Nokia makes some of the best hardware in the business. They've got that in the bag.

They need to focus on their software.

1. The "buy a new device to get the software update" model is antiquated, this is going to force people onto other platforms that provide major feature updates to their devices. A hardware platform should be supported for at least two years so that the customer feels as if they have gotten more value for their money. The only difference between hardware platforms should be just that, the hardware.

2. Customers don't appreciate feeling like guinea pigs. Let's face it. Maemo 5 would have been pretty good if it were on a device that didn't have a phone. The second Nokia put a phone into it, it became a cell phone. There is no excuse for releasing a device with a phone that does not have all the features that a customer expects from a feature phone, much less a phone that costs as much as the n900 does. The rest is alright, although the PIM software, and media player could use some improvement if you ask me. I know many people who prefer going with Apple products simply because, while technically inferior, the software is release feature complete, and relatively bug-free, as opposed to "let's rush it out the door and patch it later".

3. Marketing. I don't know how it is overseas, but in North America Nokia is almost non-existant. They have close to zero market share in the smart phone market, and have next to zero market presence. When a customer thinks Nokia, they think cheap flip phones, and big bricks. Nokia needs to show the public that they have devices that can compete with the current crop of smartphones.

4. Development and support. It's been 6 months since the release of the n900. We still don't have a working OVI store, or proper software to sync our devices with out PC's. This lack of polish is another area where other devices pull far ahead. There is no excuse for this. The software should have been available at launch. If the current crop of developers can't come up with the software in a timely manner, Nokia needs to hire ones who can. Google made this mistake, and managed to wrangle sucess from defeat. Hopefully Nokia can too, but my confidence is quickly waning.

In the interest of full disclosure, I really like the idea behind Maemo and MeeGo, but my experience with the n900 is coloring my confidence in Nokia to make, and support a device as well as HTC or Apple. To me it seems that I would get better value for my money had I bought something else. The only reason I haven't done so already is because I need to recover the money I spent on the n900 in order to purchase a new device, and the n900 isn't worth nearly as much now as when I bought it.