First, if you review Mike Elgan’s articles, he is Apple-biased....which is fine, but he does not admit it. For example, he calls Google “arrogant” in an article!
Nokia was riding a dead horse. Symbian sucked and always sucked, in my opinion. I think HP is fooling itself if it thinks people will flock back to Palm OS when it has been out of the game for so long.
Nokia’s hardware is not “junk” like the author claims. Nokia is known for some very compelling handsets, especially for the European market.
I agree that Nokia should bring a minimalist handset to market, a mid-range and a top-of-the-line smartphone. Perhaps, even getting to slates over time.
I do not agree that teaming with Microsoft is following a flawed strategy. I see it as splitting the difference between Apple and Google.
Think about it. Apple is one handset-—take it or leave it.
Google has multiple handsets, of all flavors, but running different variants of their OS, and few getting upgraded at all.
Microsoft could split the difference by offering multiple handsets with the same OS, all being updated at the same time since WP7 sets the internal hardware specs only, not the external.
This is still a market in flux, time will tell.
I’ve been using webOS for six months now. I honestly can’t see myself moving to any other OS in a touchscreen setting. It’s just too easy to use. I appreciate the way it’s not the “walled garden” of Apple , without being as loosey-goosey as Android. The homebrew community is fantastic. I wouldn’t trade multitasking for anything.
I don't know if teaming with Microsoft is a flawed strategy or not. I do know that it means laying off a lot of people at Nokia, and stopping the development of their own operating system. Those programmers at Nokia will not be happy. And what about the general morale of the rest of the company employees who are not fired?
As for splitting between Apple and Google, I'm not sure about that. Nokia did have the choice to use Google. They never had the choice of using Apple. Nokia has now put all their wood behind one arrow. It will depend on how well they can execute this major change of direction for the company.
This is still a market in flux, time will tell.
There we are in full agreement.