[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] OS2006 roadmap

[From: Dave Neuer]

On 1/10/07, Ted Zlatanov <tzz at lifelogs.com> wrote:
> I think the 770/N800 break with OS support from ITOS2006 to ITOS2007
> is reasonable.  The 770 was a first-generation device, really the
> first of its kind.  I hope the N800 doesn't get deprecated in the same
> way, and I hope Nokia at least considers giving some discount to
> people buying the N800 that bought a 770 previously.

What's amazing to me is that someone in charge at Nokia thinks that
independant developers are going to flock to develop a market-creating
software ecosystem for a $400-$500 half-open platform, especially in
light of Apple's recent announcement of the iPhone -- a $500 half-open
platform which presumably will ship with Apple-provided "killer apps,"
no magic market creation required.

This has seemed to be Nokia's strategic blunder all along; create a
pretty compelling hardware platform which does so many things right --
like using standard, user-replaceable batteries -- and then relying on
half measures on the software side (half measures meaning not a)
creating a compelling software platform for the device internally
which was ready for prime time when the device shipped, or b) _really_
empowering the community to develop the platform, in a way that took
_full_advantage_ of all the device's capabilities).

In short, I think that fully opening the platform (both n770 and n880)
now is the only way Nokia's going to be able to compete when the
iPhone comes out in 5 or 6 months.

Dave