[Fishie]

I agree, most people do regard productivity devices as just that and dont care or care verry little about whatever gaming aspects those items might carry.
The fact that developers dont push these devices with killer apps similar to those seen on dedicated consoles and the fact that there is no clear push to market these devices as such further cements my oppinion.
Non of the big gaming companies support these jack of all trades master of none devices and without such support people will contineu to treat them as cool gadget or productivity machines without realising the potential they have.

[Fishie]

I agree, most people do regard productivity devices as just that and dont care or care verry little about whatever gaming aspects those items might carry.
The fact that developers dont push these devices with killer apps similar to those seen on dedicated consoles and the fact that there is no clear push to market these devices as such further cements my oppinion.
Non of the big gaming companies support these jack of all trades master of none devices and without such support people will contineu to treat them as cool gadget or productivity machines without realising the potential they have.

[scottmag]

Originally Posted by ThomasC22

My thoughts are that Symbian, although much further entrenched then alot think, is still toast in the long run.

The problem is multi-pronged.

1 - An OS without a shell has no identity and so is usually not embraced. It's true, people think visually and as OS without a shell to attach it to has not mind share value.

The underlying OS in the Nokia N-Gage is the Symbian OS. Series 60 is the "shell" that provides the "identity" to the Symbian OS. Series 60 consists of the PIM, messaging and browser clients, and the user interface. The N-Gage will be based on Series 60.

Originally Posted by ThomasC22

2 - The Big Phone Manufacturers (can't call them the big three anymore because Samsung is #3 now) aren't completely committed. Sony-Ericson is doing work with Microsoft, Motorola uses it's own technology in several of it's phones, etc...

Samsung, Matsu****a, and Siemens have signed on to deliver phones based on Series 60. Ericsson is part of the Symbian consortium with Nokia. The upcoming Sony-Ericsson P800 smartphone will use the Symbian OS with another interface - the stylus-based UIQ, a subset of their Quartz reference design. Of the major phone manufacturers it seems that only Motorola has not announced an intention to use Series 60, or at least the underlying Symbian OS. Of course these are not exclusive agreements.

Originally Posted by ThomasC22

3 - The Big Phone Manufacturers are falling out of favor. In the U.S. it's hard to get a Nokia phone these days.

That seems to be true based on my casual observation. That doesn't necessarily translate into "falling out of favor" though. Unless you are implying that the phone manufacturers selling well into the U.S. market, which is predominantly CDMA at this point, are poised to gain market share equally in Europe and Asia.

Originally Posted by ThomasC22

Those three problems I think are the biggest (#2 being the absolute biggest in my opinion), as far as Symbian on a PDA, that's already taken a pretty big fall, even in Europe, so I doubt that's going to work out (especially since the PPC has been gaining Marketshare in huge strides in Europe).

Just looking at a snapshot of the current market situation would lead me to believe Symbian and Series 60 are the driver's seat. But with Symbian being a conflict-plagued consortium of competitors going up against a focused Microsoft I think you might be right about their long-term prospects.

I hope they succeed though. This N-Gage is an example of creative thinking and addressing a market niche. With synchronization and communication standards everyone else does not have to lose for Microsoft and the PocketPC platform to be successful.

Scott

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by Sheynk

I couldnt have put it better myself, Nokia is know for its VERY simply OS and that we are comparing completely different platforms. Why did Nokia beat erricson for the longest time, because of simplicity.

While that's true, user requirements are changing. I mean end-user requirements. The average European cell phone user is now an SMS expert and is itching to use MMS. The average American customer, while not quite as interested in data services, is not that far behind (a lot of people want better phone books, Bluetooth, etc.)

It's like the old Palm days when people said "it's simpler", implying its superiority. User needs are evolving. Even Nokia recognizes this and that's why it's starting to increasingly adopt Symbian.

I use an Ericsson T68 and a Motorola P280. They're OK. But the proprietary OS's, that changes slightly from phone-to-phone, is immensely maddening. I have to put up with limitations in each because a manufacturer decided it's not necessary. I still maintain that's a dead-end approach long-term, as phone OS's become more and more complex.

--bdj

[HR]

Originally Posted by zensbikeshop

An OS that powers the biggest selling PDA in EMEA.

What do you mean by that? I bet $100 Palms sell 100 times Symbian.

Except that most phones are cheap phones and most users don't give a damn about what OS is running and although Nokia and friends sell a lot of phones, only few new ones are actually running Symbian. I am not endorsing MS Smartphone, I am just saying that you are over-estimating the importance of a true OS on a dinky phone with crappy screen and awful input capability.