3 ms·

Impressive efforts can still come to nothing, and so far the numbers aren't favorable. I got and started developing for the N900 when it came out, because I abs

by krig 16y ago

Impressive efforts can still come to nothing, and so far the numbers aren't favorable. I got and started developing for the N900 when it came out, because I absolutely support the effort of truly being open source that Nokia is betting on. It's just not working out so far. There are no users, the platform is immature, the N900 is not a good phone for users or developers, and most importantly: the Ovi Store is terrible. I released one piece of open source software and gave up on the platform after that experience. Absolutely, anything can happen and Nokia do still have massive market share. I just don't see how they can catch up to Android and iOS at this point, massive effort or not.

blub 16y ago
From what I've seen with the N8 prototypes, it looks, feels better than Symbian 5th and it's faster too. Some people have been using the N8 more than myself and told me that they are happy with them. Still, anything can happen :) N900 was a cool project, but they didn't take it all the way to a commercial product IMO. It registered poorer sales than Symbian and it's always a bit behind when it comes to services & software support. A hacker-friendly and truly open source project, but I don't think that they wanted to invest too much in it, they were probably testing the waters for MeeGo. I'm curious, why do you say that the Ovi store is terrible?
- krig 16y ago
  For one, the interface is a web site that isn't well-adapted to a mobile screen, so getting to the store is cumbersome in itself. Secondly, downloading an app after buying it is very slow and frustrating. It involves adding a special APT repository with a unique key, and APT on the device is unusably slow. Third, actually publishing on the store is, as far as I can tell, practically impossible unless you have a company and the name of that company is Rovio. Third, they have no decent categories, no search functionality worth mentioning, very little information about each app... the list goes on. As a final nail in the coffin, the prices are much higher than in the Android or iOS stores. This is all from when I tried the store, needless to say I haven't felt any desire to relive the experience again so things may have changed. I really doubt they've fixed it though. I don't know if you've used the store on a symbian device, the experience may be better there, but my experience was indeed terrible on the N900. I really don't see Nokia turning around and putting out a fantastic mobile OS with a well-integrated experience that grabs customers, just like I have a hard time seeing Microsoft managing it. Although, Microsoft do have Xbox Live they could leverage.
  - blub 16y ago
    That does sound bad. On Symbian the store is a separate app that takes care of everything for you. The install is done in the background and you can launch the app directly from the store app. Each app has up to three screenshots and description text, but this depends on the publisheer. Depending on when you wanted to publish, it might be better now because they allow individual developers and you get free signing (for Symbian). P.S: As a developer I'm happy that the prices are higher. :) 0.99 is ridiculously cheap for software.
barrkel 16y ago
Market share for a phone which is not used for purchasing many third-party applications isn't structurally very sticky. If it's a commodity appliance-like device with, at best, Google Maps and a ringtone or two, there's no real incentive to choose the same manufacturer for your next phone, apart from brand identity and UI familiarity. It's pretty different with iOS and Android if you've invested much in applications. The platform effect kicks in, along with the network effect of the application markets, and makes the consumer increasingly sticky depending on how involved they are in purchasing third-party apps.

by krig 16y ago

blub 16y ago

From what I've seen with the N8 prototypes, it looks, feels better than Symbian 5th and it's faster too. Some people have been using the N8 more than myself and told me that they are happy with them. Still, anything can happen :) N900 was a cool project, but they didn't take it all the way to a commercial product IMO. It registered poorer sales than Symbian and it's always a bit behind when it comes to services & software support. A hacker-friendly and truly open source project, but I don't think that they wanted to invest too much in it, they were probably testing the waters for MeeGo. I'm curious, why do you say that the Ovi store is terrible?

krig 16y ago
For one, the interface is a web site that isn't well-adapted to a mobile screen, so getting to the store is cumbersome in itself. Secondly, downloading an app after buying it is very slow and frustrating. It involves adding a special APT repository with a unique key, and APT on the device is unusably slow. Third, actually publishing on the store is, as far as I can tell, practically impossible unless you have a company and the name of that company is Rovio. Third, they have no decent categories, no search functionality worth mentioning, very little information about each app... the list goes on. As a final nail in the coffin, the prices are much higher than in the Android or iOS stores. This is all from when I tried the store, needless to say I haven't felt any desire to relive the experience again so things may have changed. I really doubt they've fixed it though. I don't know if you've used the store on a symbian device, the experience may be better there, but my experience was indeed terrible on the N900. I really don't see Nokia turning around and putting out a fantastic mobile OS with a well-integrated experience that grabs customers, just like I have a hard time seeing Microsoft managing it. Although, Microsoft do have Xbox Live they could leverage.
- blub 16y ago
  That does sound bad. On Symbian the store is a separate app that takes care of everything for you. The install is done in the background and you can launch the app directly from the store app. Each app has up to three screenshots and description text, but this depends on the publisheer. Depending on when you wanted to publish, it might be better now because they allow individual developers and you get free signing (for Symbian). P.S: As a developer I'm happy that the prices are higher. :) 0.99 is ridiculously cheap for software.

barrkel 16y ago

Market share for a phone which is not used for purchasing many third-party applications isn't structurally very sticky. If it's a commodity appliance-like device with, at best, Google Maps and a ringtone or two, there's no real incentive to choose the same manufacturer for your next phone, apart from brand identity and UI familiarity. It's pretty different with iOS and Android if you've invested much in applications. The platform effect kicks in, along with the network effect of the application markets, and makes the consumer increasingly sticky depending on how involved they are in purchasing third-party apps.