Well, I read the thread linked, specially the first rant of Eldar's about MeeGo; and he just doesn't get it. I find almost incredible that someone thinks he is some kind of expert; because he doesn't seem to have made his homework.

However, there is something that might be true; and that is that depending on their timing; MeeGo could be too late; compared to Android. Android is doing right now what MeeGo is supposed to be doing.

You would be astonished to see how many people there are who just don't care about Android.

I don't like Androit at all.

I'm happy to see MeeGo emerging - the tablet UI is just amazing! (Seriously! I want it now on my N900!) The netbook UI is also not bad, but not much of a difference from Moblin. Although that wasn't bad either.
As for the "phone" UI, well, if it will be only half as good as the tablet UI, it will simply be better than anything else on the market.

A small side note:
Now that Nokia is not alone, MeeGo has a much better chance of success.
The fact that Intel is backing it is just relaxing. This means that Nokia won't be able to screw it as they screwed some stuff with Maemo, and that is also good!

I'll expand a bit. Eldar seems to think that Nokia "cancelled" Harmattan for MeeGo; and that they are starting from scratch. When what is happening is that certain parts of Harmattan are being replaced with MeeGo's; and that's pretty much it. The UI is being reworked to address things like portrait mode. And I bet it is already running in proto devices.

His complaints are based on that MeeGo is not a good enough phone; when from what we know, MeeGo being an uber phone it is not one of its points.

It is like he judges MeeGo and what he thinks it should be; instead of comparing it to what its creators stated it is going to be (and the reasons why it is going to be that way).

And lastly; and the most ironic thing of all; is that all his reasons of MeeGo not being cool etc; are worth crap.

Here we are, getting worried or discussing about the future success of MeeGo; and very few of us realize that all of this are moot points.

Let me quote (again) Tommi Ahonen:

"What is the single biggest factor, one that totally overrides all other factors in the global market success of any given smartphone? Is it design? Is it brand? Is it the Operating System (OS)? Is it ease-of-use? Is it the features set? Is it touch screen? Is it size of the phone? Is it size of the screen? Is it battery life? Is it camera resolution? Is it QWERTY keyboard? Is it price? Is it the apps store? What is it?"

"It does not matter one iota, in a subsidied phones market, if your phone is "the world's best superphone" by all reviews and experts, and is the coolest, slimmest, hottest, best smartphone with all the bells and whistles, endorsed by all supermodels and superstar athletes (and rap stars), with the best user interface and biggest apps store and all sorts of content. If the local carriers/operators decide not to offer subsidies for your phone, but there are significant subsidies for some of your direct rivals, then your phone will not become a hit phone in that country. "

"The psychological effect of the price differential in cases of a subsidy for one phone and not for another, is enormous, totally distorting the decision-making process for the average consumer. Then it doesn't matter how great your touch screen is, or how fancy your camera resolution is, or which operating system your smartphone runs, or how many apps you have in your apps store. In the USA where the 3GS was subsidised and the N97 was not, the 3GS outsold the N97. And in the UK, where the 3GS is subsidised to about 200 UK Pound cost, but the N97 is subsidised to be "free", the N97 outsold the 3GS. The subsidy totally distorts the market."

From: http://communities-dominate.blogs.co...34835ed94e970c

So, what is going to decide the success or not of MeeGo; it is if carriers decide to offer it subsidized in enough markets. And if the phone itself is developed enough (and that's even debatable, considering the state of the software in the 5800 and N97 when they were launched.

mrojas:

I understand your points, and they are very valid.

Actually, why Nokia screwed up in the first place is said by Ari Jaaksi well: they were unable to market their OS as a platform instad of a single product.

This single sentence does explan LOTS of stuff that they've done.

About Eldar and his stuff:
His N900 review was actually a very good one (later on, he wrote a Maemo review, too), and he quite liked it.
It seems that someone paid him a "little" money to change his opinions. (He is an influential reviewer after all.)

He's actually got complaints about MeeGo being a bad phone, despite the handset UX not being out yet? Or do you mean Maemo?

Also, subsidies on devices are largely irrelevant since they're known to be required for success. The question is, at least in the US, will the carriers threaten Nokia with not carrying their devices if they decide to also sell them direct like they do now?

Or will we be stuck with crap like Google ending direct, unlocked sales in favor of getting AT&T and what not to actually carry them in stores?

He's so influential I had no idea who he was until his first pass with the N900, and mistook a conversation for being related to Warhammer 40,000.

I suspect he's influential among phone geeks, but I don't see his reach being much beyond that.

anyone here think the phone UI might be very similar to the tablet UI except shrunk for small screens. it would make sense because those customisable pannels are easier for people to use than the current system if you want to bring the phone to the masses but still allow the home screen to be very powerful..

Oh yeah, I am not saying anyone is particularly right at this point of time.

My whole point is; this is a market which is growing an evolving quite quickly; and right now, predicting failure or triumph for anyone is; in my opinion; quite premature.

Many manufacturers have their particular vision; and they are executing it; or getting it ready to execute. And many proposals won't become concrete until this year's end; and then it will take even more time to see who was actually right.

And on top of that, the mobile market is not ruled by normal market economics.

About Eldar; well, he was quite ignorant about Maemo; then it seems that he learned (or got taught) about it along the way. And stopped there; because he lacks deeper knowledge of MeeGo.

From what we know, the UI is going to be very similar to the N900, but with more features like full portrait mode. Also there was some talk of it having a "mobile canvas" desktop.

Check slide 9 of this presentation:

http://www.slideshare.net/peterschne...ogy-highlights

He liked Maemo in his review, and after he had a change of hearts about Nokia some time ago, he now complains about MeeGo.
It clearly seems that he doesn't know a thing about it, nor did he cared to look for more info.

Actually, I don't know. I don't live in the US, but if I look on the fanboys and trolls on this forum, people in the US are pretty insane when it comes to gadgets.

Yes, agreed.

Also agreed, but I don't see why. Could you elaborate?

http://www.slideshare.net/peterschne...ogy-highlights

if desktop looks really like this and you can work on it (instead entering particular app) it would be so grat

on the slides 8 and 9 it looks like you can
- write on a desktop (it look like SMS) rather than enter a conversation program,
- view movie on a desktop rather than entering into player,
- select image to view without going into pic list app
- flip through contact rather than go into contact app
- basicly to do majority of things on a desktop (like swipe through calendar entries or mails on a desktop widget unlike to have it "unmovable" like on Meamo)

this concept I just love