The N9 and the future of MeeGo at Nokia

Posted Jun 30, 2011 10:51 UTC (Thu) by jordi (guest, #14325)
In reply to: The N9 and the future of MeeGo at Nokia by mats
Parent article: The N9 and the future of MeeGo at Nokia

Well, what corbet said is that Elop might be facing real opposition inside Nokia soonish, given how "well" Nokia has been doing since he jumped onboard. Get rid of Elop, and it's not hard to imagine the new directors re-focusing on MeeGo as their saviour. After all they've already done the hard work with MeGoo, and very successfully, it seems.

The N9 and the future of MeeGo at Nokia

Posted Jun 30, 2011 14:28 UTC (Thu) by kragil (guest, #34373) [Link]

He had to have support from the board for the abandoning of Meego and the move to MS. So it seems unlikly that Nokia will change again.

And with the communication coming out of Nokia and the very limited numbers of markets where the N9 will actually be available it is pretty certain it won't have good sales figures.

The N9 and the future of MeeGo at Nokia

Posted Jun 30, 2011 14:33 UTC (Thu) by mats (guest, #62046) [Link] (4 responses)

You may be right about what Corbet's point was. But I still think it's very unlikely that Nokia will make another 180 degree turn in direction... at least I wouldn't bet on it :)

The N9 and the future of MeeGo at Nokia

Posted Jul 2, 2011 2:23 UTC (Sat) by rahvin (guest, #16953) [Link] (3 responses)

Oh they most certainly will. But it's going to be several years of Windows failure and the near whole sale destruction of the company before it happens. I can even see the government having to take control in a bankruptcy proceeding as the end result.

In the end Elop will take his golden parachute and leave Nokia a broken shell.

The N9 and the future of MeeGo at Nokia

Posted Jul 5, 2011 15:57 UTC (Tue) by raven667 (subscriber, #5198) [Link] (2 responses)

That is very hyperbolic. Elop's reasons for switching to WP7 actually make sense on the face of them. WP7 has generally been well regarded, although less featureful than a more mature platform it has a unique interface design and has a couple of releases on several phones behind it. If MS keeps doing what they are doing, especially if Nokia becomes the preferred hardware platform, they at least have a chance for success but no guarantee.

This can be contrasted with the MeeGo/Maemo stack which has been stuck in development for several years, was the last to ship on a modern smartphone hardware platform and even then the system architecture wasn't nailed down, it was a hybrid of the previous and next generation software stacks. The market is getting saturated with phone platforms and there was very little confidence in the Nokia software stack. Even if it weren't a lame duck the N9 was not going to change the smartphone market in the same way that Android or iOS phones have, it probably would be meagre competition to WebOS and BlackBerry devices, because of their existing base of support, and those are at the bottom end of the market.

Hopefully they will keep picking away at MeeGo with a reduced effort and Intel will keep working on it for a while at least so that maybe if there is a shift in the patterns of the market it'll be there as an emergency escape. It's too bad that MeeGo wasn't successful but it was Nokia and Intel's bad management of the software development process that killed it by making it too late.

The N9 and the future of MeeGo at Nokia

Posted Jul 5, 2011 22:38 UTC (Tue) by dgm (subscriber, #49227) [Link] (1 responses)

I find it disturbingly funny that it's very easy to switch places between WP7 and MeeGo/Maemo in your comment, and it still makes sense.

My impression is that most of the builders see WP7 as a very weak offer. In fact, nobody dared to back it until Nokia did (except for Microsoft, of course).

I don't know if it makes sense for Nokia to sell to Microsoft this way, as I don't know what their directives know (maybe the price for Nokia is being a preferred provider of any Windows for tablets?). But I know that what they have given up is very valuable: their independence.

The N9 and the future of MeeGo at Nokia

Posted Jul 6, 2011 17:04 UTC (Wed) by raven667 (subscriber, #5198) [Link]

I'm glad I could provide some amusement 8-)

While I agree that WP7 vying for third place at best it certainly had developer interest and backing before the Nokia deal when it was just vendors like Samsung and HTC making handsets, at least as much as its competition such as HP webOS and RIM BlackBerry.

You are right that they have given up their independence and MS has been known in the past to have the reverse-Midas-touch and be pretty harsh on their partners which is why I hope they keep some developers working on MeeGo technology as an emergency escape. What I've read in reviews on Ars Technica about WP7 suggests that it is competently designed with a unique interface and features that people like so they should be able to make a go of it.