
Nokia's new MeeGo-based N9 is set up for failure - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/06/nokias-new-meego-based-n9-is-set-up-for-failure.ars
======
nathanb
The article is insightful and informative. However, I think the title should
be written in the active voice: "Nokia set up the new MeeGo-based N9 for
failure". If their platform is burning, it's because they lit the fires
themselves.

------
senko
Although sounds a bit jaded, the article does have a point. Nokia appears to
unintentionally sow fear, uncertainty and doubt about its own products.

With both Apple and Google, you have some sense of where it's going to go
(more of the same, just better). With Nokia, who can reliably predict where
the platform's going to go in a year or so? Or even which one?

Still, N9 gives me a glimmer of hope. One _can_ hope, right?

~~~
raganwald
_Nokia appears to unintentionally sow fear, uncertainty and doubt about its
own products._

Elop seems determined to walk in Adam Osbourne's footsteps:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect>

Given his clear commitment to WP7 at all costs, what would motivate anyone to
buy an N9, much less develop for its "platform?"

The two top OS players in the market, Google and Apple, each have exactly
_one_ platform they push (Android and iOS respectively). If neither of those
titans thinks it's prudent to support two entirely different platforms, how am
I to reconcile myself with the idea that Nokia can successfully attack the
market on two separate fronts?

~~~
kenjackson
It's possible they have a contractual obligation to Intel to release a Meego
phone this year. Who knows. But clearly upper management is lukewarm on it.

~~~
Lewisham
Yeah, it's clear that if Elop had his way, the N9 wouldn't be released at all.
Either there's an external contract, or there's some internal promise he made
to board members/shareholders. This smells a _lot_ like the Kin launch just to
meet a contractual obligation between MS and Verizon.

~~~
raganwald
The launch of a doomed product just to meet a contractual obligation--if
that's what it is--is going to do a lot for Nokia's relationship with carriers
in the future.

Ouch.

------
vessenes
Nokia is doing a credible job of burning through the largest phone developer
ecosystem in the world.

Making the switch to WP7 might or might not have been a good decision for
Nokia, but it was a decision to largely part ways with that developer base and
jointly gamble with Microsoft that they could build a credible alternative
developer base to iOS and Android.

It's funny to be writing this; four years ago, I would have been frankly
really surprised to think that Nokia developers could become somewhat
irrelevant so quickly.

------
saturdaysaint
These journalists winsomely pretending that the N9 ever had any kind of chance
are crazy. A slick UI is utterly unimpressive - it's the bare minimum a
consumer might expect. WebOS's underpinnings were far more impressive upon
release several years ago than the N9 is today. The Playbook has a very
attractive interface... and no marketshare to speak of. Android tablets are
off to a halting start despite a great interface, proven branding and
technical leadership in many respects.

I'm not trying to worship Apple - I expect Android, at least to compete - but
I don't see anything to indicate that the N9 is remotely competitive.

~~~
barista
The reason its not competitive is not because of the hardware its the
software. As a software my resources are split if there are more platforms
that I need to develop for. There are already too many. iOS, BB, WP7, android
(with all its fragments). I think it was very wise of Elop to pick a software
platform that they are not burdened to support. Nokia's competency is and has
always been hardware and they should focus on that. HP will realize this
soon...

------
bascule
> especially when you consider the fact that much of the software is native
> code, not hampered by the resource overhead of a managed code runtime.

Really Ars? Really? Sure, they're probably right there is a difference, but
have they actually measured it and shown it's significant enough to warrant
statements like this?

Is Android, with JIT-enabled Dalvik, significantly more "resource intensive"
than comparable functionality on MeeGo? Perhaps I missed that article.

------
nextparadigms
If it will fail if Nokia _wants_ it to fail. If they try to support and
promote the N9 and Meego as well as they can, I think it will gain traction
fast.

~~~
michaelcampbell
Does Nokia even have a say in it any more?

~~~
r00fus
Are you implying Elop is still "working for Microsoft"?

~~~
michaelcampbell
Well, there ARE a couple billion reasons to think that.

------
contextfree
Posted this in another thread, but -

WP currently requires all third-party apps in the marketplace to be entirely
.NET/CLR-based. There are a lot of hints that this will eventually change,
possibly at the same time they port to a Windows NT kernel, also hinted to be
in the works. This might explain the confusion over Qt, if they plan to
eventually port it but can't say so without revealing Microsoft's roadmap.

------
MatthewPhillips
Why is it that when I go to <https://meego.com/> I don't see any software that
looks like the N9 or any news associated with the product? Is it a proprietary
skin on Meego or something else? It looks fishy to me that the last Meego
release was October 2010. Are they just really far behind open sourcing their
latest stuff or what is up?

~~~
senko
Yes, the UI is propriatery skin (that's not intended to get open sourced) over
the open source internals. That's how the previous Maemo-based devices worked,
too.

This is somewhat analogous to Android (which is open source) and HTC's Sense
UI on top of it (which is specific to HTC). Google's Android pages don't
neccessarily link to HTC' products.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
That explains everything, but what with no releases since October 2010. That
release was pretty bare bones as I recall, have they really made this much
progress since then (and in the middle of layoffs/turmoil)?

