[recoiledsnake]

I meant the Businessweek article, not the ZDNet one.

>Something which is yet to translate into phones sold.

That doesn't still warrant the 'phone OS that no one wants'.

>And we can see the difference now that Nokia is selling devices running WP7.

They announced the deal in Feb and they're going to release devices in Sep/Oct, is that not fast enough for a huge company like Nokia and with phone hardware that takes years to make?

>It means it's mostly ready - all hardware is supported by the Linux kernel and the effort to make it run Android is almost nothing. The N9 could have launched with Android.

And the N9 would now play second fiddle thanks to competition from Google itself.

>It's a fine OS that lacks a significant developer ecosystem. There is a finite number of phone developers and now they are all very busy writing software for iOS and Android. Only a few developers have chosen to target WebOS, which has a smaller user base but very little competition.

That's EXACTLY my point. Meego/Maemo risked ended up being like WebOS, thanks to competition from Android/iOS/WP7,especially if the OS and multiple phones weren't ready. Getting an dev friendly ecosystem ready is not a joke. RIM's platform sucks for devs even after

And Meego wasn't, that's why the board fired the previous CEO and hired Elop. You think you know more than them and that they're all fools? Nokia is Finland's biggest company. If you think MS can 'install' a trojan horse just like that resulting in thousands of needless layoffs, then you're either deluded or paranoid. You should really read that Businessweek article.

[rbanffy]

> Meego/Maemo risked ended up being like WebOS

And that's why I wouldn't suggest going with it. The fact remains, however, that the transition from MeeGo to Android would be much easier and that Nokia would have a competitive Android phone (and a very good one) now instead of a WP7 phone in September or October.

> You think you know more than them and that they're all fools?

No. I don't think Elop is an idiot. Obviously, he is doing what his board perceives as the most profitable thing to do. What I don't think is that it will lead to Nokia making great phones as this is not a precondition to making a profit and Nokia has demonstrated, over and over again, this wouldn't be the safest bet.

[recoiledsnake]

>No. I don't think Elop is an idiot

I was talking about the board decision to replace their current CEO. If things were all going to be hunky-dory as you claim, that would be an idiotic decision.

>the transition from MeeGo to Android would be much easier and that Nokia would have a competitive Android phone (and a very good one) now instead of a WP7 phone in September or October.

You have no idea about how fast a company like Nokia would move. Even carriers take months to test devices and look at how fast OEMs are able to release updates to Android.

To come to the bigger picture, Nokia just didn't want to be another Android OEM, they tried to pitch to Google, Google declined to play ball, but MS agreed. They made deals with MS for funding for ads, also some 'synergy' deals like Navteq maps etc. that MS needs for Bing(which is weak in Europe/Asia) and got a cash infusion of upwards of a billion for that. All this was needed for survival interim while they rush out new devices. Android would've provided none of that.

> What I don't think is that it will lead to Nokia making great phones as this is not a precondition to making a profit and Nokia has demonstrated, over and over again, this wouldn't be the safest bet.

Why not? What's inherently wrong with WP7 that's right with Android? Atleast with WP7, Nokia is not competing with bargain basement Chinese phones running the exact same OS and software as them as they would do with Android.

[rbanffy]

> If things were all going to be hunky-dory as you claim,

I don't remember saying that. Nokia was doomed. Now, with Elop, it's even more doomed.

> and got a cash infusion of upwards of a billion for that

That's his only excuse

> All this was needed for survival interim while they rush out new devices. Android would've provided none of that.

Except a viable competitor. WP7 has, so far, failed to gain traction despite Microsoft's efforts. Nobody but Elop is betting on it.

> Atleast with WP7, Nokia is not competing with bargain basement Chinese phones

Do you really believe Motorola, HTC, Samsung and the other Android manufacturers are competing with them?