seen it. Some can also believe based on what the person who saw it has said.

No different from being told of a sexy girl.

Of course the more detail provided about the girl will increase the desire by others to see her.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Not necessarily. I can think of a few cases where the reverse is true. ;)

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Should we wait Maemo 5 UI reveal tommorow?) Or I can get totally drunk?)

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Because of her personality ;)

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

I find the partnership between Adobe and Nokia to adapt and integrate Adobe Flash further pretty interesting. This is competing with Microsoft Silverlight and... whatever Apple uses. At end of 2009 most mobile phones will be compatible with Adobe Flash 10. You can bet Maemo will support Adobe Flash 10 too!

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Rafe Blandford's twitter stream says there are more announcements tomorrow from Nokia.

I'm pretty sure that they are just saving the best (Nseries) till last. We know that they are about to announce their 8mp cameraphone at this conference, or they wouldn't have teased us with this photo:

http://2009.nseries.com/2009/2/13/43.aspx

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

They had a Q&A chat window going. I asked The reply from Udo Szabo, Senior Manager was :(

Go here at approx 4pm GMT and ask for yourself:

http://events.nokia.com/mwc/qa.htm

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Sorry, but I'm not sure it is enough. HSPA data includes phone calls or not? Is it going to be a phone or you'll have to carry arround your phone with you also? Two things in your pocket or just one?

Looking at the device sexinness is crucial to have an idea about its success.

N97 is sexy. N96 wasn't that sexy (IMHO). And that is because of the HW and the SW parts.

Here we have no info about key features of the sw neither. Is the next Maemo going to have a good integrated PIM? Is it going to have a good integrated Photos program? Is it going to have good integrated media visualization SW? Or we will depend on Canola unintegrated way of creting things?

Is it going to have no phone but good OVI PIM? Or is it going to have no phone but good program to edit your phone's PIM? Or nothing at all as today?

All of this info is crucial to be able to decide if Maemo Tablets are going to be something you can replace all your company phones with or just another niche machine that sooner or later will die.

I understand nothing can be said about all of these now, because everything is being cooked. But we as users simply don't know how much cooked all those parts are or even if they are going to exist some time, so we are simply nervious.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

As we all know, an announcement or display of good hardware can give you a 'me wants' adrenaline rush, but it's the software that keeps you around on the long run, especially in the smart category. Is this ambiguous enough ? :)

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Just to add some spurious information to fuel the fires of conversation:

Anssi Vanjoki - Executive Vice President, Markets, Nokia is giving a talk on Wednesday at WMC entitled: 'Entertainment in Your Hand'
I googled him and found him quoted in an interview saying

http://www.symbian-guru.com/welcome/...i-vanjoki.html

Do you think he might mention something on Wednesday?

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

I would kind of expect airplanes drawing it in the sky, or at least interrupted TV broadcasts to announce such a thing. It never was a phone, and it sure will be underlined a billion times if it ever becomes one considering the endless discussions about it even on this forum.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Could be, but when it comes time for Maemo to power a phone, the first signs will likely occur elsewhere.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

It's all relative...



Now it would be like B/W porn on Super8 film where everyone is naked except for their socks.
:D

***

I always get a kick out of reading "expert opinions" on marketing... in a enthusiast's forum. :p

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Sorry for being perhaps a bit too jumpy, but the post I replied to didn't seem to care about maemo features, but rather whether the new device is a functional N97 clone which happens to be based on maemo. But really, if you don't like 3rd party stuff and want to have everything integrated from day 1, and want it to look and behave like a regular phone (plus a big screen and a hidden qwerty), then you *are* talking about the N97 (esp when/if Symbian becomes fully open source).

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Not really. major points against that are:

1. If it does include voice capability, this will only be limited to BT headsets, because the tablet itself is too awkward to be used as a phone.
2. If you remember, Nokia top honchos already said that the next tablet product is not the "final thing" yet, so widely and loudly announcing it as a phone would be premature.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Why BT only ? The wired headset works just fine, too, and even speakerphone style was not unusable indoors. I agree it would be less than elegant putting a 4-5" device nearing 250g to your head. But then again, apparently there were people at Nokia who thought talking on the original NGage was not looking weird either... :)

A little reminder who missed out on the NGage: http://www.mobile-review.com/review/...ngage/pic2.jpg

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

I can't care about maemo features if those are integrated in a device that has little meaning for the enterprise. Those features power is directly attached with the power of the machine itself (HW+SW). Having a great tablet to run python programs have little use for lots of companies if they cannot use it to make a call or have a calendar.

It is not only about Open Source. It is about Linux based Open Source. N97 is not going to run Firefox or OpenOffice or Phyton or apache+php or a printer device or a miriad of different software on it, because there are no Symbian based servers, no Symbian based Desktops and no Symbian based old computers with people making Links run on them with javascript enabled.

Anyway, for Nokia to succeed, they must understand a simple thing: They cannot expect the community to make the job they must. That includes a PIM. And includes making you able to use the tablet as if it were a phone by using bluetooth stack to run your phone without taking it out from your pocket. And it means too that one Canola2 is liberated is Nokia's responsability to take the project and integrate it (if that's the one choosen) tigthly into the device, so it starts as a service, it runs when you touch a picture in the file navigator,...

I'm not saying anything else that what red hat or mandriva or ubuntu or any other distro integrator do.

Personally, my personal choose would be a "Samsung F210" nokia equivalent (with 3G) that I should never take out from my pocket because I would use it through N900. Including contacts, phone and file system. But nokia has no equivalent in their potfolio so if N900 acts as a phone, then it is better to carry around a big phone-tablet that a big phone and a tablet.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Oh how soon we forget. :p

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Sorry, I forgot to say it: Yes. I expect the 4th generation of five to be close enough to Symbian if the fifth one is going to be it's replacement.

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

Er, what? Maemo replacing Symbian? You do realize Nokia just bought Symbian, right?

Re: Mobile world congress 2009 status
 

But who said Maemo (and it's devices) are strictly enterprise oriented ? Or that Linux is strictly enterprise oriented, for that matter ? I mean if it was called E810 I'd say, okay, I expect some enterprise functions, but the strength of the Maemo platform (as you yourself pointed out) is that it's not a specialist tool.

You've got this backwards. Python, Apache, Mysql, PHP, Firefox (as Fennec) all exist at least in some form for Symbian. You even have PAMP.

http://devphone.com/pamp-stack-on-s60-brings-you-php

Symbian started opening up not so long ago, so obviously Maemo has a headstart on them. In a month or two, you will have Qt on S60, which means a whole lot of apps. Linux is not an enterprise solution, but it CAN be a part of the solution that YOU must make. It just a kernel, ferrichsake. If you just want python, firefox, PIM, office stuff in a mainstream package, you might as well go with Windows mobile, or, if you can wait a little, go with Android, as it will certainly be/is PIM oriented.

It's not a phone, and I'm not really everybody agrees they want a big phone-tablet. I don't.