I was coming into work on the bus this morning thinking the same thoughts. It is really too bad.

As for me, I am to an extent rather an AJoe. Qualify this with a good education, some prospects, and a good job. Some AJoes are different, some with more money (I have kids, how can I have money). I get excited about shiny things, and have a knowledge about how they work.

Okay, so I'm a computer scientist. Has anyone considered that people in other professions may see geeks as average Joes with respect to their profession? I have no clue about car mechanics, or laser surgery, beyond the bare basics. I hope they don't belittle me (too much, I can take the ribbing) accordingly.

I see the problem as this: we have here a potentially powerful device that's a phone and a computer and is hopefully not bad at both. It's more than possible to see it as one and not the other. In fact, I'm willing to say I'll almost certainly use it as both, but probably in completely different contexts. I'm getting it as a complete laptop replacement (actually, an n810 replacement, cos my n810 has been my laptop replacement for nearly 2 years now. Never looked back). The fact that it'll also be my phone is a bonus.

Another AJoe may well just buy it as a phone. Perhaps do some facebook or whatever on it. I never touch facebook (I'm a security researcher, I know the issues) but if Joe2 wants to, thats just great. In his context, it'll work perfectly.

Another Joe, let's call her Joette, will get it and use it in lieu of her current Blackberry. Email, corporate network stuff. In that context, it'll do just fine too.

Joe doesn't need to understand the 'special' in the same way I do. For me, the 'special' is I don't have to lug a laptop through airports (oh, my poor back). For Joe2 the special is fast facebook access and a camera to upload his pictures. For Joette it's always on email access to corporate (I can imagine nothing worse, personally).

It's special because it can do these things, and because at the end of the day there's no such thing as an average Joe or Joette. We're all different, and the magic of the N900 is going to be the ability to accommodate those differences handsomely. You know something else? I don't think there's a device like it that can handle those differences so well. Yet.

One last thought - when I see a fellow commuter watching movies on his iphone, chatting on her blackberry, listening to music on his ipod, or writing a report on her laptop I get excited about the sheer potential to fill those niches that this device has. I'd be happy to show it to any of those people (when I get it) and watch the results. If they don't want it, it's not because they're dumb, it's because their particular niche their 'special') is already filled, thanks. Maybe when they move to a different job, or leave school and get a job, or lose a job, or whatever, that 'special' will change and they'll see the benefits of such an amazing device. We'll see.

Will I evangelize? Probably. I'll do it differently for different people though - through my years of educating people, I've realized that nothing turns someone off more than condescension (unless they're geeks AND my friends, in which case condescension is key).

Understand, show, tell, listen (without prejudice, thanks Texrat) and watch the lights come on inside. It's a nice feeling.