As one who lives in the US and has been a fan of Nokia phones ever since my first 6160 about 12 years ago, I fully understand that Nokia does not “owe” us anything thing because we are clearly not the center the universe. That said however, I think they ignore the US market at their own peril. Without a doubt, Symbian has been a very big success and their per unit market share is still very impressive. Likewise, it would be hard to argue that Blackberry has been not been a big success. Problem is, technology is a constantly moving target and Symbian and Blackberry are yesterdays success stories. The future requires touch screens and new OS solution from top from top to bottom. Symbian and Blackberry have both been modified to try and adapt but that approach will be hard pressed to out do something designed from the beginning to work with the new formats. I am not predicting the demise of either Symbian or Blackberry, simply that their market share will likely start to decline.

Those from outside the US think we are just whining about the lack of presence from Nokia, but the two hottest platforms right now are Android and Iphone. When I refer to “hot” I mean simply from a market “buzz” perspective and not from a technological one. For the record, after doing my research, I decided to buy the N900 and while I am very happy with that choice, I, and I suspect most on this forum, are not the “typical” consumer. We can all opine on the virtues of “open source” or the technological feat that is the N900, but at the end of the day, Nokia is a business and wants to sell phones, lots of phones. The majority of consumers view a phone as a tool and not a toy and they just expect it to work. One can argue how restricted and locked the Iphone may be but it does work and it works very well. For the majority of consumers out there, like my wife, the Iphone is the right choice today. Most consumers neither understand nor care, about locking and being closed, they just want a phone that works for them.

Thankfully, none of this is lost on Nokia, they are taking steps to offer a competing solution. Maemo/Meego is very clearly targeting the same space and market where the Iphone and Andoid solutions are establishing a strong presence. Nokia cannot ignore the US because doing so will allow the competition to get even stronger. For what ever reason, Iphone and Android are ever present here in the US and Nokia is barely visible. I recognize that may be different is other parts of the world, but the key point here is that Iphone and Android are growing stronger without competition right now. The stated goals for Meego are impressive and lofty. I just hope the political infighting does not disrupt this too badly so we can enjoy the N900 for all it can be.