Look, the N900 might be sitting at the top of Nokia's handset pyramid in terms of capabilities, but as
we've said all along, the N900 is not a mass-market device. Nokia's been very clear that the N900 was launched as a means to strengthen its Maemo development community (on the
path to MeeGo we now know). And by all accounts, it's done just that while winning a rabid fanbase of nerds in the process. Nevertheless,
Reuters uses Gartner's estimate of less than 100,000 units sold in the device's first five months as proof that Nokia can't mount a challenge to RIM and Apple. True the numbers are paltry compared to the 8.75 million iPhones Apple sold from January to March, but a more apt comparison might be the oft noted
Nexus One sales that reached just 135k units moved after 74 days. Regardless, in its defense, Alberto Torres, head of Nokia's solutions business said that "Sales have substantially exceeded expectations." So yeah, Nokia has problems, but the N900
isn't wasn't one of them.
Update: While Nokia doesn't normally give out detailed sales figures per device, we've just been told that more than 100,000 N900s sold in the
first five weeks -- not months -- globally.
posted May 28th 2010 5:37AM
@shizzledmg Indeed. The numbers speak for themselves.
"True the numbers are paltry compared to the 8.75 million iPhones Apple sold from January to March."
And even more paltry compared to the 21.5 million smartphones Nokia sold in total during the same period.
@xbit Yeah, but who made more money? That's what it's all about isn't it?
@sonola777
Is it, for us as consumers?
@sonola777
Really? How does Apple making lots of money improve my life in, say, the same way as Nokia's ability to offer free navigation across multiple countries due to its scale?
As long as they're stable no-one gives a shit how much money companies make unless they have stock in them.
@xbit
Thank you... So tired of hearing from the First Church of Jobs and it's super smug congregation...
Is this number for the US only?
It's a decent device for sure. Wanna know the reason why carriers dont pick it up? Because they can't customize it. They can't install their bloatware and shove their added services down your throat. It gives users freedom to *gasp* have control over a device that they own, use tethering, etc.
@iSmug
They can't customize the Iphone either...
@notung and how many carriers have the iphone? good point /s
That's really nice actually.
There was huge shortage of N900 in the first 2 months and if they sold 100 000 in first 5 weeks that's might impressive. That means they sold all they got at the point.
I wanna know what these 100,000 people are doing with their N900s... There's a very limited app selection and the talk.maemo.org forums, while busy, dont see that much traffic.
@cashclientel
Downloading close to 11 million objects from maemo.org ?
@cashclientel
I use mine much like a phone, but with the best browser out there, you don't need a lot of the apps that other platforms require. 99% of the web sites I regularly visit are rendered exactly as they are on a PC (the only one I came across that doesn't work is the SAP server at work, so I can't enter working time on my phone). Web browsing is still interesting to me, so I spend a lot of time just using the browser.
That said, sure, there are far fewer applications available, but they are getting better. I've noticed that those thousands of apps on other platforms are either web page scrapers or duplicated functionality. For example, there's only 2 or 3 Twitter apps (and the browser) on the N900 as opposed to the hundred or so available for the iphone. Choice is a good thing, but they all do basically the same thing. Some of the games aren't all that great, but I don't generally play games on my phone anyway, and there's a lot of flash games available as well. And all those free iPhone apps that are really just screen scrapers aren't necessary if the site doesn't use a lot of fixed fonts and tiny buttons, since the browser IS the app.
Now that QT is finally available, I think we'll see a lot of new ports of programs soon. QT is a cross platform development environment that already has a lot of support in the open source community.
Owning an N900 is a little like shopping at Whole Foods instead of the Super Target. The same stuff is there, but you have to get used to weird names and less variety in the cereal isle.
@cashclientel, I wouldn't trade it for the world! Sure, it has problems, what device doesn't, but it single-handedly rendered my laptop almost useless.
Just like after Symbian I couldn't go back to yer old dumb/feature phone, after this I couldn't go back to Symbian (or the iPhone OS, or Android for that matter). Other peoples' mileage may vary...
@incognito I'm not trying to cuss it, and I know that most of the geeky people with it do get good usage. Mine has actually unknowingly relegated my laptop to sitting in the dust... and I used to be on it all the time. I think it's actually cut down my internet usage, as now i know all the time whats going on with gmail/facebook/etc and don't ever have to go look at these things, and then get distracted onto 'the web'.
I do wonder though that the 'non-engadget' type people do with it and what they make of it.
Oh Engadget please don't put the 5 weeks to anywhere where you can see it...
@Thomas Ricker
If you update, why dont you update the title?
@btdt Indeed.
PS - is this for the US only? I've read much better figures about the N900 elsewhere.
@btdt Or I don't know, why doesn't Engadget check their story before posting it. Come on, this is beyond embarrassing. This is highschool newspaper reporting at its best. If this were an apple story, Jobsie would be kicking your door in.
THERE IS NO OTHER DEVICE ON THE MARKET AT THE MOMENT THAT CAN DO WHAT MY N900 CAN. nuff said!
So fantastic. Yet more ignorant and shallow analysis regarding Nokia.
They completely disregarded the fact that Nokia declared that this wasn't a "smartphone" and that this was more proof of concept, used to target a developer base to start the ball rolling for future products based on the N900.
N900, as we all know, was never meant nor intended to be mass market, hence why Nokia had a very limited release of it. And even still the demand for it was extremely high. I still can't bloody get one in Singapore.
I am so, so weary reading these completely shallow analyst reports and such. They lack context completely. And they also get it completely wrong stating their last successful smartphone was the N95.
E71 garnered much success and acclaim did it not? Or are these ignorant analysts somehow now "clever" enough to decide what is and what isn't a smartphone?
I'm calling i tlike I see it; media and news outlets (incl analysts) are unfit to report on the mobile market or even simply commenting on it. If a layman can see through the massive holes in their analysis and reportings, they aren't worth the pay they are getting.
@ounkeo
That's sooo true.
Analysts (whether it is tech or stocks) are charlatans. Most of the time, they are favorable to the market's darling and ride the bandwagon anyway because that's what people likes to hear/read. And the general media, who doesn't know better, regurgitates the shit these analysts produce.
@ounkeo
All the madia outlets care to write about is the devices that are popular and "hot". I love when you read actual numbers reported by the companies and they fly in the face of what the media reports. I find Apple's sales impressive, but they are a fraction of Nokia, a portion of Samsung or LG, and still less than Blackberry, yet they are called the "top manufactuer" because of the "cool factor" and the stock ticker... It is still an insult to my intelligence to hear them touting features on the iphone, that I have had since my first symbian device in 97, as "magical" and "game changing"... AHHH!!! I f'ing hate that bs!!!
I love my N900.
It can multitask, has an actual keypad, i can play loads of emulators while connecting the device to the pc.
I am also glad it isn't popular, I hate having a device which every other businessman, taxi driver and hot dog vendor own. I IZ UNIQUE!!!!
@Cynical Hippie That's why I rock these... http://is.gd/csWlc
I wonder when blogers will stop comparing the Holy Grail (N900) with and iPhone. These devices are not in the same league..
So basically this article should just be deleted since...the 5 months vs 5 weeks changes things completely...which means that its going to get past 174k units in less time than the nexus one if things keep on going the way they are
nokia still has a massive market share i dont know why people pretend nokia is in trouble.
This may be a childish reason to not buy a product, but until someone clears up the gray area concerning separate ring tones for individual callers, I'm not buying it...
@dmilo If that's a deal breaker for you, it's not childish at all.
As far as I know, there's no "out of the box" way to have custom ringtones for different callers. I know for many people that's a problem. For me, it didn't matter (in fact, I don't recall ever wanting that feature). To me, the phone is just another network interface that happens to have voice capabilities. I use Skype most of the time now (which is just fantastic on the N900, and they just added Skype video calling with the new firmware).
*** All the more reason why the editors have to take the line of caution and be as objective as possible when posting. 5 months and 5 weeks aren't even close (I know I'm beating a dead horse here).
They should continue to support it, the overall style and power was a huge pull for people on this device
I guess the problem with Nokia is the slow symbian OS, I would like to use android on Nokia devices.
@abhijais you know this has maemo on it right?
i wish every one could use the nokia n900 for a week. i promise after that every engadget reader would then shut up and know how gay they are by ever puting the iphone agenst the mighty n900. the n900 does every thing. the other day i was video calling with my wife and kids on my way home from work ( just cause i could.)
my brother hated my n900 when i bought one, so i then bought him one too and he threw his old phone out and never looked back his his phones included (nokia 9290, nokia 9500, htc universal, nokia e90, htc touch pro 2, and now the awesome n900) i know any one who has used maemo will never go back to those sucky wanna be mobile smart phones again..... oh did i mention it is by far the best internet experiance you will ever have on 3.5 inch screen???
REMOVE POST.
Why leave all this negative feed. I love my N900. Now even more
with GoogleTalk video and IM
Skype video and IM
Facebook IM completely integrated.
it's one hell of a phone to keep you connected :)
They would've sold 100,001 if it had been compatible with at&t...
@dand
It is compatable with AT&T, just not the 3g... That's ok, cause the tmo 3g in my area is faster anyway, and the wifi makes up for it. Now that being said, AT&T would not even have looked at it even if it was 3G... "You want us not to destroy the usablility of a device not lable Apple or RIM? OUTRAGEOUS, SIR!!! We will not STAND for such a demand!! How dare you?! You shall be forbidden from these hallowed halls until you can bring another fine device to the table that we can make steaming pile of crap and realease to the world a mere 6 months after intended launch!! Begone!!! And take those raggamuffins from Sony and LG with ye!!!"--- maybe a little artistic license taken...
8.75M dumb users
and only 100,000+ smart users. Oh iPhone is a smartphone? Where's the multitasking? Probably on iPhone OS 10000.XXXX?
Engadget keeps trying to make Nokia look like a failed company (5 months! ... [no, 5 weeks oops]). Back in the real world the almighty Fruit cannot even touch the giant marketshare Nokia has (with no sign of slipping).
I LOVE my n900! I just hope that more apps will be developed for the device... just like the iPhone!
IDK how many n900 they`ve sold im the happy and proud owner of one :B
"Nokia can't mount a challenge to RIM and Apple." That line is so pathetic it makes the person who wrote this a complete moron.
About the n900, I got one. It's way ahead of anything out there. If you never used one or don't know how to use one, you are missing out.
I have an 770 and an n800, but not an n900 as the n900 wasn't the form I wanted.
Nokia should have
a/ had a *few* more variants - with/without keyboard, smaller and larger screens (just four variants would have been sufficient without making product range more expensive)
b/ put more staff on the debugging and stability improvement teams
c/ done a bit more marketing
d/ not completely fscked up the ovi store for it
e/ communicated effectively with the community over the merger of maemo and moblin to make meego which, to me, seems to be a train-wreck
@speculatrix
it wasn't meant to be a mainstream smartphone, they skipped out on points a to d on purpose.
@E though, I think everyone was being incredibly over sensitive about it.