Survey: Mobile device usage

I am going to collect data for the idea I had for a maemo summit presentation even if it is not presented in Amsterdam. My first step is a generic survey posted here. Please help me understand tablet users more by taking this survey.

Compelling

The presentation that I had hoped to show at the maemo summit has been declined. I hope someone can take the idea and make something better out of it - so here's the abstract:

Attracting the Masses

• Intended audience: Developers - but other parties may be interested
• Abstract/description

Tablets have hundreds of applications now - but who are they for? If the Internet Tablets are intended to attract a more mainstream mobile market, the maemo community needs to get in touch with the needs of the target market.

The first part of this presentation will give an overview of the most popular applications on competing platforms. This information will be collected through app store sales/download counts, direct communication with a sampling of mobile consumers, and communication with some other high-profile mobile technology journalists. This will include actual applications, connectivity options, peripherals, interface (touch/keyboard/icon/etc) preferences, and related consumer desires.

The second part of this presentation will give an overview of the state of the existing maemoplatform including commercial partners, independent contributors, and ports of more popular Linux software.

The conclusion will analyze mobile consumer desires compared to maemo offerings and, hopefully, give developers ideas on what they can write to make the platform more appealing.

The feedback from the Dave, Jamie, and Valerio is (in part) as follows:

Thanks for your submission for the Maemo summit, we appreciate the effort.
However, we don't think the content is compelling enough for the summit
as is. And certainly "reaching the masses" will be covered by Nokia
during the Nokia day. So we are sorry to inform you that we are not
accepting the presentation.

Since I'm more of a "put the tablets in others' hands and get a reaction" type and not a "developer" type, I figured that's the only topic on which I am qualified to talk. I'm open to ideas, though. I'm still looking forward to seeing what comes out of the summit.

Maemo events upcoming

At first, I was confused by the Maemo presence at the upcoming Gran Canaria Desktop summit. Now, with the Intel/Nokia Linux partnership going on, it makes much more sense to me. Could this be a weekend when they announce the next generation maemo device? I don't know if the Desktop Summit is the right crowd for that - but I take nothing for granted now.

Also coming up: Maemo Summit 2009! Last year's event was simply fantastic. As a non-developer, I spent most of my time listening to developers trade ideas, improve each others' understanding, and consider what they want for the future. It was an honor. Since then, we have not yet seen a new major OS release or hardware device but we have seen new partnerships form and ideas take shape. If you're involved in the maemo community and think you have something to share at the event, go ahead and submit it in the "Call for Content." I already posted my idea but I am sure there are more good developer-centric speakers out there with good ideas to contribute.

The Nokbook N9000? Plot thickens with OEM orders

Bloomberg is reporting that Nokia ordered Quanta and Compal netbooks for distribution in Q3 of this year. Without any supporting sources, we don't know any more about this. However -- What if?

Two years ago, Palm announced a device that would be a "smartphone extension." The 10" screen, laptop form factor, 2 pound device would give users a larger window into all the things their smartphone does: Calendars, address book, email, web, and light media consumption. The price tag was $599. This sad little Palm Foleo was so universally panned that it never even made it to the market.

If Nokia and Intel are going for an "in-between device," they need to do far better than Palm did. It's good that they're starting with Maemo and Moblin as core development models as third-party app developers are familiar with those ystems. The big hurdle here is one that was never properly addressed with the Nokia Internet Tablets: Why do I need one?

Maemo, Nokia, Intel, and the community

The community is weighing in and discussing this morning's news. Here are some highlights:

• Peter@Maemo says: "Let me remind you what we have said about Maemo 5: Maemo 5 will support OMAP3 processors i.e. ARM Cortex A8 technology, not more, not less."
• He goes on to say: Maemo and Moblin will continue to exist as software platforms, no change to current situation but we will align more of what is underneath the UI framework and APIs.

There's more discussion in the whole thread on talk.maemo.org. I don't think many mobile tech blogs understand exactly what this all means (myself included) but I THINK this is what will happen:

Facts: Intel and Nokia combined have a broad understanding of mobile computing - both development and marketing. Nokia has had vast success in handsets, feature phones, and smartphones and Intel is enjoying many years as the top mobile CPU for laptops and now netbooks and ultra-portables. As these two types of platforms converge into a "middle device," it makes sense to bring the power-players in each together to develop some standards.

Through the success of the iPhone and Android, the whole mobile market has learned that platforms MUST have a strong third party developer base. Intel and Nokia will work very hard to make Moblin and Maemo cooperate with each other even though they will have different styles and hardware platforms. This will make it easier for third party developers to write applications that can be released on both platforms without major rewrites. This will encourage developers to adopt both Maemo and Moblin on their respective platforms.

I could be totally wrong, though. What does everyone else think?

Nokia and Intel team up - promise to kick butt on mobile Linux

Today was the wrong day to sleep in a little: Nokia posted a press release with Intel promising several very important things to the mobile space:

• Open source collaboration, including cooperation between Moblin and Maemo.
• Intel licensing Nokia 3G technology
• Increased focus on standards-based pocketable devices.

Wow. I love the Intel Atom. I love the Maemo tablets. I am swimming in excitement for the future right now.

AT&T Fails at the Internet

AT&T managed to dampen my joy of using an N97 and finding my N810 where it hid in my apartment. The DSL router above has a center light that should stay green but is instead blinking red. Apparently - for no reason - my DSL service decided to no longer work and AT&T can't figure it out so are dispatching a tech to my apartment. FRIDAY MORNING.

I'd use my N97 to get online but I can barely get phone reception at home - much less 3G. Who is my carrier? AT&T.

A blogger with a full-time job and no home internet is a slow blogger.

Here's some advice: Don't give AT&T money for anything unless you have no other choice.

Happy Day!

I found my N810!

N97 coverage?

I am borrowing a Nokia N97 (thanks to a friend who isn't migrating to it just yet) and have had my share of "this is awesome" and "Wow this sucks" moments with it in just a couple days. With the N810 getting a little "old" in the long view and with no sight of a Maemo 5 device yet, would tabletblog.com readers be interested in some coverage here?

What I CAN say about the N97 so far - If I can work out a few little bugs and still see no sight of a Fremantle Maemo tablet, I'm going to buy myself one. A white one. I miss a couple little applications of the iPhone (like Yelp and my bank's portal) but the added features of the N97 are worth those losses.

Maemo and Ovi?

I dug up my Nokia PC Suite application and updated it as part of my attempt to migrate off the iPhone. I realized that the PC Suite is being deprecated as part of Ovi branding push. This makes me wonder - will Maemo devices get Ovi integration as well?

Since the Nokia 770, users have been asking for more desktop interoperability between the tablets and the PC. Simple things like contact sync, calendar sync, and bookmark sync have been requested. So far, the Internet Tablet developers have treated the Maemo platform as more of a "laptop alternative" than "laptop companion." With mobiles becoming more computer-like and laptop class systems becoming more "smartphone-like," it'd be nice if the tablets were offered the same desktop support software of the Ovi suite.

There are problems, though. Applications "available on Ovi" won't work on the Internet Tablets unless tablets and phones have two different application stores. Consumer confusion is a BAD thing, especially with the N series competing with Apple's "it just all works together" iPhone model.

Thoughts?