Thus far, we have been commenting on the N900 (which I'll call the maemo phone) and mostly what we don't like about it. I thought it would be useful to start a thread on what does Nokia need to do in order to make the maemo phone a huge success and also enables a way forward for continual and perhaps even disruptive innovation. Here are a few initial thoughts for your consideration:

Today's consumer expects a connected social experience. Therefore the maemo phone needs to have attractive, location aware and easy to use applications that tie into all the usual social media (facebook, twitter, flikr, etc) and the maemo phone needs to innovate in this area by enabling new types of social media. It needs to have a pleasurable microblogging functionality.

For the majority of the users, the maemo phone will be their only device, so it needs to encompass everything a person will want to do during the day in a pocketable connected sense - both business and pleasure. It will need to have PIM apps that connect with on-line or corporate calendaring applications, and please let them work off-line without requiring on-line accounts.

The maemo phone needs to be able to download via the phone or a PC purchasable and free content: books, movies, music. The music needs to be equivalent quality to iTunes and DRM free. The books need to be both DRM free and mobibooks DRM'd (FBReader won't work here and requires Nokia corporate agreements).

The maemo phone needs to be frustration free. It should be able to play all my music formats, or offer a free utility to convert to a nokia format.

Since the phone will likely not have enough data storage to accomodate all of a given users media, there needs to be something like an on-line repository accessible via the phone to change out content, as well as connection to a home PC for content (Win, Mac, Linux).

Nokia MUST NOT forget the partnership it has forged with the maemo.org/ITT communitity through three prior devices. Therefore, I propose that Nokia should offer free devices to maemo.org application developers and to not forget the users who have gotten you to this point and will be your evangelists going into the future, I propose that steep discounts be offered on the maemo phone to members of the "community" -- and not just to the usual suspects. Perhaps a sliding discount could be offered with persons getting the biggest discount who can prove they purchased all three devices at initial offerings. I would be okay exchanging my 770 and/or my 800 for a mameo phone, but you can't have my 810 -- maybe providing the MAC address of each device would be sufficient.

Nokia must also continue to embrace the maemo.org/ITT community and view us as an extension of your R&D arm that feeds into your commercial offerings. Think Fedora versus Red Hat. Therefore, new tablets must be released and vigorous participation with the maemo.org/ITT community must be pursued.

Any way a couple thoughts on what Nokia could do to succeed with the maemo phone and at the same time keep us happy and in terms of Nokia's selfish business interests keep us innovating in ways that can feed back into Nokia's commercial offerings.

Other ideas?

OK, let me ignore the fact that I'm waiting for a new tablet and let me consider the phone-alley ;-)

The features on the top should be removeable (maybe applets) in my opinion. Not everybody (me for example) has an urge to let everybody know what there're doing right now, that my head aches and that my feet are sore (just examples *g*)

The leaked featureset is pretty neat for a (smart)phone I've got to admit and (price permits) I might consider buying one - time will tell

Now back on topic - the way to success

just one word: ADVERTICING

I don't know about other countries but over here in good ol' Germany Nokia insn't that big in marketing. There was only one bigger marketing campaign for a new model, the 5800 express music, over the last couple of years IIRC. They'd have to make themself more "visible" to the masses.

Just my 2€ ;-)
Glasswalker

Our suggestions; Can we change anything about what has been decided long ago? nokia is to big to abide by our likes or dislikes, the only thing that can have an input is if you code and have the ability to create some softwares for fremantle or port some soft compatible for maemo 5 other than that we do not have a much say in thier decisions. they will succeed if they have a competitive device and a good maketing strategy not like what they did with the N810W.

As much as I can back most of this thread, I think that Nokia is more than likely to state "Thanks; however our path has already been chosen."

The movement from 770 to the N800 to the N810/N810Wimax to (speculated) N900 shows a serious lack of comprehension of what we'd like; but more of that they have a path that happens to be some other path they've decided to go on.

Even the memory type hasn't been consistent.

You almost wonder if they're feeling out the market in this new area trying different things to see where they go. Honestly, I could care less about a maemo phone. I want another tablet.

Price, price, software, and advertising.

Advertising: If the masses don't know it's out there, they won't buy it. I'm thinking both Nokia and their partners running separate campaigns.

Software: *Assuming* fremantle is a really nice slick interface, the adds need to show some "cool" software on it. Think of the apple add showing a car driving game controlled by turning the phone. Probably someone playing a game, chatting, office stuff.

Pricing: Work with the partner provider to offer cheap data access (even if very limited data amounts). Low monthly cost of ownership will be a key.

Pricing: Low initial cost.

Nokia should be looking for converts and fencesitters. Converts will need a break on the price to m ake it affordable to get out of existing contracts, etc. Fencesitters are likely waiting for lower ownership costs.

Similar discussion to what I was hoping from the http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=291088 thread.

I disagree. Point to one non niche product that adheres by these rules.

Now you might want to tone it down a bit and change the musts to could but even so I hold that anyone that posts in this forum is not a mainstream user and therefore our input is probably not the best for a mainstream product. There may be good ideas here and there but overall, what we want and what the mainstream consumer wants are very different.

Frank

I think sadly we are a typical Nokia Internet Tablet user on these forums which isn't exactly a good sign. I would imagine that the majority of iPhone/Android users wouldn't have a clue how to post on a forum but are happy device users. Nokia have hit the geek community use case perfectly with the current crop of devices, but have missed the mainstream so far. Hopefully they will address the mainstream with the new device.

I have a fundamental problem with the question. You're asking me how Nokia can succeed with the new 'maemo phone', but what I'm looking for is an Internet Tablet--that is why I'm here. If I wanted a smart phone, I'd look elsewhere.

I didn't like having a phone built into it because of the lock-in by carriers. Already, the talk has been that it would be tied to T-Mobile. This is a major turn-off for me.

I certainly don't like being told that I now need to change carrier just to get the new tablet nor would I appreciate being told that I'm STUCK with my carrier if it were T-Mobile just to have this new tablet. Will there be other radios built into variants of this unit? Better yet--will there be a less expensive variant built WITHOUT a cell phone radio?

If it has to entice me with what features we know it to already have, it would have to convince me that it's ACTUALLY open and inexpensive. Will it have a Linux kernel? Will it have a terminal application? Is there any kind of a lock-down?