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
Now all we can do is wait for the n8 and see if it improves nokia's handset sales.
@Pietro
douche, stop spreading bs and take your links to skittles somewhere else.
@JFH
I haven't even heard of the phone. They need to advertise a bit more on TV.
@Toyzer
It is not a mass market device, so no point in mass marketing it. I was replying to someone whose post was deleted btw. Kinda looks strange now.
@keanu096
Conserning the update on this topic.. Would you mind changing the title, Engadget. I find it "a bit" important. Just that it's not 5 months, it's 5 weeks. Just a "little" mishap....
@huzzlehoff I totally agree with you, but a separate comment was better.
@OP: Seriously, Ricker can't you underline all what you said up there(in case of not changing the title)?
you said 135k unites of Nexus sold in 74 days right? With the updated news, N900 sold 100k unites in less than 35days! That's a news for your information. You know whats else can be a great news? A series killer is hunting Engadget editors one by one. After got pissed from Engadget and decided to sorts them out. That's a news. I will even bet $10 that Joshua will be the first. :-)
I know these witty news brings money to Engadget, but if this continue then Engadget will lose its creditability (Whatever is still remaining).
@Everyone Neglect my previous comment. (Thanks)
@Engadget: Thanks for updating the title.
@huzzlehoff
Thäänks Engadget
@keanu096 Nokia should do more than this to make them compete against other manufacturers. Hopefully, N8 will do a better job. Opinions- http://j.mp/nokia-superphone-is-it
@Sp4mer
i am with you
some of the recent articles in engadget looks biased (credibility can be lost fast enough)
"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
-- Abraham Lincoln
@JFH I -1, until I read your other comment now I can't +1 you. :(
@Toyzer
OMG...OMG!! is Engadget telling me that the Google "Superphone" with tons of web advertising (every other ad at one time on most websites I went to had atleast one N1 ad plastered on it) and gazillions of hype for months actually sold 50% less than the N900 which was neither advertised (web or otherwise) apart from a few YouTube videos and looks way ugly than the sleek svelte N1 - the superphone to end all smartphones?? Really? Really???
Well I guess then this proves pretty conclusively that tech blogs and the vociferous comments on them are mainly meant for geeks like us and the larger, richer, (and more importantly) paying public doesn't give 2 hoots.
Also I guess Google learned a lesson (hopefully with some humility) that making and selling hardware is not as easy as doing web apps hosted on your own servers and probably also realized why Nokia is so successful despite all the doom-and-gloom the tech blogs propagate. Basically, Nokia got the fundamentals right wrt worldwide marketing, customer support, distributor channel and pricing. Marketing is not about "innovative sales models" (yeah as if nobody ever sold unlocked phones thru their website before) and cool buzzwords - it is hard, in-the-trenches work and that is something Nokia knows way better than any Google. Where they missed the boat last time was the evolution to touch and this is what they are focusing on now.
Well, one problem of the N900 in the US is that it doesn't support AT&T 3G, only T-Mobile's.
@pika2000
I know, it must hurt to be on the opposite side of the fence. Normally T-Mobile customers have to buy GSM devices knowing only Edge will be supported for us.
That being said, I'd love for it to support both [Hell, I'd love for all GSM phones to support both bands]
@WilliamNighthawk Yeah, which is why I'm excited about the N8. It's completely feasible to support both 850 and 1700 HSDPA bands, but the manufactures are just too douchy to do it.
@pika2000
Well, it's not "one problem of the N900", it's one problem of US mobile operators to have weird non-standard frequencies.
@pika2000 supporting T-mo is the opposite of a problem I regularly get 5-8 Mb/s At&t cant hang with those speeds with their overcrowded network.
@Leo I believe our gov is using 2100Mhz so we can't use that. And AT&T probably didn't want to share their 3G
@pika2000
That lame of an excuse didn't stop the first Android phone, G1 from selling 1M units in 6 months, which is double the rate of the Nokia N900.
well yeah einstein, the g1 was in shops everywhere and the n900 was not carried by any large carrier. n900 sales are hugely impressive given that fact and that it is not a consumer device but more of a niche hacker product.
99 problems but a bi- uhh N900 aint one, hit me!
@jpxdude If you're having world domination problems I feel bad for ya son, I got 99 problems but, thanks to the N900 hundred giving me the ability to control robots on the go, world domination aint one... hit him
@WilliamNighthawk
Now that you guys have squandered two opportunities, allow me to show you the ropes...
If you're havin' phone problems I feel bad for you, son. I got N900 problems, but the sales ain't one.
It probably still outsold the older Maemo phones. Maemo was never Nokia's cashcow.
@brrip Hard to outsell something that doesn't exist. The N900 and its predecessors are internet tablets.
@MikeZ You mean the predecessors were Internet Tablets. The N900 is a phone too.
@siovene The N900 is just a tablet that gained a phone module. Even Nokia calls it a "mobile computer". There is no difference between a phone call, Skype or Google Talk just like there's no difference between text messages or instant messaging.
@MikeZ It's a small device that you carry around and can make phone calls with, right?
I'm pretty sure that makes it a mobile phone.
@JarZ And you can download recipes with your desktop. That doesn't make it a kitchen appliance.
Probably has a lot to do with the fact that there are Nexus One ads all over the place. So much, that even my "normal" friends know what it is!
I'm sure if you took some random person and asked him about the N900, there's no way the person would know what it is.
@Junzhi
Nexus One ads? where? on websites?
@ror
I guess so? Honestly I don't have the slightest idea but somehow, everyone seems to know what the Nexus One is. Or at least a whole lot more than I would have expected.
@ror
my thoughts exactly...
@ror Here in Russia editors on federal channel 'vesti 24' place 'Google' and 'Nexus One' in any ocasion they got. And i don't think this is only in Russia.
nokia better change their font style!!
@sujantdn Will never happen. It's as much part of their brand as Apple's modified version of Garamond Narrow.
@sujantdn
They are allowing you to change it yourself whatever you want. Now what's the problem ?
@Malcolm
How does that matter to you or I as consumers?
If I made 1 phone and sold it to Bill Gates for 50 billion dollars, would that make me the biggest, best and most relevent mobile phone maker on the planet?
How much these guys make does not matter. That's for the shareholders. Nokia's business model was never about making as much money off 1 device as humanly possible. Their ultimate aim, apart from making money, is to provide technology to the masses and in terms of both, they are doing that very well. IN fact they are the only technology company on the planet that has been able to execute that strategy and remain profitable.
@ounkeo
Apologies, that was meant for sonola777 in a below post.
Engadget reply function fails me yet again. I wish to force choke the commenting script. Naow pls.
Its way to expensive.. I think thats what puts others off getting it. I want one, but just too expensive.
@ Thomas Ricker
Thank you for not taking Reuters' shallow analysis as the truth. This device is not supported by any carriers where I live, so people cannot even buy it, unless unlocked. Surely that influences the device sales.
@JFH
It's Tamro Virki isn't it? I don't know what Nokia did to her but she's got it in for them.
Tomi Ahonen ripped her to bits in his blog for her particular brand of reporting and quite rightly so.
@MarkAnderson
Yeah she did it again, but Gartner is feeding her ammo, based on some poor analysis. A FUD chain so to speak. They should make a Magic Quadrant on analysis accuracy and see where they end up themselves.
@JFH
I think it's he NOT she.
@cruxx
Doesn't really matter he or she. He (or she) should be put on the ignore list of any self-respecting news site ASAP.
@JFH
Maybe Nokia should do something about it, like sue or ask for public apology, both Gartner and that "journalist".
I bet that those numbers still exceeded their exceptions. I was never meant to be mass market product.
It seems to be in short supply even now although the availability has improved considerably. Basicly Nokia is selling all n900's they manage to get out of their production lines.
So maybe Nokia consider n900 a concept phone and wasn't expecting to sell that many in the first place?
@machat
Yes, a hacker device. Which is why most carriers do not carry it.
a true iphone killer