Nokia’s launch of the N9 phone looks to be a very interesting sign for things to come. At first sight, the design of the device is nothing short of impressive. It’s slick and elegant, and, I might add, cool. Seems to me it’s the kind of phone that has the capacity of creating a buzz. I did yesterday a flash quiz among some of my friends and about two thirds of them were so impressed about the looks of the phone that they admitted it looks better than an iPhone or any Android device. I know, this is not relevant from a statistical point of view. But, to me, it’s still a very interesting indicator. It proves once again that Nokia still has what it takes to produce fantastic hardware.
Obviously, there is one flaw with Nokia’s story, which is the OS running on the phone. Although it looks pretty nice, the MeeGo OS has no real future perspective. So, the immediate question is: what was on Nokia’s mind to launch such a phone with only months to go until the availability of Windows Phone 7 devices? For me, the answer is quite obvious: it’s a teaser. It’s a product that probably was in the works by the time Nokia entered the Microsoft deal, a product that is most probably aimed to restore a bit consumer confidence in the company and ease the wait.
In fact, Nokia’s N9 is nothing more to me than yet another element to support the decision regarding my next Windows 7 phone. Although I decided quite some time ago (when the news about the Nokia-Microsoft deal went public) that my next device will be a Nokia running WP7, the N9 is a proof that I’m right to wait. Imagine running Windows Phone 7 Mango on something like the N9…
Nokia is sailing through rough seas these days and many are questioning their decision to go the WP7 way. I totally agree with the fact that there is absolutely no guarantee that this marriage will be a successful one. And that’s simply because you’re talking about two very different companies, with very different cultures. Still, one cannot ignore the reality. The one big thing that Microsoft missed when it launched Windows Phone 7 was a killer device. Sure, all the phones in the original lineup were good. But none of them made me say wow! in the way that the N9 does. On the other hand, the one big thing that Nokia was missing for years was a good OS. They produced fantastic hardware in the past but they never seemed to be able to nail it with the OS (remember Symbian?). Combine the needs and the strengths of the two and you might get the ultimate gadget.
A product that goes in the footsteps of N9 from the point of view of design and hardware, and runs WP7, might be that perfect combination capable of becoming the new king of gadgets. The truth is that the more I study the N9 and the more I use WP7, the more confident I get about the chances of success for the Nokia-Microsoft marriage.
And that success might just open the door for a killer Nokia Windows 8 tablet, right?
Subscribe