N97 - Too Little Too Late?

Last week before I became ill Nokia announced to the world the output from two years of hard work by their top brains. They called that hard work the N97.

For me the N97 is too little too late.  This phone should of been announced a year ago. Now it is only one of the supposedly "iPhone killers". But I'd say it is more aimed at the Google Android platform than the iPhone considering the form factor. It certainly looks more like a polished Google Android phone than an iPhone.

Nokia claimed 15 million N95 sold since 2005 making it the best selling smartphone in the market, which sounds impressive. But when you consider that the iPhone has sold over 10 million in two years, it shows Apple are on target to capturing that title.

But lets look at why I think Nokia won't knock Apple off it's perch with the N97.

With over 10,000 apps, and millions of downloads, the Apple App Store can be only considered as a resounding success. Not bad for a phone that has only had apps for a year, and the dev environment is only on the Mac (free). Nokia or any other mobile company has not even come close to achieving these sort of sales or even number of apps for their platforms.

Nokia need firstly to somehow get developers to develop for their platform in large numbers. Which frankly I think they will find hard to do. Nokia will be the third platform of choice. Firstly developers will develop for the iPhone, then the Blackberry, and/or  for the Android. After that they may choose the N97 or possible Windows Mobile.

The funny thing is that EPOC is a stable multi tasking OS that has been capable of this touch interface for years. EPOC doesn't care the interface is just an abstracted layer for it, sitting on top of the real clever bits. Shame it has taken Nokia this long to start thinking of interfaces properly. Nokia and Symbian should be ashamed how they have let EPOC become an also ran OS for mobiles. They squandered a massive lead. Originally EPOC had Palm and Windows Mobile to compete against. Arguably it was the best of the three. Palm has died off, Windows Mobile has grown but not improved much. EPOC hasn't gone on and done great things in the meantime either. The Blackberry OS and iPhone OS have come up from nowhere and become dominant with a third contender coming fast up the inside as well in the form of Google Android.

Phone updates. This is a biggie. Apple release an update everyone who has the phone gets the update, regardless of carrier. It means that the platform developers write for is consistent across the globe. Nokia and others (happens a lot with Windows Mobile phones as well) release updates but they can be region specific, rely on the carrier to pass on (who do not always pass these updates on). Frankly who wants to develop for such a patch work platform, look at the problems developers have with PC's. They don't want that hassle with mobiles as well.

Nokia need to make their dev tools available for free, not only on the PC but on the Mac and Linux as well. IIRC the Nokia/Symbian dev kit needed Microsoft dev kits to work. Which as we know costs. Which discourages that healthy development community.

Nokia are releasing the N97 in the first half of next year. Why not now? By the time they release the N97, Apple will be announcing and making available the next improved iPhone. Which will have cut and paste, a better camera etc etc. Apple have all this ready they just don't have to release it, as there is no pressure from the competition yet. Which must scare Nokia and the others so much.

Finally Nokia need a version of the App Store that is as easy to use, integrates with the phone just as easily. Without what apps they do have will not stand a chance. The App Store makes it so easy to buy apps, and cheap as well. I suspect that Apple have a really high user buy rate that others would just love to have.

Anyway this is why I think Nokia has made it just a little too late to make the N97 a success. What do you think?