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#41
@sachin: do you know it's harder to buy unsubsidized iphones than subsidized ones? not to mention, unsubsidized ones are still locked to AT&T. (read: mentioning this fact serves more to confuse the reader than to enlighten them. without writing juuuust a bit more about carrier subsidies. Chalk this up to Apple's 'smart' (or devious) marketing.

@qole: I don't think gerbick was talking about technical capability of the N900. I'm sure he knows all about it, and then some.

What good is all those technical prowess if nobody buys it? The product has to be packaged appealingly, accepted by the consumer and also everyone in the supply chain to ensure smoooth delivery of the product to the widest audience (this includes the carriers).

Last edited by ysss; 2009-09-05 at 06:45.
 

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#42
Originally Posted by qole View Post
I think it is a huge game changer. You'll see. Just wait 'till you have DialCentral (with free long distance and SMS) on your phone.
Already have had that via GV Mobile for almost all of 2009.

Just wait till you have a contact record for a person with Skype, MSN, ICQ, Google, Yahoo, Facebook (etc, etc) IDs (and presence indicators!), e-mail, and home/office/mobile numbers, and you can choose to contact that person using any one of those methods from your mobile device. Send them a Skype IM? SMS? Call them? e-mail them? Sure. Just hit the button.
This, I do find exciting. However, I want video calling.

Are you in a WiFi area? Well, use one of the several supported VoIP protocols over wifi instead of 3G.
Since I own a N810, and an iPhone... VoIP has been in my grasp for almost two years.

Shoot a DVD-quality video of your daughter at dance class, and send it immediately, from your device, to your spouse on a business trip overseas.
This... I also find exciting. DVD quality though?

Sure, you'll argue that most of this can be done already, and this is just an incremental step, but you can say that about a lot of inventions that seemed minor at the time but later turned out to be real game changers.
Guilty as charged

Anyway, time will tell. I'm probably just a hopeless fanboy.
I'll settle for being pleasantly surprised that it does change the game in a huge way. I'm hopeful. But I'll remain cool and calm until otherwise.

And secretly pulling for the N900.
 

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#43
Originally Posted by ysss View Post
@qole: I don't think gerbick was talking about technical capability of the N900. I'm sure he knows all about it, and then some.

What good is all those technical prowess if nobody buys it? The product has to be packaged appealingly, accepted by the consumer and also everyone in the supply chain to ensure smoooth delivery of the product to the widest audience (this includes the carriers).
My issue isn't even with the technical prowess any more - there's no doubting that this is one capable phone.

By "game changer" I have to state I just see a very well thought out phone that honestly is on a very limited (initially) bandwidth and a slim chance it'll be priced slightly above the set price of it's current mindshare competition, the Apple iPhone 3GS which is subsidized something fierce.

By game changer... I'd love to see some things change in the US carrier offerings. But it ain't gonna happen. Not yet... not in my opinion.

In fact, there seems to be a slight backlash from the carriers that can't put their marketing into your phone... and that really has me more bothered than anything else.

But who knows... I'm sitting back and watching you guys hash it out... I'm just remaining hopeful that this comes out as big as people are hoping it will be.
 

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#44
Originally Posted by qole View Post
I think it is a huge game changer. You'll see. Just wait 'till you have DialCentral (with free long distance and SMS) on your phone. Just wait till you have a contact record for a person with Skype, MSN, ICQ, Google, Yahoo, Facebook (etc, etc) IDs (and presence indicators!), e-mail, and home/office/mobile numbers, and you can choose to contact that person using any one of those methods from your mobile device. Send them a Skype IM? SMS? Call them? e-mail them? Sure. Just hit the button.
And see how quickly you'll go over your monthly data limit (just with the background chit-chat to keep you logged on to the voip servers and exchange presence information).
Then, depending on your carrier/contract, youl'll either have your speed heavily reduced (so none of the above will work) or you'll pay 10 times more for your data call than for a normal voice call.
And that assuming that the carriers won't severely cripple voip traffic.


Originally Posted by qole View Post
Are you in a WiFi area? Well, use one of the several supported VoIP protocols over wifi instead of 3G.
RIght, but you don't need an n900 for that, you could already do it with an n8x0.
 
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#45
While it can be done with a n810, the n900 seems to be better designed for that kind of use...
 

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#46
Personally I would not want my device to be polluted with the rubbish customisations that come with a network supplied device so, in any case, I will (if I buy that is) opting for a contract free device.
 
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#47
Originally Posted by gerbick View Post
My issue isn't even with the technical prowess any more - there's no doubting that this is one capable phone.
Originally Posted by gerbick View Post

By "game changer" I have to state I just see a very well thought out phone that honestly is on a very limited (initially) bandwidth and a slim chance it'll be priced slightly above the set price of it's current mindshare competition, the Apple iPhone 3GS which is subsidized something fierce.

By game changer... I'd love to see some things change in the US carrier offerings. But it ain't gonna happen. Not yet... not in my opinion.

In fact, there seems to be a slight backlash from the carriers that can't put their marketing into your phone... and that really has me more bothered than anything else.

But who knows... I'm sitting back and watching you guys hash it out... I'm just remaining hopeful that this comes out as big as people are hoping it will be.
Two different Games...

The Game US carriers have been playing with subscribers;
and...
the Game US carriers want device manufacturers to play.

The first game manufacturers have little say in but they do affect the outcome... As was said earlier, in some cases when manufactures competed with each other over a carriers business, the manufacturer often came up with ways that a carrier could squeeze extra pennies out of a subscriber. Notice the term “carriers business” and not subscribers business. This is the outcome of this subsidized device game.
The subscriber is not the customer, the carrier is.

If in the in first game we established that the true US customer of a manufacturer’s device is the carrier then the second game is “The customer is always right”…

Device manufactures designed, developed, and ultimately built devices with the features that US carriers wanted, not what the subscriber wanted. The second game is the game I believe Apple changed.
However, up until now it may have only changed for Apple. If this is the case, it changed the first game somewhat by giving the subscriber a choice. A subscriber now could choose features that a carrier like AT&T wants them to have or the features that a manufacturer like Apple wants them to have.

Now hang in there with me. This is where I tie together my seemingly convoluted logic and bring it on home. (I know what I mean but I don’t always write it down very well. )

The game I believe Nokia may have altered with the N900 is the second one. When a harmattan device drops Apple may no longer be the only manufacturers offering subscribers a choice over what features they can have on their own dang device. With Nokia also at the table subscribers will have more features to choose from. With Maemo on Nokia’s device, those features will no longer be limited by either the carrier or the manufacturer.

Ultimately the US subscriber will become the customer that manufacturers will compete for and the first game will no longer be played the way it is now.

Kudos Nokia… well played!
 

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#48
Originally Posted by ysss View Post
He's already mentioned the possibility of T-Mobile subsidies, what more do you expect from a short intro article in PC Mag? Another full paragraph to explain about Cell phone subsidy practices and how that accounts for the price discrepancy?
I'd expect it not to make a spin, e.g. compare apples and oranges and present that in a misleading conclusion. If he had moaned about ti being not subsidized (enough), it would have been understandable.

This way, just as sachin007 put it, I could equally say that here the iPhone 3GS is sold at price of 70 (yes, SEVENTY) Nokia XM5800-es. Not exactly a fair comparison, is it ?
 
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#49
@attila77: I didn't make a point to defend what the writer did. What i was trying to do is to understand why he did what he did and what constraints he has to deal with. This way you analyze the situation clearer, not just put blames on everyone else but your 'side'.

Tell me something, name one popular phone in the US that's made their mark in the US market without getting carrier subsidy.
 
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#50
Originally Posted by ysss View Post
@attila77: I didn't make a point to defend what the writer did. What i was trying to do is to understand why he did what he did and what constraints he has to deal with. This way you analyze the situation clearer, not just put blames on everyone else but your 'side'.

Tell me something, name one popular phone in the US that's made their mark in the US market without getting carrier subsidy.
As I said before, it wasn't about subsidies and I have no idea what phones are popular in the US. He made a comparison (and implied a conclusion) nobody forced him to do. If he thought what you say, then that's what he should have written (Nokia is wrong not to offer this phone on a carrier that provides at least 400$ subsidy), and not imply the conclusion that it's two or three times more expensive than the 3GS. Even if the average Joe fails to think through the whole subsidy thing (which I honestly don't know), there is no need for a journalist to make that (false) conclusion for them.
 

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