Just a random thought, but could Maemo have been Android if Nokia had made different decisions? Seems to me if they had decided to include GSM code they could have made a bigger splash. Everyone's all over Android, but let's face it - is anyone really that excited about the phone part? To me it's about the ( open ) mobile platform.

Before I get flamed with 'I want separate devices' comments, I do too, but the iPhone ( and Android ) seems to indicate alot of folks don't.

It appears too me we have alot of devices hovering around the same (elusive ) target - NIT, MID, iPhone, Android, none of which the market seems to be sure of - PDA or not? Phone or not? Open or not? Media player or not? laptop substitute or not? I think everyone wants one of these, what ever they are, but no one really knows what exactly it is they want.

Who will hit the target first?

at the time they would have risked undermining symbian, but now, who knows.
in the tech industry things change almost to fast...

It ain't over yet!

And no, that comment does NOT constitute policy.

meh, i suspect that both maemo and android are fighting a uphill battle.

apple is in the field now, and we all know what that means (im seeing people importing the iphone because its not available for sale around this part of the world yet, for one thing).

a) the fact that Apple is in the market doesn't mean anything to me. I had a choice between an N800, iPhone, or iTouch. The N800 was, by far, the winner. And it will just get better from there.

b) I doubt "maemo could have been android". Because Maemo came from Nokia, its competitors wouldn't have gotten behind it the way they got behind an OS from someone they don't compete with. And Google wouldn't have gotten behind it because, in my observation, Google and Nokia are both "this is my toy, I control it" type entities, so neither would have been willing give the reigns to the other.

I see two possible outcomes:

1) more likely: Maemo will incorporate Android compatibility features, so that you can do any Android thing on Maemo... but Maemo and Android will otherwise remain distinct entities.

2) less likely: Nokia will get Google to incorporate Maemo-isms, and then join the Android bandwagon. (less likely because I don't see Nokia giving up that amount of control)

...another fight for around 10% market share with a totally proprietary system?

...And, Texrat wins the thread. Everyone else can go home.

In summary:
Apple's iPhone OS is an OS tied to hardware, which currently lacks any official SDK.
Nokia's ITOS is an OS tied to hardware, with some open source components.
Google's Android is a CPU agnostic cell phone software stack.

In the long run, Android is the only thing on that list that even has a possibility of usage by more than one company, and most likely it will have the longest lasting API stability. Maybe it won't be successful, but neither ITOS, nor iPhone OS were ever its competition.

-John

That's not substantially different from what I said, either.

the point i was trying to make is that iphone is riding the ipod wave. and when the sdk ships this will get even "worse". just look at the number of specialized iphone webpages...

most customers dont care about open, they care about "fashionable"...

Sorry, but I don't agree. The SDK is only one piece of the puzzle. The iPhone lacks some other pieces of functionality that keep it from being a real useful tool to me.

1) bluetooth FTP
2) bluetooth DUN/PAN, or similar tethering capability for your laptop/etc.
3) bluetooth keyboard
4) landscape mode for virtual keyboard
5) physical keyboard version (or case)
6) sync contacts with thunderbird and/or gmail
7) sync calendar/to-do with sunbird and/or google calendar

The SDK will mean that it's going to have, at some reasonable point in the future, a real ssh client that doesn't cause you to risk bricking your phone (and if it uses the existing virtual keyboard, it'll only be usable in portrait mode, so it'll have a tiny text area, which will suck). Great. That still leaves the other short-comings. And the fact that you've got to deal with draconian policies from Apple (who says they'll digitally-sign your app, so that it can be legitimately installed? hmm?)

Really, through work, I can get a free iPhone, and free service (work will pay for both). I wont be taking advantage of it. I'd rather wait for a solution that involves maemo and/or android.