Assuming the rumors are true - that we will have the Nokia N810 by week's (or at least month's) end and that the sliding keyboard is confirmed for this year and WiMAX is for next year, this is what I would do:
- Keep the "Unlocked" focus. Retain carrier independence, making the whole Nseries available to the world. Though the reluctant US consumer loves the subsidy on carrier-locked phones, costs will continue to go down and eventually (we've seen this in the iPhone) demand will rise until US consumers demand unlocked phones. Keep the software unlocked too. Allow developers to code, distribute, and enhance your product.
- Continue the vision of the Nseries as "content creation" to set it apart from simple music/video/camera phones. These aren't just to watch YouTube - they're to BECOME it.
- Continue to grow, expand, and market Ovi and MOSH, especially with the focus on #1. YouTube, MySpace, and AIM aren't the best for video, social networking, and instant messages. They're the most popular because everyone is on them. When global users start to adopt a good central content, messaging, and social networking portal even before they buy an Nseries phone, the device sales will follow.
- Offer the N810 but keep the N800 as a slate alternative. The N800 (with the front-facing speakers, side-mounted headphone jack, top mounted microphone, and stand) is an excellent music and video player, Skype speakerphone, web browser, and much more thanks to user involvement. The N810's sliding keyboard gives it more consumer access because users WANT keyboards - but will still have the choice. Keep software updates going on both and don't radically change the development environment again. Lesson learned from the 770.
- Maximize the hardware's potential. Offer a blogging dream team of an N810 and an N95. The N95 can provide the pictures, video, and Internet access over Bluetooth. The N810 can provide the text, formatting, and posting. With that, consider a way to allow users to do live YouTube or uStream.tv feeds from either tablets or phones. While we're on the topic of underutilized hardware: The first video calls got the collective consumer mouths salivating. Grow on that in both phones and tablets. Finally, consider location-aware applications since the devices are already capable of this.
- Develop a mobile office partnership or work with Google so Google provided services like Docs and Calendar work flawlessly. Offer a Google Calendar sync to the Nseries phones, N800 or N810 to cover the PDA functions.
- Release a little Bluetooth remote for media control. Trust me - it's a pain to dig out the N800 just to change volume and tracks. This would be even nicer in integrated car kits for either the phones or internet tablets.
- Keep going with the Nokia Multimedia Transfer application. Expand it to include the tablets. Think of other ways to allow desktop management of the pocket devices.
- Remember that the Internet Tablets are a secondary device and offer software to keep that focus. A desktop information display with a world clock, live updating RSS ticker, mail notifications, weather updates, and more can be rolled into a "desktop mode" for users to enjoy as a side display while they're on the PC. The N800 homescreen does much of this already, but the screen doesn't stay on and the applets don't update fast enough.
- Continue to listen to the customers. The Nseries started as a flagship line with great, high-end features but now must perpetuate and grow. The first Nseries devices grew from the luxury features Nokia could provide to the consumers. The second generation and beyond will come from what the consumers want from Nokia.
7 comments:
Wholly agree with your views. I've been holding out on buying a N800 as there's been rumours of it's successor being just around the corner, however the maturity of the maemo platform has made it a hard decision to hold out. Especially as the N95 looks so tempting, do you believe there is too much cross over between these two products?
I think what's been shown with Nokia's internet tablets so far is that the community can really push the product, and a few more consumer based features and perhaps a slightly (and I mean slightly) reduced price tag would really push such a product into the main stream. Not breaking previous owners trust by cutting them out of updates is the way that Nokia needs to go.
Wouldn't we all like to own an N95 8GB and a N810?
I mostly agree.
I think, in addition to a documents and calendar sync (and calendar app) to some service (you say google, and I agree), they also need a contacts and bookmarks sync. I'd say google there, too, except that google bookmarks is insufficient (no folders, which is not adequately replaced with tags; delicious is similarly insufficient; netvouz is good, but not 100% stable ... seems to have problems every saturday night)
As for keeping the Internet Tablets (ITs) "secondary" and "unlocked", I agree. But I'd go a step further. Take full advantage of the ability to create personal area networks using bluetooth and wifi.
Create a wireless gateway device that is basically a battery + cell modem + bluetooth + optionally wifi-as-an-access-point (not wifi client). Comes in 3 flavors (3.5+ GSM, CDMA2000/EVDO, WiMAX). The bluetooth support should include DUN, PAN, and file transfer. It basically just acts as an IP gateway for your secondary devices. No direct interfaces for making phone calls (you could optionally offer those via bluetooth protocols, but the real focus here is a mobile network access point, not a device used directly as a cell phone). Have it charge via USB, possibly also offering itself for various types of other USB access (hard drive to access its settings files, network interface to access the internet via USB wire instead of bluetooth/wifi, etc.).
Then, whatever your computer is (laptop, 770, N800, N810, even non-Nokia PDAs, even desktops that are too far away from a good DSL line), you can use this device as your feed to the internet when you're not in a wifi hotspot. If you have the wifi service be both access-point/base-station AND client, then you could even route your own devices through this box when you are in a hotspot ... so that you only have to change the gateway's internet feed while you're in a hotspot, instead of changing each of your handsets individually.
And, you're also not tied to making even your next generation device to one particular radio type (the WiMAX version of the N800 doesn't have to be a modified N800, it can be this product as an option to extend the current N800/N810's capabilities).
And, in the long run, you could even start removing cell radios from your other N series devices. You carry one of these for all of your network interface needs, and the N series devices talk to each other, and the outside world, via bluetooth and/or wifi.
All of your N series devices, then, can be "unlocked" and "carrier neutral". And, as you said, they stay focused on content and not on network access. These new devices focus on network access, instead of content and presentation. Specialization at its finest.
Wouldn't we all like to own an N95 8GB and a N810
No.
I want to own:
a) the network interface router I mention above
b) an N810 with a slide-out keyboard and the software things I've been mentioning here and on internettablettalk, including software that allows it to be a wifi/SIP phone, or a bluetooth "headset" for the phone features in item (a) (dialing, answering calls, dialing, receiving caller-id notifications, handling the audio in/out through the N810, etc.).
c) either a Seagate D.A.V.E. or Agere BlueOnyx, with full filesystem integration with the N810 (40GB!). Maybe two of these.
d) a device kind of like the N series phones that have camcorder like abilities (side facing camera in the hinge, twistable screen), video out ... adding integration with item (c) above for storing its data files, and removing the built-in cell radio in favor of wifi-phone and/or acting as a bluetooth "headset" for controlling the phone capabilities of item (a).
That's what I want to own :-)
If the N810 has a better picture/video camera on it than the N800 (one that faces away from the user, where the cheap chat cam can still be there, but facing the user), and some form of video out, then it's ok to drop item (d), since it'd be merged into the N810.
I think what we'll probably see next from Nokia is a massive push to social networking. With the right tools to hand the N800/N810 becomes a bloggers wet dream. I know we can do it already but Nokia needs to bundle appropriate software so that everyone can do it. If they do this I suspect we'll see a better quality camera and some good photo taking/uploading software.
Unfortunately I can see it all being tied into MOSH which is probably where it's all going to fall down.
Isn't point 1 taken for granted, or is the mentioning of it meaning locked down is being considered?
I think that John (in comments) hit the nail on the head. This thing NEEDS a better camera to even be worthy of posting on MOSH or anywhere (ie Skype or Gtalk with other computer users).
Truth be told...they could have left the camera out of the N800 and I wouldn't have missed it.
Nokia has made a great device. I love it and find it probably even more flexible than the upcoming N810 tablet . The only thing I wonder is why they don't consider using Windows Mobile on their devices? This would allow us using more applications. If we had a 16 megs of storage it would be okay, but when we have 8 Gbyte version gigging soon it's reasonable to fill it with something you need and can’t get just because you don't have enough space for it in you phone. For example, being an admin I frequently need to get access to some stuff on my PC when I am out of office. Of course, there are always ways to get around the problem like call you colleague and ask him to do something for you. But would you like somebody asking you to do additional tasks when you are full of your own problems. Moreover, sometimes it's practically impossible because you are the only person having access to that area. The best thing is that there are tools that allow managing desktops from the mobile phone. We had plans to build a secure access channel to our corporate networks for some time. Among various solutions we've tried we chose the remote desktop management
options within the Desktop Authority tool from Scriptlogic fit our needs best. For example there is a great file transfer feature so that I can remotely log on into my server box and transfer files from there. The connection is encrypted via SSL. And the great thing for me that it works from within any browser capable to run Java. You know, N95 performs Java greatly .That's great that N95 supports 3G as it's easy for me to data via remote management in Desktop Authority when I am on my business trip. The tool boasts a large set of gadgets like does the N95. My favorite there in the set of features it sports are the performance viewer and user manager that allow you to see what's going on with performance on the remote machine how is the stability and create or move users between groups remotely. Now I am 100% sure we made a good decision.
I believe soon we'll be able to get even more from N95 and Desktop Authority as the first I believe will get soon a support for the .NET Compact Framework thanks to the Net60 from redFiveLabs that provides the support of CF for Symbian and the second will issue it's new version 7.7 of Desktop Authority which I am proud to be one of the beta testers for.
Still N95 looks attractive compared to the iPhone and N810 predecessor N800. You may find video here.
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