View Single Post
Posts: 90 | Thanked: 32 times | Joined on Sep 2006 @ Bucuresti, Romania
#1
I'm on a rant here, I'm frustrated and quite upset right now, so take this rant with precautions, and accept advanced apologies if I offend anyone.

Qgil, it seems to me Nokia has a big problem right now: every couple of years Nokia breaks complete compatibility with old devices, and leave developers in the dust. This is why your comparison with laptop market doesn't hold water: almost every Maemo device Nokia puts out need new custom development from day one, and this is why Nokia needs to send out these devices at low low prices- to get enough developers behind the movement to create enough _interesting_ applications in order to have an applications market that would drive N900 sell. If you'd get previously compatibility one wouldn't need to get the latest and most expensive device in order to develop for it, and you wouldn't need to have developer devices sent out at discount prices for every device launch. And it's not just Maemo, it's Symbian too. It's like Nokia shoots itself in the foot everychance they have, and they love it.

So let's say I'm a diehard Nokia fan - my case; what should I develop on now, which device should I buy, on what should I focus ? I bought a 770 for a pile of money, just to have it WSOD'ed in a week, and drop another hundred to get it repaired out of warranty; just a couple of months later, N800 was launched, and I didn't manage to get in the developer program, and I didn't had any more money to spend on it. This year, Nokia launches 5800 with the message "platform is here to stay", so I get one, and start toying around with it, only to discover that again the platform is fractured - N97 isn't quite compatible, developing for both require you have both devices; and now the clear message that Maemo is the future, making v5 Symbian already dead on arrival.

Should I get a N900 then ? Not with my money on the full price for a still buggy device, considering only yesterday fakeshots of N920 appeared, with the message of launching in 9 months with maemo 6 and multitouch, and rumors possible N900 incompatibility - credible rumours if we account for the past.

Why can't we be more like Apple, with its incredible ecosystem and care to compatibility (three generations of the iPhone all capable to run the same latest software !), or like Google with its extreme predicability and openness ( compatibility across spectrum, clearly defined future intentions, huge market ) ?
I think Nokia wants to be in the same league, blurring the line between laptops and mobiles, wanting to have lots of developers committed to the platform, but cant' switch from its mobile-manufacturer mentality that every phone is unique and not necessarily both forward- and backward- compatible across an ecosystem.

So let me ask here: if, as a developer who doesn't have enough karma to get a nice discount for N900, if I put my money down for a full-priced unit, what do I get in return ? Big market - no ? Future prospects - no ? Ecosystem (compatible devices in the future, market place) - probably not? Is it all about the community and prestige ? This is not about me personally, but about the Nokia policies that make me think that if I throw away another several hundreds for a "development platform" in just a quick couple of months I'll have just another paper weight because all the latest focus and drive has moved to another device and platform.

One disgruntled Nokia user,
Rant over.
 

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to ddalex For This Useful Post: