Nokia has given the Nokia N9 a shot in the arm, by committing to the phone and its condemned software MeeGo for 'years'.
The N9 will be the only phone to run the MeeGo operating system, leading many to think that the otherwise decent-looking phone will be dead on arrival. But Nokia boss Klas Ström tweeted that the Finnish phone flingers "will support #NokiaN9 for years AND release several SW updates... #nottoworry :)".
We'd like to see the N9 do well: it's an innovative button-free piece of kit, and the MeeGo software looks great in our hands-on video. Hopefully some of the better ideas involved will find their way into the forthcoming Nokia Windows Phones.
The first taste of Nokia Windows Phone is the Sea Ray prototype, which appears to be moulded from the same DNA as the N9. Perhaps the N9 is less of a sideshow to Windows Phone and more and of a dry run.
Nokia-loving CNET UK readers have rallied around the N9, making the perfectly reasonable point that most smart phone users change phones every two years or so. Some also suggest that a lack of apps isn't that big a problem, but we'll have to agree to disagree on that point: apps are the lifeblood of smart phones. Technically the N9 can run Android apps but it's unlikely Nokia will go down that route, having already rejected Android once.
Ström later tweeted about how developers can make N9-friendly websites, but we wonder how many website-builders will bother.
All this may be academic here in the UK anyway, as it's not been confirmed that the N9 will even come to these shores. Despite Nokia's commitment, none of the networks have embraced the phone, and dear old Blighty is noticeably absent from a list of countries where the N9 is set to launch.
Is this enough to make you consider an N9 or is this too little, too late? Offer your support in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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Comments 8
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Anonymous 8 July, 2011 22:07
so long as this supports the alien dalvik so i can get my droid app goodies i'm fo'sure getting this phone. Oh yeah and so long as the price is acceptable (i doubt it) and that it ACTUALLY releases over here!
Anonymous 9 July, 2011 21:16
Um why was the previous discussion removed.
It highlighted why you were wrong with something.
Covering your ass?
Anonymous 9 July, 2011 21:26
you seem to be censoring info to suit your own propaganda, quite odd.
Availability for one is horridly inaccurate, and I dare say you know it...
Anonymous 9 July, 2011 22:28
It's confusing whether or not it will be the last the source everyone gets that idea from is supposed of spoke as never going back to MeeGo as in it will still be for future disruption and will not become main OS. So saying it's the last is possibly incorrect, and if it is incorrect this false message that most blogs are posting are unfortunately giving consumers the wrong idea ,thus putting them off MeeGo and the N9. Plus Elop has never said it will be the last infact he even spoke of having 3 MeeGo devices by 2014.
Riekie 11 July, 2011 11:52
I see that your competition is only for American Citizens. How about my country, which is South Africa?
anonymous 11 July, 2011 18:01
I have no idea what half of you are on about. No comments or discussions have been hidden, and isn't 'propaganda' a bit strong?
Riekie, not sure what competition you're talking about - we're a British site. Hello daar!
Anonymous 16 July, 2011 17:41
Android Applications can run on the Nokia N9, via Alien Dalvik, promising native performance with minimum repackaging of the original Android App. All the hardware capabilities are accessible to the repackaged Android App, and any further tweaking that may be necessary for 100% compatibility can be done via the Android SDK, which Myriad will provide later this year.
At a single stroke, future owners of the Nokia N9 running on the Meego Harmattan 1.2 platform will potentially have access to more applications than Android phones, a staggering notion, considering that the Android Apps market was already growing at a rate faster than Apple iPhone Apps by February of 2011 and recent numbers from Hugo Barra, Product Management Director of Android in May 2011 showed that there are 200,000 Android Apps available.
Compare this with the 300,000 over iPhone Apps available as of now.
Add the current 48,000 Ovi store Apps as of June 2011 to the continued growth of the Android Apps market, it is likely that at the point-in-time of the retail release of the N9 worldwide, owners will have access to more Smartphone Apps than the iPhone!!!
A truly shocking thought, especially when the number of Apps available for end-users have been the strongest selling point for any Smartphone device to date.
The fact is it is more likely that WP7 will be stillbirth. Despite having 36,000 registered developers as of March 2011, there are only 11,500 WP7 Apps. This means less than 33% of developers who actually PAID money to register, actually developed anything for WP7. Just goes to show how much confidence the mobile App Developer Community for the Smartphone market have in WP7.
So much so that one reviewer wondered aloud why Nokia would want to cast its lot with Windows when it already has a potential iOS killer in terms of user-interface, an “ecosystem†that it can control with QT developers dying to get their hands on developing apps in-house in the production stages.
It is baffling how Elop has been forced to launch the very handset that can get him fired from his position as the CEO of Nokia.
In a yet another surprising turn of events in the Nokia N9 saga, Nokia has officially declared continued support for the Nokia N9 and Meego Harmattan 1.2 platform after the soon expected retail release worldwide.
See the tweet from the Nokia’s Head of Portfolio Management:
Anonymous 16 July, 2011 17:42
Nokia N9 Target Release Markets Rapidly Expanding Beyond 23 Countries
Since the initial launch of the Nokia N9 handset in Singapore on the 21st of June, the list of International Markets targeted for the retail released has continued to expand beyond the list of the initial 23 countries without much ado.
The most notable additions are Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Indonesia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway and Philippines.
Afghanistan, Lebanon and Pakistan have been added to the 56 other countries covered under the tri-lingual Middle East and Africa Nokia website.
The number of potential buyers are simply staggering, with 1 billion customers in Africa, 230 million in Argentina and Brazil, and another 1 billion or so in China. This is not including the highly-active Smartphone markets in South East Asia and Europe, traditional Nokia strongholds.
Visit nokiavswindowsphone for more....
BLME,
MeegoMan