Nokia lacks strategic planning?
 

I just wanted to throw this out there and see what people think. I think Nokia lacks forward thinking and strategic planning. Why? I think it's impractical that everytime there's a new Maemo device there has to be so much porting or rewriting of applications. In retrospect and especially considering Maemo6 i'm thinking Nokia needs to do much better.

Here are my reasons.

N810 required different OS because of the introduction of the keyboard. The OS for the N810 wasn't backward compatible (not sure if that's 100% accurate). I don't remember exactly but I do believe they had to do a different version of OS2008 to make it work on the N800. The N810 could not use OS2007 apps... that was really dumb! I can totally understand N800 not being able to use OS2008 apps but uhh... the other way... that's unacceptable.

Maemo6 introduces multitouch... Maemo5 doesn't have multitouch. IMHO (could be wrong) but I do believe that this is gonna require another very long waiting period for apps to be transfered.

I remember trying to decide between a N800 and the N810... when it has just barely been released. I eventually went with the N800 because of the lack of apps available for OS2008 @ the time.

Unfortunately ... I think there's even going to be a bigger waiting period perhaps for the introduction of Maemo 6 since this will not just be porting but more than likely some serious code rewrites and redesign of logic to perform well in a multitouch environment. If it's hard enough to add portrait mode... wow!!! Imagine multitouch. All this time spent rewriting apps and porting apps could be better spent writing OTHER apps and growing the number of apps. Think about how many apps maemo.org would have now had there just been ONE OS that all the apps were written for.


I think this strategy is especially counterproductive because Maemo6 almost seems tangential when compared to Maemo5. Probably I'm just making a big deal out of multitouch... perhaps? Not sure. In a way, the N900 as it's placed doesn't make much sense when you think about it. Since as soon as there are enough apps for you to play around with... the buzz will be about Maemo6. The increase of apps will slow and the attention will be focused else where.

Finally... why is the model the same? I've heard they still plan to use the same processor? How feasible a decision is that? I've heard about SnapDragon processor and all this good stuff.

I think a company who is more forward thinking would have thought about how to control change such that future improvements slide right into place. Android does a better job of this. Was about to say Nokia has done better with Symbian... but then there are feature packs and that sometimes gets in the way. There are different versions of software for different feature packs. Come on Nokia... we have only see 4 maemo devices thus far... it CANNOT be THIS hard 2 ensure backward compatibility. I just think Nokia could do SOOO much more in terms of strategic planning.

Re: Nokia lacks strategic planning?
 

No one HAS to implement multi-touch into their applications. In some, it would make no sense at all. Why would you need it in a game of chess, for example?

Re: Nokia lacks strategic planning?
 

I think the issue of backwards compatability is going to be address with the use of Qt. Nokia certainly seem to be 'encouraging' developers in that direction.

(Maemo... the platform with Qt guys ;) )

Re: Nokia lacks strategic planning?
 

A strategy with which you disagree or don't see does not equate to no strategy at all. ;)

There's been a very solid strategy, but it's been more concerned in the past with the 10,000 foot level than in the details. But there have been adjustments, and the "hacker editions" are proof.

The strategy is being continually refined, and those who have been here a while have experienced it already. Note: that is NOT a slam at newer members.

Re: Nokia lacks strategic planning?
 

I don't think that Nokia lacks strategic planning, but maybe you lack understanding of their strategy? :)

Honestly, none of the Maemo devices have been mainstream devices, so ensuring backwards compatibility would not be economically feasible. And actually backwards compatibility between OS 2007 and OS 2008 was better than you pointed it out. OS 2006 and OS 2007 was more of an issue.
Of course, from a technical point of view, not all decisions Nokia makes appear reasonable and some are purely political, but I'm certain they all fit into a big plan.

Re: Nokia lacks strategic planning?
 

If the introduction of multitouch means possibilities of unexpected input then I think the real question is "what changes will need to be made to this software so that nothing unexpected happens". It's not whether the app needs functionality, rather the question is "does multitouch introduces changes in input that might affect current program behaviour?"

If not, then ur right... the scope of applications that will require changes might be a much smaller umbrella than I was thinking.

Re: Nokia lacks strategic planning?
 

Nokia is suffering from the same symptoms of many large organisations - multiple products groups working in isolation on vertical products: N800,N810, N900 - Symbian Devices, etc. These groups struggle in various ways I believe - split funding, internal competition and inability to react sufficiently quickly (because of the first two points) to disruptive technology e.g. the iPhone, android. Nokia has been caught on the back foot by these 'new' technologies and having pinned its colours to Symbian in the past is looking for platforms now to differentiate, innovate and for it to be in turn disruptive to these technologies. Maemo I believe is that technology, but it is slowly gaining maturity (including upgrade paths) in a marketplace where consumers will be increasingly fickle. I agree that Nokia's strategy in the Maemo space has been 'weak' but perhaps now is the time where we will see Maemo get a clearer strategy and an investment profile worthy of such a great platform???

Re: Nokia lacks strategic planning?
 

I don't think that much manpower is still put into the N800 or N810.

Re: Nokia lacks strategic planning?
 

The OP has good points and lots off passion in the statements. Sadly its not grounded in reality. Lets be honest here, Nokia is in business to make money. In the board room you can bet there was a lot of heated debate on the merits of backporting software.

OPK : so you want to invest 1 million euros to backport Maemo to older devices. And how many more devices sales will this generate ?
AJ : erm none, but we will have the goodwill of the community.
OPK: So all the investment we make in Maemo 5 on upstream work does not create enough goodwill for the community?
AJ: yes it does
OPK: why dont you invest 1million euros on giving new Rover devices to the community, and have lots of good events.
AJ: Ok good idea, I think that could generate an addional 300K device sales.
OPK: where do I sign

Re: Nokia lacks strategic planning?
 

You mean a company should only make phones, either hardware or software and not a few models only, and not also make computers, software and maintain a large web shop?