why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

I'm finding myself surrounded by people who are enthusiast to say the least; but they are not driven by Maemo, they are enthusiast about Android and the Jesus phone, despite a significant share of them being Linux developers. I've been trying to preach Maemo and "computer-on-your hand" concept to them, they are more interested to get SSH and VNC working on HTC Hero than contribuing to Maemo.

If you take a quick look on the web, see how many application spring up for Android, despite being just a year old. Maemo is now about 3 years old, and not getting a fraction of the attention Android does.

So my problems are::
- Why can't we get developers (in the "companies" sense) to get to create applications for Maemo ?
- Why isn't this program every's Linux developers wet dream ?
- Why aren't we projecting an interesting image like Android ? I don't want to be "hip and cool" as the iPhone users, but getting significant innovation under Maemo name is critical.
- Why are we so few ? I estimate the size of this community to about 2000 people, about which only 200 are really active.
- What can we do to ensure that the future is Nokia and not HTC :) ?

Let's find out why we're still sitting in a darkish corner and what do we need to do to get our heads above anyone else !

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

One thing which is kind of important to note is that Maemo was previously confined to internet tablets, which, while being a cool device in their own right - had kind of limited penetration.

I'm a good example of this.

I've got (or had, I'm waiting on my N900 now) a phone which did internet access, I have an MP3 player, I have a tablet PC. I don't want yet another gadget which has a single purpose and provides yet more bulk for me to carry and worry about it being stolen.

This is why, for me, and I think for a lot of other people, the N900 and future devices are going to be changing things quite a bit.

I think that with the release of the N900, we'll see an influx of new people, and once more and more regular applications get ported - as well as normal applications being made - the publicity for the Maemo platform will rise quite a bit.

Of course, publicity helps, and that's something that we need to be pushing on more and more.

I do understand the frustration that you're in, but let me share a story:

I experienced this same frustration with a colleague of mine a few months ago. He wanted a cool device/phone. He bought an iPhone because the N900 wasn't out. Now he's really regretting it because of the locked down nature of the phone.

We have something which all of those platforms don't (really) have quite so much (especially with the Android C&D nonsense): an open platform, and open software.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

I think a main factor is that only with the N900 Maemo will acquire phone functionality, which makes Maemo a mainstream interest capable OS, thus, tempting developers (companies).
In this sense, the N900 still has to be released, while Android is already a year old, and is based on Linux too (so, attracting many linux fans).

I would say, lets pose these questions in a year from now... ;)

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

digia@web?!?!

e: and one major n800 user for proto apps: http://www.vtt.fi/

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

Just to confirm... if you are developing on QT you are able to easily port applications to multiple platforms. If my assumption is correct it would be "better" to encourage development on QT rather than any specific platform, as this would allow them to have access to the broadest market.

i apologize in advance if i am off-base.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

I think that the challenge is that we are currently a very small market, relative to android or osx. if /when there is a larger market and clear channels to deliver software then we have an opportunity to attract developers.

Nokia has the hardware and a great os with even greater potential. In the US it will be how they approach the carriers, in other markets it is how they approach the consumers that will decide what happens.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

I'd rather pose them now, and be proactive instead of waiting for a year after which all effort may be a bit late. Because the battle is ongoing now, and we just can't sit behind knowing Maemo is a superior platform, but getting no adoption because of .... what ?

About the openness, Android is as open as Maemo, even more. Anyone with a bit of Java knowledge (low barrier to entry) can strike up an app and push it to the market place.
Even the iPhone will be getting liberated a bit Adobe will release the Flash for iPhone: tons of web developers with minimal skill will be able to hack up applications and distribute them to a incredible user base: 32 milion iPhone customers, of which a majority will gladly install every piece of software they can get their hands on.

I'm afraid we'll see Maemo relegated to the status of a niche platform, unless:
- There is a simple enough SDK. Ovi SDK seems like a step in a good direction, I'd militate for advanced Javascript/Actionscript support in the browser, or possible porting Adobe AIR to this device.
- The devices are user-friendly and reliable in operation. Joe Average will not use this platform if it takes more than 4 clicks to do anything interesting.
- Develop a killer application for this platform which is not present elsewhere - we should brainstorm on this; I'd personally start supporting liqbase as a tool for presentations: run it on video out, allow to nice interactions based on screen with live addnotations, make it default tool for a presentation in the corporate world instead of laptop + powerpoint.
- Make it easy to run application developed for other devices on this one. This is a tough one, but running J2ME and Android apps on the Maemo 5 and above out of box would be incredible.

We should not battle the iPhone on the image, and Android on portability, we should battle on openness, ease of use, and versatility.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

People are excited about getting things done, the iPhone and to a lesser extent Android makes lots of cool functionality available to them.

Maemo has a lot of potential to do this but it currently lacks applications and a strong development community with a track record of delivering on applications. Hopefully it'll develop one because I don't really like the closed nature of current platforms.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

Well my opinion is that NOKIA has missed a lot at this point.
For me there is no big difference ranging from the n800 to the n900
but in hardware. But i do not wanted a n800 because of its hardware
but of its software just like ddalex mentions.

One main reason for me wanting to won a n800 was the Skype
function where i am still sick by the fact that until today there has
been no software updates so that i can use the "send video" option.
Realizing that this still does not work for me is a joke.

my opinion: it's not about the hardware, it's about the software.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

Moin,

comparing the complexity of the N900 (Exchange support, Calendar, Sharing services, integrated Conversations view, etc) to an N810 I think there's quite some difference in software.

Since when is Skype video support on Linux available? Not that long I think.