There's a significant school of thought that... Windows' success happened because of Solitaire - Wendy M. Grossman
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Nokia slates its own Slate
IN A CLEAR CASE of jumping on a bandwagon, Nokia is set to join the over-crowded ranks of tablet makers.
According to Reuters, Nokia plans to release its own variation on a tablet this year. While Nokia declined to comment on its plans, analysts have already predicted an Autumn release.
Analyst Ashok Kumar said in an interview, "Right now the supply chain (for a Nokia tablet) is being primed up for a fall release. It has to be on the shelf by September-October to meet demand for the holiday window."
There's no reason why not. We're just not sure what proprietary technology Nokia will deploy in its tablet. Nokia ticks the smartphone box but hasn't exactly got a rich history in laptop development to rely on. Its Booklet 3G netboook went down well but had muted sales success and one attempt at a netboook does not a portfolio make.
Nokia did build an Internet tablet with a touchscreen in 2005 called the 770. The 770 ran Maemo and was more of a PDA than a laptop, designed to be used with a stylus. It was awkward to try to use and likely should never have made it past the prototype stage.
However, combine the lessons of the 770 with the Booklet 3G, marry them to Nokia know-how in smartphones, and what do you get? We think Nokia genuinely has a realistic chance of building a solid consumer tablet. µ
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I am a proud owner of an N900, and prior to that had a N800 internet tablet. The N800 was purchased to replace an older ipod, and within days of owning it, I was hooked. I first read about the N900 in August of '09 and struggled to stay calm through release date changes and a total lack of information that was coming out about it's release. I got my hands on my own in December and was blown away. While it's not for the average consumer, it is definitely the phone to have for anyone that considers themselves any bit a techie. So when the ipad came out, I had the same feelings that many had voiced. It's a cool piece of hardware, something apple is good at producing, but I just can't imagine being able to put up with the control that apple has over what it can do, and can't do. I'd consider buying one, if it was open sourced, but we all know that that's not happinging. As far as I'm concerned, I'd stick with the N900 over the Ipad any day. (and yes, I realize that they aren't the same type of device) I am interested in buying a tablet, but it would have to be capable or replacing a laptop, something that the Ipad admittedly doesn't do. I think that the N900 comes closer to doing that than the Ipad does. By the way, I'm typing this in my N900's internet browser, while talking to someone on the phone... I also have a few other apps open, just because I can. So the idea of the next Nokia Tablet being something that goes head to head with the Ipad is too much for me to handle. I'd pay a lot of money for something in line with the N900, but Ipad sized. Here's to hoping that the Meego on the N9000 (I like that name) become a reality!
Just like to add that Apple does not make their own stuff - they are made in China by Foxconn at a factory in Shenzhen (with 270 000 employees. Where they make the iPhone, iPad, Mac Mini, iPod, motherboards for Intel, Dell and HP and others.. oh yeah.. and the Playstation 2 & 3, XBOX 360, WII, Amazon Kindle, and a lot of cell phones for many brands...
They have an extensive development department. You can have an idea how you want a product, and what it should do - they they can do the rest if you like (and want to pay for it).
They should just scale up the N900, with a big screen, and long battery capasity. Support for USB, Bluetooth, PictBridge, and a SD card reader. If they take it all out they could fit it with a e-paper screen on one side, and a good touch screen on the other.
Then we could use it to read books, with really long battery capasity - and out in the sun too.
Start to sell some books at OVI, and also add support for Amazon and B&N. And include regular PDF support, and a few more formats. Inklude a lot of free books in the OVI site too to be downloaded for free.
Let writers with no publisher to sell their books online on the OVI store for a cheap price. I think that would be a great way for a writer to get noticed.
Oh yeah.. include phone capabilities on it... and add a cheap but OK bluetooth headset with it - or sell it fairly cheap. They also need HDMI plug, to connect it to a large HD screen to watch downloaded movies, pictures and so on.
They I would buy one for sure. I am very impressed with the N900. I have actually sold one of my laptops because of it. I can connect it to a projector and show people stuff. They get very impressed by that. And I can connect it to my HD TV at home and see movies from it. Really cool.
The Maemo has good potential. Lot of apps to use, and the multitasking is good. Love the games too. I play more now than ever. Waiting at the airports with the N900 is not so bad anymore.
The tablet Nokia should make needs to have a cover like the Casio calculators to protect it from abuse/transportation/handling.
Some kind of docking could be cool too. They it could be used at work and home - like a regular PC with a large screen, and a full keyboard and mouse. But this can and must be an extra for those who need it.
At work we have changed more over to open source than before. Now it's just the economy system left. In a few month time, we will outsource that to India - because they do it cheaper and faster for us. Then we can be open source all the way. Aa think a Linux/Maemo based machine will be popular among IT department at work. They are Linux fanatics, and they like to work with open source code, so they can make some changes to software to work even better for us.
We will chage all our laptops before the end 2010. The laptops are used as a stationary machine by 70% of the users here. A tablet can probably change that. If it is easy to transport, and it can be used fairly easy without a mouse/keyboard when they are out - but be connected to a large screen and keyboard/mouse they at the office.
We are banned from useing Apple products at work because they are not open. iPhone is replaced by N900 and a few Android phones. Even iPods are not legal (so I don't have to use Apple software just to add a few songs or an audiobook. With the Creative it's just drag and drop).
Intel 1.9Ghz Atom, 7" 1024x600 capacitive multi touch display, 1080p front camera/5MP rear, 3G/HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI out, 15mm thick... much better form factor than an iPad.
Seriously, why bother going to the expense of designing your own when you can just re-sell the OpenTablet? :)
Just stick MeeGo on it along with a Nokia logo and retail it for under £400 (the stable mate of the OpenTablet - the O2 Joggler - is currently available for £50) and it will be a very appealing and very open device ideal for lounge surfing.
http://www.openpeak.com/OpenTablet7.php
Yep, nokia is going to disappear. It's a shame because it still dominates cell phone market + it makes far better devices than anyone else + supports flash in its devices + connectivity is much better than all others + phone call quality still unmatched (talking about cell/smart phones, sometimes we tend to forget that they are still devices to talk and text). That's the formula for failure and self destroy.
Nokia is loosing its ground. Cant keep itself up to date with the growing competition. http://mytweettalk.blogspot.com/
I just have a one wish: let it be Meego device!
(Probably something from Intel too!)
I have an n810 and I love it, all they really need to do is scale up the N900 and we would have a device spec wise nearly as good as the iFad, the extra space should allow for a faster cpu.
The n900 has a proper browser, flash support, Hardware OpenGL. All built on a proper linux kernel, for geeks like myself nothing on the market yet compares, even if they do have larger screens.
"We think Nokia genuinely has a realistic chance of building a solid consumer <insert "
I doubt it.