ARRRRGH!!

I saw the leaked FCC docs but it sounded like the N800 would only be released sometime in 2007, so I bought a 770, barely three weeks ago, thinking that I'd value having the device for the next half a year more than I would value having the latest and greatest, but only in half a year. Plus they started on a marketing drive with ads for the 770! I should have known it for what it was: them trying to clear out their existing stock before launching the new toy. It simply reeks of the ugliest behavior. Not illegal, just unethical.

This is so maddening. They couldn't let customers know that they were just about to obsolete the "new" hardware they were buying? That the new OS would not be backwards compatible? That the kinds of applications I really miss on the 770 (skype) would not be made available for the 770? I feel like I bought an expensive tool that nobody will be developing for anymore because the new OS is not backwards / API compatible, and (let's face it) -- nobody develops new toys for the old target.

Of course, no mention of trade-up program in sight. I hate it when corporatios pull stunts like this -- I know there are a lot of people for whom $350 is no big deal, but when I plunk that kind of cash down I want to know that I'm getting something with some future development lifetime in it, and not something that is 2 seconds away from obsoletion. I am not about to spend another $400.

Just to be clear, it's not that I think the 770 is useless. I love it, with some quirks. I just hate discovering that my machine is EOL two minutes after buying it. I feel like nokia just defecated on me. Even microsoft has trade-up programs when they are about to release new versions of software, where they give you a coupon to get Vista or whatever is the next thing to come out (yeah, I know that it's software vs. hardware, but it's just an example).

Sign. /endrant.

-I