
Nokia confirms N9 MeeGo phone not coming to US - evo_9
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/08/nokia-confirms-n9-not-coming-to-us.ars
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pimeys
I'm so angry for Nokia's decision. N9 was the first phone in several years
which made me excited and proud of what Nokia's done. And now they dump it.
For Windows Phone. Great.

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nodata
A good way of creating demand is to deny something. Perhaps that's their
strategy.

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michaelcampbell
It works pretty well for game consoles.

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zbowling
I'm annoyed by Nokia's failure with MeeGo. The reasons it gave as to why the
new management wasn't behind MeeGo were nothing more than excuses. They got
that Microsoft's plant in there now. Their board is completely shortsighted
when it comes to seeing the long term value it could have for Nokia. Nokia is
abandoning it and has nothing in their portfolio of real value except some
patents and IP.

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boyter
Nothing but patents and IP worked pretty well for IBM while getting their act
together.

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rbanffy
My bet is that Microsoft will "save" Nokia a couple years from now and use its
remaining patents to extort every phone maker.

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trezor
If you are going to predict any major actor right now of aggressively and
offensively suing people into oblivion, _Apple_ would be the obvious target of
that accusation and not Microsoft.

Microsoft has enough business vested all over the place. They don't _need_
mobile to profit. Apple's only real source of income however, is now reduced
to iOS-devices only. They need mobile, desperately.

The fact that Apple is already suing left and right, right now, when their
platform is going well and they technically shouldn't need to be in any state
of despair, that should tell you who to fear the most.

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rbanffy
Oh. Apple will litigate aggressively, of course. But Nokia is clearly moving
towards becoming either a target for acquisition as a whole or, after
dismemberment, its patent portfolio is. Microsoft won't do it openly, however.
It's more likely they'll employ proxies for that, not unlike the way they
funded SCO's campaign. Besides, we are talking about Nokia's current
relationship with Microsoft, not Apple.

Don't you think it's a bit suspicious a recently hired CEO who was until
recently a high profile Microsoft employee discontinues a major platform
investment on the eve of launching a competitive product (I have played with
the N9 and it's a very good phone) and bets the company on a yet-unproven (and
I am being more than generous on this assessment) Microsoft product?

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trezor
_Don't you think it's a bit suspicious a recently hired CEO who was until
recently a high profile Microsoft employee discontinues a major platform
investment on the eve of launching a competitive product (I have played with
the N9 and it's a very good phone) and bets the company on a yet-unproven (and
I am being more than generous on this assessment) Microsoft product?_

I haven't tried the N9 so I cannot comment on it nor the platform which
powered it, only that historically, Nokia's only edge has been good hardware.
They have been (and still are, as far as I have seen) absolutely horrible at
software.

I would trust a platform made by Microsoft infinitely more than anything
coming out of Nokia HQ, and that is despite all the failings of Microsoft in
the mobile and tablet space.

Now... With that said: There is no doubt that by going the Microsoft route
Nokia is losing something. They are now a generic phone-vendor delivering
someone else's OS. They no longer fully own their own platform and stack.

This is quite a significant loss and definitely a big risk. However: Given
Nokia's history with delivering software and software-platforms, I think it's
a smaller risk than trying (once again) to deliver something made in-house.

And I really don't find it "suspicious" that a recently hired CEO choose to
turn to technology and people he already know. I find it a very obvious move,
even though it's not very obvious if it is the best choice or not.

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rbanffy
Even if you discounted MeeGo as a no-go (no pun intended) as I did before
playing with the N9, Android would make more sense - they already had Linux
kernels running well on their hardware and had them for ages. Building Android
on top of that would be trivial. And quick.

Nokia could also be the only Android phone maker that would be completely
imune to lawsuits by any other phone maker. And from Microsoft ("It's a shame
you are suing us, you know. It would be horrible if we decided to sue all your
WinMo 6 and 7 OEMs").

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trezor
_Even if you discounted MeeGo as a no-go (no pun intended) as I did before
playing with the N9, Android would make more sense_

Just to clarify: I never claimed that doing Windows Phone 7 was the better
option over than doing Android. I claimed that delivering someone else's OS is
probably the wiser bet for Nokia, as historically they've been just awful with
software.

And with a CEO coming straight from Microsoft, going the WP7-route instead of
doing Android, seems like a pretty obvious and "safe" decision.

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rbanffy
> And with a CEO coming straight from Microsoft, going the WP7-route instead
> of doing Android, seems like a pretty obvious and "safe" decision.

I always tell my friends who work for Microsoft to never, ever drink their
Kool Aid.

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Luyt
In the meantime, ESR on his continuing 'Smartphone Wars'[1] saga:

 _"...With Nokia and RIM in collapse and Microsoft failing to gain traction,
the smartphone market is increasingly just a two-horse race – Android va.
Apple...

...in a survey of usage in 56 countries, Android has reached 48% market share
worldwide. Then the comScore figures on US installed base up to June 2011 came
out, and report only 40% share here...

...Google is buying patents from IBM, doubtless with the intention of turning
the confrontations with Sun and Apple into Mexican standoffs. My evaluation
continues to be that the smartphone patent wars will be like a tale told by an
idiot, full of sound and fury but in the end signifying nothing."_

[1] <http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=3548>

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yason
They really work hard to cut off all excitement and upcoming income. Even in
Europe they announced that N9 will be the first _and last_ MeeGo phone: who
would like to buy something that's cut off future support already at the time
of sale?

I still don't believe this is just a coincidence. I know stupidity is
generally rampant but Nokia has become the universe's giant sinkhole of
stupidity within the last year or two that it can't have happened but on
purpose.

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markokocic
I don't know why Finnish govt doesn't start some investigation on possible
criminal activities in Nokia management. I don't say that someone tries to
bury Nokia on purpose, but their moves are suspicious enough to warrant at
least an investigation.

If Nokia continue this way, Finnish economy is going to suffer, a lot.

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rbanffy
I agree. Stupidity alone can no longer explain it. Nokia is committing
suicide.

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gareim
The N9 isn't being released because Elop wants his WP7 phones to win in
America and the N9 would just be some strong competition. Especially since the
WP7 phone they have planned looks just like an N9. Here's the line taken from
Engadget's page that pretty much proves it in my mind.

"Decisions are based on an assessment of existing and upcoming products that
make up Nokia's extensive product portfolio and the best way in which to
address local market opportunities." The word "upcoming" just keeps popping
out at me.

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pavlov
The N9 in the US never had a chance because the carriers don't want it. I have
a hard time believing it would be "strong competition" for anything at $600
unlocked.

Nokia is going Windows-only in America because that's the only way they can
get the carriers to go along. It's that simple.

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gst
That's also my assumption.

In Europe carriers typically have much less to say. In some countries many
people have SIM-only contracts and buy their own unlocked phones from a third
party.

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iwwr
Not to mention that operator phones tend to be crippled, locked-down versions
of the original hardware. So I wonder why people don't just take consumer
credit or pay in full for a device rather than use it on an operator contract.

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pavlov
In the US, they apparently don't get the choice. You pay something ridiculous
like $80/month for a smartphone plan that includes a device subsidy. Or you
can bring your own full-price device... And still pay $80/month!

If they had any sort of functioning government oversight over the telecoms,
that shouldn't be legal.

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anonymoushn
We have something like that. Generally we solve this problem by noticing it,
creating an agency to deal with it, and then filling the agency with the
employees of the companies that are causing the problem.

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forgotAgain
This should have been obvious. Microsoft wouldn't want the Nokia Windows Phone
message to be diluted by MeeGo. The N9 was just meant as a sop to developers
rather than completely cutting the developers off at the knees. That would
have killed any chance for them to move to WP apps.

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nvictor
who woulda thunk? ;)

