Okay everyone, don't take this suggestion too seriously! I just thought it might make an interesting subject for discussion, that's all...

For those who don't know, the reason the tablets are part of Nokia's Nseries range is that Nokia used to be split into three hardware units: Mobile Phones (who did numbered phones), Multimedia (who did Nseries) and Enterprise (who did Eseries).

Now, Nokia's reorganising so that all device development will be one unit (Devices), software development will be another unit (Services) and there's a third unit handling marketing (called Marketing?).

The upshot of this is that the Nseries and Eseries names are no longer tied to any one part of the company, they're just brand names. Nseries is generally associated with higher end consumer products, while Eseries is associated with professional and business products.

Here's my idea: how about an Eseries-branded tablet based on the same hardware and maemo platform as the N810 (or a future N900?) but pre-loaded with various high quality productivity software and links to useful online services which would work through the MicroB browser. It would be sold in parallel to the Nseries tablets, and use the same software platform and hardware. (This is how Nokia does its S60 smartphones, the numbered, Nseries and Eseries are parallel versions of the same basic hardware and software platform.)

The idea would be to cater for those who want something like a tablet as a replacement for their PDA, and for those who feel they need to have decent built-in PIM software in a portable device.

The cost to Nokia might be relatively small because the hardware would be the same as for Nseries, but they'd basically be just developing some extra applications to be bundled with the device (or even just adapting existing open source productivity and PIM software for OS2008).

Any thoughts? I say again, this isn't a totally serious suggestion, just "blue sky thinking".

I'd be less interested in the same hardware with different bundled packages than actually different hardware (a 3.5", 4.1" and 6" tablet are high on my list).

Ah, well, I should have said same hardware in computing terms, so the software platform isn't splintered.

But a physically larger or smaller screen shouldn't make much difference to the software as long as they're the same resolution (though touch-sensitive controls might have to be quite large on physically smaller screens).

Or if the software is resolution-independent, as software should be...

Do E-series people want bigger or smaller screens? I honestly have no clue if that makes any sense; and if you rebrand half of them as E-series, and have two sizes in each series, you've got 4 tablets, which is a mess. I'd rather they drop both N and E designations; provide any PIM/productivity/otherwise E-ish apps necessary to get into that market segment; and use the increased sales volume resulting to justify diversifying the line by form-factor.

IMHO, Nokia's splitting of product line between number, E and N series is already a complete mess, so I am not for spreading that mess to tablet marketing...

Anyway: I just went from a N80i to a E51, and I chose a E51 because it could to all what the N series could do for a fraction of the price, so...

Well, the splitting was more to do with Nokia's corporate structure than any coherent marketing plan. There were three separate units in Nokia making phones, so they all chose to have their own brands.

Now that these three units are being unified, the brands can be much more flexible, and perhaps they'll avoid having so much overlap between them. For example perhaps Eseries could be exclusively for their QWERTY devices?


...but that's the beauty of it in marketing terms, a lot of people assume Nseries = better functionality so they pay more for it, even when it's technically similar to an Eseries or numbered device.

I'm not defending that morally by the way, but that's how marketing works, you hype a brand and people are willing to pay more for it. Things like perfume, cola and cosmetics make their profits almost entirely from hype, because the product itself costs virtually nothing to make.

If you actually want the cheapest possible functionality in a smartphone, you'd buy a numbered S60 device. I've got a 6220 on order which is technically better than the N95 in every way but costs about half the N95's launch price. The 6220 looks a lot cheaper, but that suits me because I don't want to get mugged while using it.

I know that marketing is about hype, but you miss an important point: you should not get the same product for less. You don't see coca-cola selling discount coke, you don't see Chanel selling a line of cheaper perfume under their brand.


6220 classic, I suppose. Indeed, specs are great at a very decent price. The E51 I bought is also similar to the 6120 classic (but the prices were about the same, and I chose the thinner phone...).

Form factor differentiation, possibly based along the E-series lines, would be something I'd like to see. The N810's keyboard is a massive improvement (to me) over the on-screen keyboards of the 770 and N800. If an E-series device had a Psion Series 5-style folding clamshell keyboard, I'd be much happier.

Similarly, this could be used to facilitate a slightly larger screen (with or without an increased pixel count) - as long as it wasn't more than about an inch longer than the N810.

So, the Nokia Communicator E90 should have been called E900 ?

I actually have an E65 and love some of it's business capabilities. Viewing documents and pdf's is great help and allows me to ignore my laptop on many occasions when I just need to look up info. And running Blackberry software in the device is killer! I hate the Blackberry's keyboard so being able to use my E65 instead and T9 makes writing emails much quicker and comfortable.

BUT!...I do wish it could do SOME N things. Drives me nuts that I am limited in capabilities just because of N vs E marketing!