You know... I just had a meeting with BMW (early summer) and they were talking about how their advertising budget was probably going to get considerably less if the economy continued a downturn. And I'll paraphrase a part of that conversation:

"If people want to buy a BMW, they will buy one."

Which at that very moment made incredible sense to me. The same goes with the iPhone. Some people complained with OS X brought along a terminal. I mean, for YEARS Mac users never saw the underpinning to their OS. Didn't have to. Most didn't even want to. Would even scoff at the CMD prompt in Windows and was horrified of the BASH shell because it would "erase things without confirmations..." - actual quote from an older client.

My point is while here, I hear the N900 lust. People want power, they want root, they want to be able to load, compile, or apt-get whatever is out there because... well, they can.

The iPhone group? Herded, "protected", limited... yet it's a mainstream product that had a lot of thought that went into the UI, the distribution of applications via the iTunes Music Store.

But in the end, as a phone the iPhone (to me) is lacking. It functions, I can make calls, enjoy a few games, chat with some friends, even make VoIP calls... send SMS and MMS. But I have variety within that hard-limited environment that include offerings from companies that I have been exposed to in the past via prior commercial offerings.

The N900 - I'm a 770 and N810 owner - presents a breath of freedom and it'll allow me to make phone calls, enjoy a few games, chat with friends, make VoIP calls... send SMS and e-mails. No MMS, a forward facing camera that Skype still doesn't use and I have to maintain my Linux skills to avoid the other limitations - lack of the same level of 3rd party corporate/commercial support is my biggest ongoing concern - and keep around this bunch of people and I'll still be set with a phone that will down the road do what I want.

But the portable computer part... my job is too varied for the N900 to fit all of my needs. Admin duties... I'm set. Graphic design duties, I'm SOL - although I can use a Tiltshift app, a drawing app that supports *.psd files, a painting app and a better camera app on the iPhone's HORRID camera/platform, but it's there if I need to get out some ideas on the spot. Sketching, painting... also on the N900. But neither offer the quality I'd need to say "mobile computer".

Sure... that last bit will get people up in arms. But seriously... you say "mobile computer" and I use computers for graphic design, Flash dev as well as server administration and Office documents and other usages. Does that mean I should be in the back, waiting and not voicing some bit of disappointment here and there? Or does that mean this platform isn't fully for me?

Linux can do/go everywhere. Think about that for a moment. I'll be waiting on the N900/Maemo 5 platform to mature. Meanwhile, I'll argue any iPhone user... that's not a smartphone. It's a media phone... at best.

Just that the iPhone is too damn limited at times and I really want more... but it "works" well through deliberate thought that went into the UX and platform.

Sorry for getting rant all in the thread... oops