MeeGo or MS? Nokia ponders tablet OS
Phone giant seemingly unsure which one to pick
Nokia's agreement to base future smartphones on Windows Phone 7 doesn't extend to tablets.
So says an unnamed mole cited by Reuters.
He or she claims the Finnish phone giant hasn't ruled out using MeeGo, the mobile-centric version of Linux the company had been promoting with Intel, in any tablet it offers in a bid to compete with Apple's iPad 2.
But Nokia might go with Microsoft, the source admitted.
In short, the real story here is not that Microsoft might not be Nokia's tablet software partner, but that Nokia doesn't actually yet know which operating system to use, or whether to go with several.
Fair enough - it hasn't yet announced a tablet product, so it's not unreasonable to expect it to have yet made a decision on which OS it adopts.
We shoudn't rule out Android, though Nokia's aversion to the Google OS for phone, because it's now too hard to differentiate between handsets, also applies to tablets, or will very shortly when Acer, Asus, LG, Samsung, Toshiba and co. get their Android fondleslabs out.
Nokia has filed for a patent to cover a certain, N-series style tablet, so it's likely working on such a device. The patent application went in in May 2010, so Nokia has been thinking about tablets for the best part of a year - well, since the iPad was released...
But then so has everyone else - and all its competitors have hardware and OS choices made. The Reuters mole implies Nokia does not.
Has it missed the boat yet again?
COMMENTS
Personally, I think Nokia missed the boat.
OK, so I'm not "target audience", or whatever, but as far as I am concerned if they had released the N800 with a GSM/GPRS chip they'd have had a winner a long time ago.
Why on earth did it take 2 years to add proper radio functionality to the phone? A few of us at work (IT department) played with the N800 and lots of us liked it (though I wanted a qwerty keyboard) -- but what really stopped us being interested was having to buy a phone to tether it to and the uncertainty about whether the network would know and charge us for this. Had Nokia just released a GPRS tablet in 2007 I'm convinced they'd now have an iPad rival in full swing.
Meh
My original Motorola Droid has tons more functionality & hackability (despite Verizon/Motorola) and a better keyboard than my N810, and is a better phone than my friend's N900.
I coded apps on the N810 for 2 years, and it was a drag, compared to the first couple weeks with Android. Maemo was a horribly documented schizophrenic mess.
So I think Nokia's ship sailed about the time of Christopher Columbus.
a Reg mole
The issue really is that after the Black Friday, people at Nokia no longer know anything that's going to happen. The tablet was to be MeeGo, but with the new WP garbage announcement Elop just said the agreement didn't include tablets but suggested his view was to go with Windows. People lower in the company don't really know anything about what's to happen anymore, and can't even make good guesses as the management doesn't follow logic and reason. As you can imagine, the motivation is then at an all time low and people are doing little, despite promises of bonuses.
sure, why not both or all three
Nokia seems bound to not understand the market it is in. Or, it's own business.
If you are going to focus upon hardware you are going to be much better off going with the flow when it comes to software. That may mean a MeeGo table. Or, it might be an Android tablet. Or, even a Microsoft tablet.
Choosing just one is far too limiting.
You can go strickly proprietary as has Apple. But, even HP is likely to not focus so strongly on WebOS that it ignores other operating systems.
Not picking Android because it does not want to be an "also ran Android" is silly. You still have to compete with them regardless. That is the huge mistake that Nokia has already made in regard to focusing only on the Microsoft phone. Coming out with a MS phone does not protect Nokia against the Android phones. They are still competitors regardless of whether or not Nokia makes one. Or, two or three.
What is Nokia's business? If it is to make the best handsets, then you do so for all prominent software systems. Why restrict yourself? If you did not have the staff to make software work it might make sense. Or, as in the past, if you had and applied only your own software, it might make sense. Apple takes that route.
But, if you only make the hardware, it is stupid to restrict yourself to only one OS. Even if it is a good choice. And right now, Microsoft is not up to par. And it may never be. Microsoft has to compete against the likes of Google, Apple and even RIM. Adding the Nokia set does not change that.
Funny how some in the industry think they are better off by offer less choice. Less choice than is already out there for the consumer.
title
I think my N900 is great but I am not sure I would go so far as to call it a tablet, though it has far more functionality than many tablets out there.
