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| From Interviewing ... |
Above is a picture of Dr. Jaaksi and I showing off our Internet Tablets.
I have been trying all evening to prepare a good blog post for you all and have failed. There is no wifi near my hotel and even the EVDO reception sucks. What's coming:
- A full interview with Ari Jaaksi of Nokia in podcast form (Or would you all prefer it if I transcribed? It's a little noisy in that pavillion)
- A huge, in-depth spec sheet on the N800
- Pictures of the N800 in medical detail
- Hands-on details.
9 comments:
I would prefer a written transcription, it is more convenient for the bad english speakers, if the quality of the audio is bad !
hi thoughtfix
do both, so that we have the choices :) thanks!
Hi ThoughtFix,
If you would be so kind as to take interview request questions...
Can you please (politely!) grill Mr. Jaaski on why the company did not provide an indication to consumers that the 770 was about to be EOL? I am one of (quite a few) people who went and invested a lot money this christmas to buy a 770, only to discover 3 weeks later that nokia obsoleted our device and took steps to cut off the 770's software ecosystem by giving all of the key maemo developers the (new, incompatible-with-770) N800. It is a wise move to help jumpstart community development on the N800, but it virtually guarantees that the 770 will be abandoned in its current condition.
I would have expected such behavior from other companies with other products, but the IT is by nature a product driven and developed largely by consumers -- you would think that nokia would not launch a 770 marketing blitz to dump their existing 770 stock on those very same customers just before launching the new tablet. I, like most IT fans, took the ad blitz for a sign that the new device would not be available for a while yet, and decided that it would be better to enjoy a 770 every day for the next six months than it would be to wait six months and buy something vaguely better than the 770.
So far I have heard platitudes like "we will learn from this!", but given the fact that the internet tablets enjoy success based largely on the efforts of non-nokia early adopters and developers, why are they investing literally zero effort in making sure that the 770 is not abandoned by developers, if they were busy selling the 770 loudly up until two minutes ago? If they are actually investing such effort, it is very poorly publicized.
If nokia deemed the secrecy of the N800 over the christmas shopping season to be more important than giving their loyal customers a chance to decide between buying a 770 and a N800, then they should do what apple (and others) do -- offer a cheap upgrade path for customers who bought their hardware less than 1 month before launch of new hardware, or similar. It would be both an ethical and a responsible move on nokia's part and it would be just vis-a-vis their customers, who are the only reason that the nokia IT didn't end up as a failed experiment, a footnote in computing history.
I think a lot of 770 owners, both new and recent, will be interested in hearing answers -- ITT forums are full of people with stories like mine (ignoring those who want their 770 to have IT 2007, user-upgradable CPU and RAM, wash their dishes, and make cappucino -- I'm talking reasonable people with a reasonable beef).
So, if they let die the 770, the only answer is: Swapping to IPhone.
@idan qazit: If nokia deemed the secrecy of the N800 over the christmas shopping season...
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I feel your pain, but through ThoughtFix's blog, I've known about the impending N800 for 6-8 weeks. I've been VERY close to pulling the trigger on a 770 many times the last few months, but finally told myself that I had to wait until I saw the pricing of the N800.
Any chance that you can return your 770?
To address your root issue of why does a manufacturer do this, it's an attempt to be fair to the retailers. It happens in ALL walks of merchandising. Look at cars, or vacuums, cameras or even hair dryers.
If a manufacturer were to publicly announce that they were going to come out with a new model 3 months in advance, then the chances of the retailers being able to sell their old stock go WAY down. _SOME_ mfg's will take back the old stock and give the dealer's full credit, but many will not. That leaves the retailer in a position of selling off the old units in a fire sale, or passing them off to a liquidator.
It' ain't pretty, but it's the way business is done.
@midiwall: I understand the business behind it. And you're right -- for vacuum cleaners and cappucino makers the business model works because the vacuum manufacturers don't depend on their customers to help develop their vacuum cleaners into better vacuum cleaners. People don't buy new vacuum cleaners for the features; they buy a new one because the old one stopped working.
Nokia depends on us, the technical customers, to add value to their product. It's practically a part of their business strategy for the IT. That's why their move doesn't make sense from my perspective (and I'm sure I'm not alone), and that is what differentiates nokia and the IT from Acme Co. and the vacuum cleaners.
I saw the "870" FCC docs, and I knew that something was coming, but buzz about the product sounded like it would be released in april, or perhaps later, especially given the confidentiality expiration on the FCC documents. Combined with the aggressive marketing blitz of the 770, and the fact that I did not imagine that nokia would sit quietly on a hot new product during the holiday shopping season, and after a month of waiting I decided that having something for the next few months was better than not. Had there been even an inkling of a rumor that the tablet was about to be released then I would have held off as well.
My feeling is that nokia suckered me into buying a 770, just so they could clear out inventory. Perhaps there are many (enough?) people out there who feel OK with spending another $400 on another tablet after a short timespan, but I'm not one of them.
As for the "fairness to retailers" issue: Nokia's advertising blitz lead back to nokia.com -- not to "at retailers near you!" Nokia wasn't trying to be nice to retailers; they were trying to clear their own stock.
Me, I prefer the written transcription. For one thing, it's a lot faster to get through.
Thanks for sharing the info with us! I'm really glad you were able to get to CES -- we're benefitting from your attendance greatly!
Thoughtfix -- do you know if the new OS handles Asian languages?
That was something they held out of the original OS for OS size reasons.
I hope they were able to bring it in now. Could mean opening up new markets too.
Roger Sperberg
do you know if the new OS handles Asian languages?
The specs on Nokia's website don't mention Asian languages among the supported languages.
But since the latest firmware for the 770 already supports Asian languages (even in Opera) when you install the fonts, I assume that the N800 will have the same support.
It's just that an input method is missing...
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