Android has Steam Rolled Maemo and Nokia

Posted on 13 December 2009 by


n900fail

Nokia had a chance.  They had a huge chance.  Nokia was the first to have a easy to use version of Linux on a portable device.  Since the N800, people have been wishing and pleading with Nokia to release Maemo on a cellphone.  Instead, they wasted time.  They brought out the N810 and while it was a very cool device, it was not a cellphone.

Then Google purchased Android and was able to attract HTC , Motorola and Saygus.  HTC released the G1, myTouch 3g, HTC Hero(European), HTC Hero (sprint) and the Droid Eris.  Motorola of course released the Droid and the Cliq.  Saygus has the V1 waiting in the wings.  Plus Motorola is on track to sell one million Droids this quarter.  With the number of handsets released plus the number of handsets waiting in the wings Android is now a force to be reckoned with.

What did Nokia do?  Continue to sell mundane handsets with the ugly Series 60 OS and el cheapo handsets.  Yes they sold a lot of phones, but the world is starting to move to smartphones.  Nokia had the chance to be the first Linux based phone to get serious traction and they squandered that opportunity. Then, Nokia released the N900.  Finally Maemo fans have a device that is what they have been asking for.

However, Nokia has missed the boat.  The N900 is not subsidized anywhere in the US and while it will run on T-Mobile, they are not subsidizing it.   Plus there is the wildly swinging price for the phone.  Initially the N900 was $598 and now it is currently $549.99 on Amazon.  When my friend Pat Davila last wrote about it, Amazon had it listed for $799.  In this economy it is not likely that they will sell many handsets at this price point.  At this price point, they will only sell to geeks who have too much money and not enough sense. Why spend $549 when $199 can get you a Droid that has more software and mind share.  Nokia is also not even marketing this phone at all in North America and has closed their flagship stores here in the US and in London.  As much as I liked the N770 back when I reviewed it, I don’t see a reason to purchase another Maemo device and if I had that kind of cash, I would buy a netbook AND a Android device.

Nokia, here is what you need to do to win me back.  Get T-Mobile or AT&T to subsidize the N900.  Make the price around $150 and you will sell a ton of them.  Also, come up with a marketing plan in the US.  Market to the exact group of people that bought the Droid or any Android device and you will probably be much more successful in this market.  The device looks great and even though it doesn’t have a capacitive screen, it does have a very beautiful interface.  As good as those things are, people aren’t going to spend that kind of cash on a unlocked phone.

So what are your thoughts?  Has Nokia missed the Linux phone boat?  Tell us!  Am I wrong?  Give me some info that proves that. As it stands now, Nokia smartphones are a big load of FAIL!

This post was written by:

- who has written 491 posts on Gear Diary.

Joel is a system admin for a local college in Columbus, OH. While he loves Linux and tend to use it more than anything else, he will stoop to running closed source if it is the best tool for the job. His techno passions are Linux, Android, netbooks, GPS, podcasting and Personal Media Players.

Contact the author


  • Pingback: Allistair Lee

  • http://twitter.com/arz AmyZ

    I have had various Nokia phones over the years, including the infamous 9290 communicator. It was a great phone for its time. But, as of now, I dont like what Nokia has done and and wouldnt use a Nokia phone unless I had NO choice.

  • http://bigbrovar.aoizora.org/ bigbrovar

    Poorly written without any research done. FYI N900 is not a consumer ready device, its a 4 in a 5 step Road map towards a consumer ready maemo based device. The Target audience of the N900 are geeks and early adaptors. Nokia hopes to use feedbacks from N900 to develop Device based on the next release of maemo which would support multi-touch, gestures (pinch zooming etc ) and would be based on Qt Framwork. It is also expected to spot a capacitive screen. The reason the N900 is not getting any carrier in the US is because again its not a device targeted at the consumer market. In-spite of this and the High price, The N900 one of the most sort after device this year. It was completely sold out on pre-order, from Amazon to newegg its hard to get hold of the N900 despite the fact that there was little marketing done by Nokia to promote the product.
    In fact Nokia even downplays and still see N97 as its flagship product.

    Google is doing an awesome job with the android and has a Free and open source software enthusiast am glad that an open source phone is having so much momentum. But Android is more of an open source OS than a Linux OS. It runs the Linux kernel but that is where it stops. Maemo on the other hand is a Debian GNU/Linux OS which uses tools from the Linux ecosystem (Linux kernel, dbus, gtk, pulseaudio, gstreamer, telepathy, apt etc) Hence Maemo is not a Linux based smart phone, It is Linux in every sense of the word. The user is given the power to or root and allowed to hack the device as they wish.

    Your post is sensational and would probably get you hits, However its a based on inaccurate information. Do your research before you post so you don't get to be labelled a troll

  • Pingback: Joel McLaughlin

  • gorkon

    I am sorry but this is wrong. I have done the research. Pat Davila has also. The fact is Android is far more popular than Maemo. Nokia has not targeted the US market and there are NO ads for the N900 anywhere. The only ad I have seen for Nokia anything has been the Booklet 3g and that was only seen on Tekzilla.

    Also, geeks and early adopters still might have a rough time giving up the $500 get the N900. I liked the N770 and N800. They did a great job with them and I am sure the N900 is well built as well. However I think Nokia would say differently about the Nokia being a consumer device. Nokia isn't totally stupid. Just partially dim. By the way, there site doesn't say that this isn't a consumer device.

    http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/

    $500 is still a lot to ask for the N900. It should be carrier subsidized. End of story. Until it is, there are DROVES of geeks getting Android phones since it can be had for as little as $50 for a G1. You can get an Eris for $99. The Droid is $199. Sure Android doesn't have the “full Linux experience” bit you know what? It doesn't have to. The Java language and the SDK is very good and it's very easy to write your own apps for Android. Also, as much as I like having X and the ability to have the desktop apps ported, I like the availability of Apps that Android has already. Maemo has a lot of open source apps, but other web 2.0 companies are developing clients for Android. Are those going to be on the N900 and Maemo?? I think not.

    Maemo and Nokia had it's chance. It's not going to be a success outside of geek circles. Android has beaten it on almost every aspect. Geeks love it. Normal people love it too. Ask the person who has a Android phone if they have ever heard of Maemo and you will hear crickets.

    Note: I don't hate Maemo. I just think Nokia dropped the ball big time.

  • http://bigbrovar.aoizora.org/ bigbrovar

    We are saying the same thing Gorkon. The N900 was not advertised anywhere. Infact Nokia is playing down expectation on the device, It does have lots of potentials but still has many rough edges as a consumer device. The thing to note is that N900 is a “step four of a five step process which will define the mobile computing device of the future. Some believe that step five will be the launch of Maemo 6 sometime next year.” (
    Nokia’s executive vice president of Markets, Annsi Vanjoki source http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2009/09/18/nokia-… ) you can also read here http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/sh… and also this post by a principal member of the maemo community http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=224357&pos…

    Nokia is being very careful and the last thing it wants is consumer backlash after what happened with he N97 fiasco where the product got soo much bad press because it was not ready when it was shipped. Nokia is betting a huge deal on maemo's future and it was revealed recently that soon all N series device would run on maemo and symbian would be relegated to the E series business line of device.

    To show commitment every last 300 participant at this years maemo summit was given a 6 month loaned copy of the N900 to thinker with and offer feed back to Nokia on how to further improve the device.

    N900 is a beta product, and it was only released in few selected countries ( Canada, Australia, China, Africa etc ) were not even that lucky. Yet such is the response Nokia got from the device that it is having problem meeting demands for the device. We have had situations where a guy drove 8 hours from canada to get the device. people would give bribe to to jumb the line ( some dude paid $100 to another guy infront of the line for the N900) even me had to pay $624 for the device to be ordered by a friend and brought here even though am aware am not covered by warranty. Even without any ad but word of mouth the N900 is sold out and thousand of people are still on pre-order for the device. Here in Nigeria Nokia store here is overwhelmed with demands for the N900 so much that the had to put up an ad saying the Phone would be sold here.

    Nokia as not been doing well as a company true, but I can hardly fault their handling of the N900 so far it has been consistent with their original plans. the N900 is a beta product and Nokia is treating it as such.

    Yet if a carrier offered to ship and subsidize the N900 I doubt Nokia would reject them. Probably carriers in the US are not willing to bet on the device. either way shipping with a carrier would just raise expectation for the device among consumers who are not targets of the phone. Such a move is bound to backfire and would be counter productive. If you want a maemo device but cant pay the price, get a Droid its still open source. and runs the linux kernel. Or wait for the N920 which will be consumer ready. Ship with maemo 6 ( which all the goodness of Qt 4.6, capacity screen, systemwide portrait mode support, gesture support, multi touch, and a good 3rd party app market. )

    • gorkon

      Are they? The carriers bet big time on Android and it was UNKOWN. At least Maemo was around.

      I am not disputing that Nokia worked very hard on Maemo. However, if the product was beta then WHY RELEASE AT ALL!

      I understand the push to get products out the door but the policy of pushing products out before they are ready doesn't serve ANYONE well. I know a lot was wrong with the G1 on day one, but nothing was broke so bad that the phone wouldn't serve it's purpose.

      I stand by what I said. The N900 IS a consumer product. If it's so bad that Nokia can't market it to the US art all, than it is a failure.

      If Nokia is following their plan, then their plan is a failure. With the following Maemo had in the states, Nokia should have worked with a carrier.

      Nokia had it's chance and they blew it.

      • http://bigbrovar.aoizora.org/ bigbrovar

        If you argue that the N900 should not be released because its not a consumer device, then apply the same to all the tablet series, because there too were not marketed as mainstream devices. Rather as a niche product for geeks and early adaptors. Nokia did not market the N900 in the USA because they did not market it anywhere in the world. because as it stands there still see the N97 as their flagship.

        I do follow closely the N900 and most users are even complaining about the device not be consumer ready, issues with email exchange, not very good imap support, lack of system wide portrait mode, lack of commercial 3rd party support. Right now only 25 applications are available for the N900 in maemo select. Most 3rd party developers are reluctant to develop for maemo 5 since maemo6 is likely to break compatibility due to the move to Qt 4.6 from gtk. add this to rebooting issues and low batteries issue currently being faced by users and you will understand that while the N900 is an awesome phone, and the fact that the map program which ships with the device is nothing to write home about even when compared to what you have on symbian its still has lots of rough edges and not as polished and consumer ready as the Droid which is backed by a market place of more then 10,000 applications and counting.

        The goal of Nokia is to standardize both symbian and maemo on Qt so that applications can be developed for both platform, and an app which runs on symbian can easily be ported to run on maemo. Symbian is also working on WRT web run time protocol which would make it easy to create web centric apps which would allow apps written for PalmOS, Symbian to work on maemo. When you had the N900 to a consumer he might get frustrated by some of the current limitations and bugs of the device. The result would be a backlash which would not be in the interest of Nokia.

        For me it is a dream device simply because I used the N810 and loved it so anyway better with a gsm radio can only be a win win. But my girlfriend would certainly prefer a Droid since things like python and ssh means nothing to her.

        Again I love the N900 and went to great length and risk to get one. But as is it is not something I would recommend to my girlfriend due to many areas which the phone still lacks in. ( Right now the only way to flash the phone is via the command line even on windows.)

        • gorkon

          That's great. I would probably like it too. Now it has 2 fans. I am exaggerating of course. Nokia could have done what Android has done which is the whole reason I wrote this. Nokia is very open source friendly. In fact, they are more of a friend to Open Source than Google in many ways. I just wish Nokia would have gotten the N900 out 2 years ago. Then Maemo could have been where Android is today.

          • http://bigbrovar.aoizora.org/ bigbrovar

            I agree with you on that. Nokia were abit slow on adopting maemo to their smartphone line because there were trying to protect symbian. However the failure of the N97 series showed that symbian as is just could not compete with the likes of android and iphoneOS. so yeah there came late to the game. But I think they always had a plan for maemo remember how there acquired openhand the company behind the clutter framework which is being used in gnome 3 and maemo 5. Oh well there came late and had to be kicked hard in the butt. Lets see what the future holds. The have indeed come out to admit their failings in nouth America especially what you highlighted on the need to work with carriers. so I am positive that come the release of the N920 things would be done very differently in the US.

            In all when we look at the mobile space now it feels good to see linux has already taken over the phone side of computing. From android to maemo and we even hear that samsung is releasing ther own version of linux which is called bada and their have employed the enlightenment guys to work on it. The rule of linux on the mobile devices can only go one way .. UP.

  • Pingback: ronnie051178

  • Ilikeandroid

    Google purchased Android??

    What?? Google CREATED Android. Get your facts straight, seriously. Go to the Android website and read the history or watch the Developers Conference where Google introduces Android

    • http://www.gamingwithchildren.com Michael Anderson

      Hey Ilikeandroid:

      “Android is a mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel. It was initially developed by Android Inc., a firm later purchased by Google, “

      He has his facts straight … seriously … :D

  • Gauss

    Common! You sound angry and like someone that still doesn’t own an N900!

    But I can’t blame you. I had had felt the same if I had chosen an Android phone instead of the wonderful N900! Because you know, I had problems deciding what to get. For me, an N900 was as cheap as a Hero and the Nexus1 was prohibitively expensive. We don’t have great phones hear with great plans. So we gadget freaks here have to get everything abroad and pay data plans alone or prepaid.

    Yo write concerned about what if the N900 wouldn’t be as successful as an Android device if you have chosen one. But let me tell you… who cares!!!
    What cares here is what you really want now and not the next year. The next year maybe you would be trying another Maemo device, maybe MeeGo or maybe an Android one.

    Concerned about price? Then of course you are not a the expected customer who would enjoy such a nice piece as the N900. And why not both? After all an expensive Android device is more than what a common customer needs.

    But think again. Even if Nokia had taken the right steps that you considered would had been the right ones, I don’t think so. Google is a monster, and also a key on it’s success with Android is to offer things that require a lot of human mind power. I mean, they have a lot of people with high degree studies developing algorithms, not just an OS and the common software. They want to innovate on areas such as voice recognition and navigation, while at the same time they build a monopoly.

    To be more precise. Nokia would had had to do more than just cell phones. See farther, Google is not a cell phone maker, they are doing the same thing as Microsoft, do you remember?

    So if you like Nokia phones and you know they have a product good enough for you and you have not a problem giving you the pleasure to have one. Then… why not get one!!!???

  • Joel McLaughlin

    First, The N900 is a fine handset. I don’t have one, but I am sure of that.

    Second, Nokia was AHEAD of the game with Maemo. They HAD it. However, they kept bringing out Internet tablets. After the N770, there was the N800 and the N810. After the N800 or heck even after the N770, Nokia SHOULD have put cellular radios in their device. When they finally did, it was way too late. Android had already eclipsed Maemo. Even the new slick interface on the N900 isn’t enough. Yes I know that Maemo IS different than Android. However, with a little more tweaking, it could have appealed to a larger market.

    Third, there is price. The N900 was initially 700-800 dollars in the states when I wrote this post. Current price on Amazon is $526. It’s lower than the unlocked Nexus One, but I would likely still go with the Nexus One mostly because it appears MeeGo won’t even make it to the N900. I hope Nokia does bring out a phone based on MeeGo, but the most important thing has to happen for it to be successful in the US….it must be subsidized OR the unlocked price needs to be no more than $199. The reason is a lot of Android handsets are in that price point or LOWER. You can, with contract, get a Droid Eris for around 99. Tell me why I want to pay 500+ for a N900? Plus where is the advertisements in the US for the N900? There are none. Marketing only to geeks will not be successful in the long run either unless the price is sufficiently cheap.

    Lastly, I LIKE Maemo. I just wish Nokia had made better choices. As it stands now, I don’t see MeeGo being nearly as successful as Maemo, but only time will tell on that one.

    Cheers.