Why Nokia fails in the US
 

Note: I am talking only about the US market and nowhere else.

For all we talk about the experience of maemo & n900 versus all the other products out there, a complete blocker to adoption is that 3g is only supported on t-mobile.

I was on verizon before I bought the n900. t-mobiles network is terrible compared to AT&T and Verizon. Traveling elsewhere in the US I found many places where Verizon was strong and t-mobile had no coverage at all. Nobody is going to buy a phone they can't use.

Don't say that the n900 being a "mobile computer" makes a difference. That explains the UI and apps but it doesn't fix lack of coverage.

If Nokia wants meego to be taken seriously in the US there must be a meego device on one of those 2 carriers. Maybe it's not Nokia that does it, maybe it's another manufacturer, but I don't see meego getting any notable US mobile developer mindshare before that happens.

Unfortunately if there ever is a meego device on one of those 2 carriers, right now I'm expecting a netbook and not a "mobile computer."

Re: Why Nokia fails in the US
 

Nokia doesn't bend over to cell service providers like other manufacturers. Nokia got spine.

Re: Why Nokia fails in the US
 

Most of Nokia's smartphones introduced in the US are designed to take advantage of AT&T's 3G network.

Re: Why Nokia fails in the US
 

I was shocked to find that my n900 didn't support 3G on AT&T, I've visited with my e90 and n97 and on this visit it's an n900 and they've not botthered with the extra band?!

Re: Why Nokia fails in the US
 

t-mobile coverage is great in larger cities.

Re: Why Nokia fails in the US
 

Well in that case they had better lose some spine if they want true success.

Re: Why Nokia fails in the US
 

Wow!

People on AT&T wants N900! Great news for Nokia.

Re: Why Nokia fails in the US
 

Carrier frequencies is the LEAST of Nokia's issues with adoption of their device in the US.

Re: Why Nokia fails in the US
 

Just about all of the new handsets launched this week include pentaband radios for data, covering both T-Mobile (1700Mhz) and AT&T (1900MHZ). This should take care of carrier incompatibility going forward...

Of course, this still doesn't cover the issue of the carriers themselves. Here in the US, both AT&T and T-Mobile love to eviscerate the default firmware in their devices... check out the mess AT&T made with the E71x, look at T-Mobile's locked-down Nuron (5230)... and I won't even bring up their CDMA atrocities on Verizon. Add to that the expectation that phones are sold locked on subsidies/contracts, and it's no wonder Nokia phones are rarely seen here.

The way I see it, there's 2 solutions: either the US consumer wakes up to the fact that an unsubsidized, unlocked device is a better deal in the long run (fat chance), or Nokia needs to cut some wicked deals with carriers to bring devices to market with as little modification as possible and at competitive price points. Seeing as the T-Mobile E73 came through mostly unscathed, I have some hope.

Re: Why Nokia fails in the US
 

How is this a complete blocker? I use my N900 on T-Mobile in the US, and I could not be happier with the service.