As for portin is concerned, I obviously didn't realise that the poll doesn't show the complete sentence, but it was meant to ask whether you would pay to get Meego and porting other apps such as Ovi Maps on the N900. Unfortunately polls can't be edited so I couldn't correct it.

As for Meego availability, I have no doubt that the Meego kernel would be available on N900, but the apps are a different matter altogether. Also, Nokia won't release the source code of its drivers, though we may be able to get the binaries to link against. So while a fully open source system would be great, it still remains a pipe dream. To be fair, that was the reason for this thread to start with... if Nokia won't give us things like Ovi Maps, Flash 10.1 etc. because of commercial reasons, what set of viable commercial reasons can we produce for Nokia to give us those things, besides threatening to move, which we have done on numerous occasions.

It is a small sample size but what the poll seems to suggest is that 2/3rd of us would be willing to pay a small fee for firmware upgrades and new features. Again, given the natural biases of the audience, it is probably not the most accurate survey but does seem to indicate that get c.20% of customers to pay for firmware upgrades should be easily achievable if Nokia so wishes.

Qole or anyone else who works for Nokia, are you reading this and can put the results of this survey in front of powers that decide the fate of the N900? Here is a viable alternative to pissing off your customers which would result in a Win-Win for both Nokia and the users. It is a shame though that we had to do the research that your product management guys should have done in the first place.

I expect that out of the 100,000 (or more) N900 users, almost anyone who is willing to pay, voted yes in this poll.

This question is moot, since Nokia won't do this for two reasons: they do not intend to spend time developing for N900 and they made it very clear, and there is no sense in doing something that makes a few hundreds of thousands of dollars (at most) and costs millions in bad PR.

Nah I wouldn't pay. Considering ive spent around 500 quid already on it, and a software update should always be free as it is part of supporting the device by providing new features as well as fixing issues.
No one pays apple, sony, blackberry, htc etc for updates so why should we?
I will most definetly sell the n900 once a meego device or something comes out bcoz all this hype up on this device and so far we are not getting any support from nokia and its like we are just stuck in the middle of an ocean.
Im surprised nokia is still around considering their buggy devices, lack of support, false commitments. Sometimes I wonder why I keep putting my trust in them.

Myself working for a large Electronic Hardware manufactuer who are moving more and more into Software, services and solutions and from Press releases I understood Nokia were looking at software, services and solutions as future ways of making money I'm surprised this has not be asked or tried before?

If a company comes to us and wants what we call a customisation as long as it meets certain creteria which is in some way benficial to us the maker's of the device (ie we are paid covering costs and some profit, good for longterm business etc) and its technically possible then it gets done.

Im sure Nokia would be the same as long as they have a business case which shows its benifcial to Nokia.

As devices get more advanced and the phone contracts in countries get longer plus as devices even a few years old have value in the 2nd hand or pass on to friend or family market. Surely a happy medium has to be created? The resale/longterm value for selling or passing on is goign to get more important as devices get more complex and possibly expensive surely?

As others say happy to pay for extra major features which may have not been thought of when the device designed I would pay for. But fixes no the companies should have a moral duty to provide those foc.

i probably would pay out of desperation but as one of nokias flagship phones it should just fully work. nokia keep releasing phones that are half baked and i stupidly keep buying them.

Matan, so you think every N900 owner reads maemo.org :-) Given that maximum people who have been online on this site at any given time is c.3.5k, I would say you are off massively

As for why should Nokia do it, as I have already mentioned, it is for three reasons:

• If they don't do it, they piss off their core customers, who would have otherwise bought new Nokia handsets in future
  
• It gives them a new revenue model to try, on a very small user base, which can then be rolled on to others. As someone who has led NPD for about 10 years, I would love to have a small base to try things on which can then form the basis of whether to roll it on to others
  
• Lastly, it gives Nokia an excuse to get out of the low profitability hardware business and get into the more profitable (in the longer term) services business. Also, this can hopefully change the mindset in the Nokia top management who probably still don't get that it is no longer about hardware that you sell and forget, but all about after sales service and how to monetize it

Regarding bad PR, I think the the bad PR they are getting among the N900 owners by not doing anything is probably worse than what would happen if they at least offered them an alternative.

I would by principle NEVER pay for firmware, the principle in itself is appalling.

Firmware is code written to make a device work. If Nokia or someone else aren't doing their job properly, end users should not be held responsible for paying for fixing the unfinished, substandard work. And like Protection Money, this principle will encourage companies to spend less time on quality control and feature completion, because then they'd spend less pre-sales to earn more post-sales.

I think it's such a bad idea it shouldn't even be thought out loud.

However,
not all that is called firmware IS firmware these days. Paying for software updates is a whole different concept.

Volt

The line between firmware and software updates has long blurred. One man's fix is another man's feature. For example, one could argue that lack of portrait mode in the browser was a bug, but equally Nokia could argue that it is a missing feature, which they never promised would be there. However, yes, security updates and obvious bug fixes should be free, while things like Meego support, Ovi Maps etc. can be charged for updates.

Mandrake (who then became Mandriva and then became bankrupt...bad example I know but the one I have had some experience with) had an interesting model where the paying customers could vote for which new features should be added in the next release (similar to brainstorm), which then allowed the company to prioritise the resource accordingly.

all the ppl that said yes are you nuts we shouldnt have to pay for a bloody firmware any way so no i wouldnt pay s**t!