Yes surprising all that.

A US tech company's backing the cold daylight killing of the ultimate Linux-desktop-in-your-pocket-project being readied by Nokia (N900 being step 4 out of 5)

Declaring the N9, long delayed consumer Linux capacitive candy-bar touch version, a dead end at the very moment when even the most skeptical iPress journalist was enthusiastically previewing the N9.

Not a conspiracy, just smart business move.


Followed by purchasing of Skype, a former "supplier of integrated secure communications" in this Linux phone project and matching with Symbian. (2)
To match it not with Symbian and Linux in integrated preinstalls but instead with windows phone (throwing out the last remaining bits of data protection philosophy)

Finally tacking over the whole devaluated phone branch of Nokia.

Ending the hopes for a Nokia camera brand (Pureview) as an alternative to the expensive Leica lower end hipster gear - why we can't have a fresh approach to consumer camera's without counting on Japan?

As a bonus, killing Symbian and the Symbeose project (1) and saving the EU taxpayer's hard earned money money by using Android instead.

Pure coincidence if you ask me.


(1) "The SYMBEOSE initiative will develop new core platform capabilities, providing the best possible levels of power efficiency and improving Symbian’s current, market-leading offering in this area. This will be achieved by delivering fresh optimizations which harness the rapidly developing area of multi-core processing used in conjunction with new techniques in Asymmetrical Multiprocessing" Symbian Foundation....
The SYMBEOSE project is being led by a consortium of mobile device manufacturers, hardware and service integration professional services, major consumer electronics companies, mobile network operators, application developers, universities and research institutions.

(2) 2009, BARCELONA, Spain – Nokia and Skype announced plans this morning to fully integrate Skype into select Nokia devices. Kicking off with the Nokia N97, Skype will be part of the address book in the device, enable users to easily see when their Skype contacts are online. It’ll also enable them to use 3G and WiFi to make and receive free Skype to Skype voice calls.