What happens when the people who buy the Touch realize you can't get free wifi anywhere (except a few places). I live in San Francisco and work downtown and there are only a very few places I could actually browse the internet and watch youtube with a Touch or a NIT.
Somehow I can't see all the casual buyers of the Touch setting up their own wifi home network. I think word will get out that you can't use the internet anywhere (not literally) with the touch, at least without paying a monthly fee at starbucks or somewhere.
The Iphone avoids all this with wireless phone service I think.
So, since NITs can pair with cell phones, this makes them much more useable than the Touch that cant do this.
Other's opinions?

A fairly well-balanced post, thanks for the link! It was maybe 60 Apple / 40 Nokia, but then, Apple has the advantage in the areas that are important to consumers-- in the US that is. I don't think Nokia has to sweat much anywhere else-- Apple's lesser experience in global logistics is the hurdle they need to overcome. And Europeans have different desires than American consumers where device appearance, functionality and services are concerned.

I think Nokia is smugly banking on its global position to eventually dictate standards, but Americans will resist that fiercely. They will bash iTunes' weaknesses on one hand and then fiercely defend its strengths against an interloper.

This drama is by no means concluded, despite what fans on either side claim. Wait and watch, and I hope Mike is wrong about how the consumers will fare in this battle.

On a side note, does anyone see Nokia purchasing, say, Sandisk's Sansa line (or similar) eventually?

Wrong. I've used the iPhone before. Wires, wires, wires, wires, wires....tired of wires.

When that can be done out-of-the-box on an iPod with a stereo bluetooth headset then I'll take a look at buying one.
Until then, my N95 does the job fine.

Sound quality is very important, and A2DP doesn't provide any.

I'm not defending the iPhone here, I can't stand the sound from wireless headphones. I have a nice pair of Shure's that I wouldnt trade for the world.

Anyways, what I'm getting at is this. The N800 in its current form SUCKS for most end users, whereas the iPhone is a joy to sync and browse out of the box. Why is it so hard for Nokia to provide a reasonably good end user experience? Whenever I show the N800 to people they are impressed that its a little computer, before they ask me two questions.

How the hell do I use it, and why?

Kind of a broad brush there, eh, Rembrandt? Is that fact-based or assumption? And doesn't the experience depend on intent of use?

I still don't like the idea of jogging with my N800 strapped to a flailing limb, or bouncing dangerously in a pants pocket, but on the other hand, it sure looks sweet when I'm relaxing on the couch...

He is right... The N800 does suck for end users who want an iPhone...

Not being a fan-boy of either company I will say this. The N800 market is hardware driven the iPhone's is software driven.

What I mean is... I suppose most who bought a Nokia tablet were attracted by its hardware capabilities first. Software was secondary. The fact that it ran Linux was a plus because the expectation was that if the software was not commercially available, any one could or would eventually write it.

The iPhone is just the opposite. People who buy it are doing so because of what the software can do. They don't care about the hardware. That is evident by its form, a monolithic "brick". A pet rock if you will, that just happens to do some neat ish when you turn it on. You can not do anything more with it than what the next guy can do.

Each market is different and each user would be disappointed with the other device. The sale figures prove only that more people with discretionary income will purchase something that does a few things well and requires limited user knowledge. Less people will pay for something with much more potential but requires the user to learn something first.

In other words the iPone is an IT for dummies that also has a 2 year contract with a phone company.


Flame on.

Well, geez, once you add the qualifier...

I'd be more than happy to speculate on all things Nokia that are yet to manifest - the only trouble is, it would be a very short conversation.

As for grounding myself in reality, I'm simply repeating the projections of respected technology analysts - people paid to understand this stuff.

Agreed... I think people are going to be sorely disappointed if they think this is the iPhone's internet experience sans telephone. Applications aside, that cellular data is used *much* much more often that most people realize, I think, except for certain users like college students when they may be surrounded by university access. But I have to pair with my phone 90% of the time when out and about in the city. Free (honest or not) Wi-Fi access points are difficult to come by in NYC, too.

And with the improvements in cell data and the continuing failure to create municipal access in cities, it's not going to get any better than this for traditional wi-fi.

I don't get this "no free wi-fi" in these supposed big influential cities.
In Raleigh, NC just about EVERYWHERE there's free wi-fi. Same with Chapel Hill, Durham, Wilmington, Fayetteville. Here in Kansas City it's the same but I've also found open wi-fi all along the interstates in St. Louis and downtown Chicago as well.
Granted, most of that "free access" are just *****s who don't know how to secure their APs, but still...
Even in Kansas and Missouri there are public rest stops along the interstates that have free wi-fi! I've even gassed up at a gas station literally in the middle of the prairie with nothing else in sight for miles and miles that offered free wi-fi for customers. Used my N800 with Skype right there to make a few calls and the call quality through my Ultimate Ears headset was damn good.
Now, here in Kansas City it's not hard at all to find a free, open wi-fi AP. Matter of fact, within range of me right now is a trusty ol' LINKSYS wi-fi router still set on default settings offering up free access in this apartment complex. Correction: make that MULTIPLE open linksys routers...all set on the same channel with the same defaults...ugh...going to have to go in there and jump them all over to different channels/freqs soon. You know, helping out the neighbors.
Even the management here at this apartment complex offers free wi-fi access not only at the clubhouse but poolside as well.
Are you telling me that Kansas City has more on the ball when it comes to free/open wi-fi than both San Francisco and New York City?
Maybe folks in the mid-west/south are more about "sharing" than the money-grubbing slime that live in those two big cities?

Now, if Sprint is REALLY serious about Wi-Max and uses existing towers to massively deploy it throughout the U.S. over the next year or two then I can see a Wi-Max-enabled N800 stomping the crap out of any current Apple product.
Especially if that N800 comes with Skype ALREADY INSTALLED ON IT. Sprint does a deal with both Nokia and Skype and they stand to make a small mint. Not a large mint mind you, but enough tomake it worthwhile.
More importantly they'll be collecting very valuable data on the whole thing (customers, experience, sales, issues, etc) that will put them ahead of everyone else in the whole wireless data game. There's only so much you can learn from EVDO after all.

Of course if Apple tosses out an iPod Touch that's Wi-Max enabled then the wheel spins again...