Erm what usb card... plug a cable hit update on your computer and that's that

And you seem to be under the impression that there is some way of limiting what can and can't be installed or so on.

I have a n95... and guess what with the operators firmware no voip but with the original nokia one the sip client is there. It took all of 5 minutes to switch my phone from "operator" to "vanilla" mode...

Was I a hacker... no I simply followed online instructions on how to do this. This was the very next day after I got the phone Then there was the issue of jailbreaking... as in installitng things not of symbiansigned origin... Also followed online instructions.

And consider that the n95 is a fully closed device. With an open device such as the n900 there is nothing blocking anyone from doing this easily.

Ok, but most of the people care of what comes with the phone, not what can be done after someone hacks the device. The REUTERS article is in this respect. Nokia wants to deliver more ways to communicate, like VOIP (Skype) that are free from wi-fi and operators want to ban these programs. Is Skype available on a non-jailbraked iPhone?

I think... Let them do their changes if they want... let the device become popular accross the spectrum! As long as I can get the $300-$400 dollar discount for the phone, then as soon as I get it I can flash it with the regular Freemantle Install offered by nokia, and make it like the regular device :P

For those that can't bother doing such a thing or wouldn't bother flashing their device... WHO CARES!! they probably are too tech illiterate or too lazy to use the device to its fullest, and will probably just use it as a media player/phone etc. All those capabilities will still be enabled for them.

I mean how difficult would it be to flash a device?

I completely agree. One thing is buy the device for $99 or for $299 (subsidized) and another thing to pay $650 for the unlocked one. This device needs a data plan to have full power on it... so if anyways you need a plan, why not getting the N900 at an attractive price? Advantage for Nokia and N900 users if the device is subsidized, it is more popular, more apps for it...

@dantonic: yea, i agree 100% with your attitude
That way everyone gets what they want. There's no point in pushing root access and extreme openness to all spectrum of users if they didn't even care about it.

What is this "extreme openness"? Is a Windows PC "extremely open", because the user gets do decide what programs he can install rather than his ISP? The operators are going down a very dangerous path, and I'm glad Nokia is trying to stop it.


You are NOT getting phones for an attractive price like that. You're paying less upfront and paying a high monthly charge, that's going to end up costing you more because they know they've got you locked in for two years.

How anyone could think that's a good deal, I don't understand.

I agree 100% with what Nokia is doing, it should be device manufacturer leading the service providers, not the other way around....

I hate it when an operator locks it's phone down for use solely on their network, I hate all the custom graphics and branding that the operators force on to the device, and I hate the trouble of having to go through steps to remove this. In the case of apple with their iphones, if you make a wrong move you could screw up your phone.

The key words there are "YOUR PHONE" yes it is your phone, one way or another you have definitely paid the price for it and so should be 100% free to use it how you wish and with who you wish.

Nokia are selling this as a portable computer with phone capabilities, a portable computer should not be limited by a service provider in any way. On my home computer, if an ISP were to dictate how my device was used, guess what? I probably wouldn't even be aware that ISP existed, they certainly wouldn't be getting my money.

If people want the device, and lets face it, they will, service providers will want in on the action because all they care about is getting your money at the end of the month.

Lets imagine every service provider stocked the N900, in the UK we have an offering from 3, Voda, O2, Orange and Tmob.... now lets say that they all customised it in some way, except one of them who let it go how Nokia intended.... just for an example lets say Vodafone let that happen.... my money would certainly be going to them, and i'm sure the majority of others would too.

The big thing is the out-of-the-box experience. So Nokia putting its foot down to not allow tampering this out of the box openness and experience is good for all usres.

It doesnt matter that some peoplenkniw how to flash the device to original state. It matters that NO ONE should have to care to flash their device just to open it up.

Its about time ISP are put down in their place.
Will Nokia have to pay a short term price for such a anti-ISP stance ? I think yes. But in the long run this is good for Nokia and more so this is good for customers.

If I understand correctly, a N900/Maemo phone does not restrict root access, but it's not enabled out of the box either. IOW, it's easy to do but the user manual won't say "Here's your root password, have at it!" So it's very open, but not to 'non-techie' users who won't care about such stuff anyway. Sounds about right to me.

As far as customization by carriers, Nokia has seen what Apple did. Seems Nokia's position similar to Apple's, that if devices that are compelling enough and create enough buzz and demand carriers will be obligated to offer them unaltered (or very nearly unaltered) to satisfy demand by their customers. That's how the friggin' iPhone did it - no carrier customization, sell it as is or f**k off. Innovative design and buzz among consumers did the rest, even though the original iPhone was $500-600 and was (still is) seriously flawed.

It might work for Nokia like it did for Apple, IF the N900 and it's successors are really, really good, they do lotsa work on public awareness of them and get the Maemo apps rolling quickly. But it's gonna be tough. In the US, and even much of the rest of the world, iPhone = smartphone in the public consciousness. Android may be easier to overtake, but it also has Google, a big head start in apps and several manufacturers backing it now. Palm/WebOS is the low-hanging fruit.

I'm just re-hashing known stuff now...sorry...point is, well, I agree if Nokia allows carriers to do to Maemo what they have with Symbian, it will inevitably lose some capabilities and that special uniqueness they're aiming for, that makes the iPhone such a hot ticket. Ultimately, it's the right approach, but it makes it harder to get off the ground.

@ livefreeordie, DannStar, and nilchak:

I understand your point of view, don't get me wrong I'm disgusted with the system the providers have put in place. Unfortunately here in the US, there aren't many options.

Whether I get a subsidized phone or not, my monthly plan is the same! If I want to go with a prepaid plan, in most cases it is more expensive than a monthly plan.(unless we're talking about a user that uses very little)

In that case if my plan is the same it would be *****ic for me not to at least get a subsidized phone! the only difference is I am stuck with a certain provider for 1-2 years. I dont mind I've been with Tmobile for 5-6 years or so... I like them becuase they have great customer service compared to the others, and they're cheaper, but their coverage is definitely not as good. signing the 2 year contract is no biggie for me... because I know that ATT or Verizon would be screwing me even harder!

As long as Nokia and the providers could come to an agreement where the phone isn't "physically" restricted in some way, I don't see a problem. As long as Nokia is still free to offer the regular Freemantle os Flash option, there is no problem for me.
This would give Nokia the opportunity to spread this "new" OS called "maemo" to a bigger chunk of the population, and at the same time all the current maemo users would know how to get the device to do what it was intended to do.

The only difference I see, at least in the USA, is that mainstream users will be faced with the same issues they've been faced for a long time... in this sense the US mainstream users won't even know they are being faced with those issues, because that is just how it works here. However they will be introduced to an awesome concept, a great phone, a great device, and might start looking forward to new maemo devices, might start gaining insterest in how to modify their tablet, and might just find out that you can actually flash the tablet and do SO MUCH MORE!

I understand the principle of the matter, the concept of open source, and how it would be stifled in the instance I depicted above, but I think in this case, for the US market, Nokia will be shooting themselves in the foot, and instead of facilitiating the diffusion of this great device, they might just restrict it to the current maemo community, and to those willing to purchase a hi end "phone" that costs > than $600.00
Besides if the option to Flash the device is kept on the table, then you could argue the device is still fully customizable/opensource!