With all the positive buzz surrounding the new Nokia Lumia series and the discussion on if Nokia should have kept Symbian as their smartphone Operating System, it is easy to forgot about the Nokia N9. I mean the N9 was “Dead on Arrival” sadly it is the first and the last MeeGo phone ever produced with no eco-system to speak of.
All of these facts point to a phone that will be released (simply because Nokia had so much time and money invested in it), bought by a few “Nokia Geeks” than fade away quickly into the graveyard of unimportant phones. (I think I saw a tombstone for it already right in between the Kin and the Blackberry Storm 2.) I am here to tell you that the Nokia N9 is more than that! That the effects of the N9 will be felt in mobile design and mobile user interface long after people stop talking about it.
Here are five reasons that the N9 still counts:
- Hardware: Just by looking at the N9 and Lumia 800/900 you know exactly where that beautiful, easy to handle, one piece polycarbonate design came from. Both of the top end Lumia phones look like the N9. The N9 was Nokia’s Windows Phone guinea pig. By the time the Lumia 800 got released Nokia already knew what type of reaction they would get from the consumer on that design and how that design would work in a real world situation in actual usage by the customer.
- Operating System: I know what you are thinking “Wait, wait the N9 was the first and last phone ever to run MeeGo how can the Operating System still count for something after it’s gone? Simple, as the N9 was a guinea pig in the hardware department, MeeGo is a guinea pig in the OS department. Nokia has already stated that you will see the best ideas and the “swiping gesture” on future Nokia Phones. While they were not clear on if it would be a Windows Phone, Symbian Phone or a future “feature phone” it’s still clear that part of MeeGo will live on somewhere.
- Helping the Transitioning to Windows Phone: With introduction of the N9 Nokia got all Symbian fans (aka: hardcore Nokia fan boys) use to the idea of swiping to get to things. (This is close to how the Windows Phones Operating system works.) Nokia has often stated that they will help ease the transition to Windows Phones from Symbian somehow but they didn’t say anymore. It is my belief that it will be done partly by using the latitude that Microsoft gave them with Windows Phone to “Nokiafy” it and partly by using MeeGo like gestures in future builds of Symbian to make the next build of Symbian (Nokia Carla) act more like a Windows Phone.
- Keeping Nokia Relevant: It was a dark time last year for Nokia early in 2011, they all but left Symbian for dead and any type of Nokia Windows Phone was at least six months away. (Which is forever in the tech biz) All the chatter in the tech community about Nokia was not good to put it mildly. Nokia needed something to keep them relevant and cutting edge during this period. What was the perfect fit? The MeeGo powered N9! Nothing like releasing a dead sexy button-less phone, with great specs, and an operating system like none other ever seen before to get the tech community a buzz and carry you through that dark period. While the N9 is not mass seller like the Galaxy or the iPhone in the long run it will be just as important in Nokia’s history for bridging that gap.
- The Fact That IT IS the First and Last: The N9 counts simply for the fact that it is the First and Last MeeGo phone ever. Not only that but it is THE LAST of a very successful N series for Nokia. After releasing the N9 Nokia retired that naming convention and there will be no more N series. In fact there will be no more C, E, or X series anymore either. The N9 was the last Nokia phone to ever carry that naming convention. Now even if you don’t like the lettered naming convention just the fact that the N9 is the last phone in that convention makes it pretty special and it will have an extra special place in mobile history.
While I may be biased (since I am currently an N9 user) there is no denying the fact that the N9′s effects will be felt long after the last N9 rolls of the assembly line and into someone’s pocket.
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