This is an interesting idea. I really think lots more work needs to be put into figuring out ways to use wireless bandwidth because I do believe we are going to hit a point of crisis where the demand for wireless services far outstrips the available bandwidth.

As I blogged here:

http://whydoeseverythingsuck.com/2008/01/700mhz-spectrum-not-so-great-for.html

I believe the 700 mhz spectrum is being positioned as a holy grail, but that it is not well suited to it. I think that we really need to get cracking on solving how we are all going to be able to communicate wirelessly at any kind of reasonable speed. We are in desparate need of solutions.

Personally I find it fascinating how people have been trashing the Kindle and they are apparently kicking but. This fits well with that.

As I blogged about earlier today, I think it makes a ton of sense for amazon to focus on real users and a simple design. Audio books fits that perfectly.

http://whydoeseverythingsuck.com/2008/01/amazon-kindle-geek-hate-civilian-love.html

@Rich

"I don't understand. You consider all S60 phones to be smartphones but not all Nokia Symbian phones to be smartphones? Nokia has three platforms - S30, S40 and S60."

Not true.

"Only phones running S60 use Symbian. S30 and S40 are based on Nokia's own proprietary OS."

Not True.

"Could you give us an example of a Symbian phone you consider not to be smart?"

Sure. Nokia N75. At least thats what they call it at AT&T. Runs Symbian. Feels like a regular old feature phone.

@pdexter

Its hard to address what you say, because it seems like you havent read the blog posting which really explains all of this.

In short, my argument is that in the not so far off future, all phones will be capable of running a decent powerful OS. When this happens, everything will be about software and the hardware will be generic (like PCs). And right now Nokia doesnt have great software compared to the new kids on the block. When there is lots of high quality competition on a more powerful nothing near 40% will be maintainable.

@Rich

I am not saying that S60 isnt a smart phone, but that lots of other of their phones run symbian that I wouldnt consider smart phones and so some people like to use that number relating to Nokia and smart phones.

Regaring android, yes I have tried programming one. Got something simple up and running in a day. I was even able to do mapping. But I will agree the doc is crap. Better the doc be crap than the development model. They can more easily write more doc than fix the design.

@L

yes, my views are US centric.

Regarding the statistics, I am *not* trying to say that the iphone is bigger than the s60. My only point about the browsing numbers is people are obviously browsing with the iphone more than with any other phone, even though there are only *at most* 5m out there. My point is that clearly people *like* the iphone more (at least regarding browsing) than they do their s60's.

@pdexter

I do not believe that apple is going to become the global leader in cellphones. What I believe is that 40% marketshare is impossible to maintain when you have comparatively crappy software in a highly competitive worldwide market. Between apple, RIM, Android, and Microsoft all competing to make a great mobile OS, once hardware gets cheap enough to run anything, Nokia will have to compete head to head on software, and nothing near 40% is sustainable.

LH,

Would you prefer that I paste the whole article here, or do you just think that the ideas are not worth sharing?

I am fairly new to blogging, but from all the people I have spoken to, and everything I have read, commenting on peoples blogs with links to more complete comments is the essence of blog conversation.

Rich,

Statistics are interesting things. Nokia's so called leadership in smart phones is, in large part, dependent on categorization. Many of the phones categorized as smart really arent so smart. But really that is a secondary issue. The primary issue is they are not usable. The best proof of this is that in 6 months the iPhone has become the leading mobile browser. This is based on only 4million units sold. It has several percentage points of browsing marketshare. Nokia doesnt even make the chart. This is incredible. But really not so incredible if you've ever tried to use any of these other devices.

On a technical level, Symbian is very difficult to program. The developer model is horrible. Android is, in that regard incredibly easy to program and my view is that you are going to see incredibly innovative applications on Android because you can develop applications much more rapidly, and things like built in mapping being accessible with a simple api are game changing.

But the bottom line is Nokia themselves have spoken by taking this step. It is obvious even to them, what kind of steps need to be taken.

This is in response to the fact that Nokia, despite being at 40% market share is in trouble. As I just blogged (see link below) The handset market is shifting almost entirely to a software market and symbian just doesnt cut it. I think, despite Nokia's seeming success, without radical action, Android, OS X, and even windows mobile will hurt them.

Blog link:
http://whydoeseverythingsuck.com/2008/01/end-of-feature-phone-market-shifting.html

I forgot, The URL to the article where I discuss the shift I discuss above is here:

http://whydoeseverythingsuck.com/2008/01/end-of-feature-phone-market-shifting.html

This is in response to the fact that Nokia, despite being at 40% market share is in trouble. As I just blogged The handset market is shifting almost entirely to a software market and symbian just doesnt cut it. I think, despite Nokia's seeming success, without radical action, Android, OS X, and even windows mobile will hurt them.