What N800 may be in is the step 1 on this scale...
I agree with this logic. I don't believe it is in Nokia's best interests to officially announce that they are discontinuing a product--it could have a significant negative impact on sales of the remaining devices. We all know they have a product path for these devices and it is logical to assume that they are content to let the old devices drop off while the new ones are introduced to replace them. Ebay will likely be the place to buy if you still want an N800.
OK, I think I am beginning to grasp the semantics here.
Production stops, there is no intention of ever restarting but an official announcement to this effect is never made (for self serving reasons). So the pedantic argument insists that it is not discontinued simply because Nokia has never said so, but then Nokia is never going to say so.
My mobile phone is a Nokia 6310i and is nearly 6 years old. It is my understanding that it is obsolete. However, if I search Nokia web sites, I cannot find any statement of it being discontinued. My suspicion is that Nokia simply does not make such announcements.
Is my assumption incorrect?
If so, perhaps you would be kind enough to direct me to the Nokia resource where I might find official announcements of discontinued models.
I worked for a software company years ago and we made the mistake of discontinuing products with a formal announcement. It never worked out because 1). it put our customers in play for our competitors, 2). it limited what we could do with those products (we actually had to un-discontinue or re-continue a few products to cover gaps in our product offerings), and 3). generally angered and confused our customers.
I think that the strategy followed is to provide an upgrade path with a solid story as to why your customers should move down that path, and then quietly stop working on the old products. While you can still get limited support for old phones, etc., notice that things like firmware upgrades and advanced drivers just are not around.
And maybe I need to add something, because a few people have completely miscontrued my statements on the subject (this is not the first time it's come up here): I am not taking a position either way on the availability or continuance/discontinuance. I'm simply saying that at this point it's still conjecture (there are, after all, other factors that could conceivably lead to the present situation described) and that absolute statements provided by anyone other than someone high up or otherwise delegated with the proper responsibility are not official.
As others have pointed out, Nokia never, ever makes official statements about discontinued products. I still have a Nokia 2110, I don't think it has ever been officially discontinued.
Maybe I ow you an apology. You are not just simply not telling the truth, you are deliberately misleading the members of this forum.
