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Another Look at the Nokia N97
29 Nov 2009
Sometimes it is easy to cherish a phone, or become a little too attached to a particular manufacturer because of past glories, old allegiances or fond memories forged during a misspent youth, where a phone may have acted as the messenger bearing the first flourishing of young love in the form of a few x's at the end of a text message. Nokia is the oldest and the largest of the mobile phone manufacturers still dominating the market today and many people look back with misty-eyed nostalgia at some of the revolutionary, memorable handsets that it has produced over the years.
However, since the end of 2008 things have not progressed as hoped for the Finnish phone Goliath. As share prices dropped and market perceptions with them, Nokia was facing a financially bleak period. Which is a pity considering it has, from a technical perspective, been performing extremely well after the release of the N96 in the latter half of 2008. The N series smartphones have always been flagship handsets for Nokia, showcasing the kind of technology that we might hope to see in lesser handsets a couple of years down the line. That is why expectations for the N97 were so high. Not only was it going to be the most powerful N series phone yet, but it was also going to be the first that featured a touch screen. And it would sport a full QWERTY keypad. So what is there that could possibly go wrong?
When the N97 hit the shelves in June 2009 it began to sell well and by September over 2 million had been sold worldwide. A qualified success, you might think. But in the world of mobile phones, sales figures are not everything. Despite the iPhone's popularity, it was able to flourish for over two years without something as basic as MMS messaging or video capture and no one seemed to bat an eyelid. So taking for granted that good sales figures equates to a good mobile phone is perhaps dangerous. The question is can the N97 retain its popularity over a sustained period, or will it quickly be consigned to the annals of history as has happened to so many lesser mobiles?
To answer such a question requires a multi-faceted view and as with any such debate we will spend much of our time examining the grey areas between the 'absolutes' of hardcore opinion on the matter. Firstly it is worth considering the types of people who have traditionally been attracted to the N series smartphones. Perhaps obviously, with the emphasis on packing in every last ounce of new technology, N series phones picked up quite a following amongst the moderately geeky. However, this is perhaps a symptom of the phones' continued reliance on the various evolutions of the Symbian operating system rather than the actual hardware itself. In the good old days it was impossible to produce a mobile application that didn't work on a Symbian handset. With the iPhone, things have changed dramatically and Symbian compatibility has been relegated to a secondary concern by many app developers.
Now this may not really be a problem for the N97. It uses the Symbian platform and there are already endless bedroom programmers out there who work tirelessly in their spare time to produce Symbian apps, which are then usually distributed for free. So the N97 has been born into a world in which it is already accepted. However, not everything can be generated by a community working for free and living in windowless rooms. It needs sustained manufacturer support, which is something that Nokia has proved to be essential in the past.
This links in nicely with the relatively recent news about an interface update coming to the N97. Many critics have suggested that the smartphone interface looks somewhat dated - even when it was first released. In a post-iPhone world it is essential for rival manufacturers to make menus and home screens look as crisp and modern as possible if they are going to keep up. Thus, to many, the N97's interface looked a little drab and lifeless, due in part to Nokia's inexperience with touch screen technology and exacerbated by the ageing Symbian platform powering it all. But when news came of a firmware update to add in a shiny new coat to the N97's interface, things began to look up. Improvements and updates are almost always a good thing, even if they just tweak a few icons, although UK customers have been getting the short end of the stick in this department for some time now.
Loyal customers of Nokia who had invested hundreds of pounds in technology from the firm over the years have been becoming increasingly disenchanted with the way in which they have been treated recently. It is of course true that mobile phone communities can develop independently of manufacturer support, but for smartphones it is impossible for a majority of the users to really get the most out of their handsets without the manufacturer providing a framework to properly support its products later in life. It is for this reason that the N97 has sold well but is likely to cease to be relevant to the market far sooner than Nokia would like. Nokia needs a hit handset again and unless it can begin to deliver updates and support for the N97 and the N97 Mini, previous Nokia fanatics may well jump ship to more inclusive, stable platforms. The next 12 months will prove vital in determining the fate of the N97 and of Nokia as a whole.
Sometimes it is easy to cherish a phone, or become a little too attached to a particular manufacturer because of past glories, old allegiances or fond memories forged during a misspent youth, where a phone may have acted as the messenger bearing the first flourishing of young love in the form of a few x's at the end of a text message. Nokia is the oldest and the largest of the mobile phone manufacturers still dominating the market today and many people look back with misty-eyed nostalgia at some of the revolutionary, memorable handsets that it has produced over the years.
However, since the end of 2008 things have not progressed as hoped for the Finnish phone Goliath. As share prices dropped and market perceptions with them, Nokia was facing a financially bleak period. Which is a pity considering it has, from a technical perspective, been performing extremely well after the release of the N96 in the latter half of 2008. The N series smartphones have always been flagship handsets for Nokia, showcasing the kind of technology that we might hope to see in lesser handsets a couple of years down the line. That is why expectations for the N97 were so high. Not only was it going to be the most powerful N series phone yet, but it was also going to be the first that featured a touch screen. And it would sport a full QWERTY keypad. So what is there that could possibly go wrong?
When the N97 hit the shelves in June 2009 it began to sell well and by September over 2 million had been sold worldwide. A qualified success, you might think. But in the world of mobile phones, sales figures are not everything. Despite the iPhone's popularity, it was able to flourish for over two years without something as basic as MMS messaging or video capture and no one seemed to bat an eyelid. So taking for granted that good sales figures equates to a good mobile phone is perhaps dangerous. The question is can the N97 retain its popularity over a sustained period, or will it quickly be consigned to the annals of history as has happened to so many lesser mobiles?
To answer such a question requires a multi-faceted view and as with any such debate we will spend much of our time examining the grey areas between the 'absolutes' of hardcore opinion on the matter. Firstly it is worth considering the types of people who have traditionally been attracted to the N series smartphones. Perhaps obviously, with the emphasis on packing in every last ounce of new technology, N series phones picked up quite a following amongst the moderately geeky. However, this is perhaps a symptom of the phones' continued reliance on the various evolutions of the Symbian operating system rather than the actual hardware itself. In the good old days it was impossible to produce a mobile application that didn't work on a Symbian handset. With the iPhone, things have changed dramatically and Symbian compatibility has been relegated to a secondary concern by many app developers.
Now this may not really be a problem for the N97. It uses the Symbian platform and there are already endless bedroom programmers out there who work tirelessly in their spare time to produce Symbian apps, which are then usually distributed for free. So the N97 has been born into a world in which it is already accepted. However, not everything can be generated by a community working for free and living in windowless rooms. It needs sustained manufacturer support, which is something that Nokia has proved to be essential in the past.
This links in nicely with the relatively recent news about an interface update coming to the N97. Many critics have suggested that the smartphone interface looks somewhat dated - even when it was first released. In a post-iPhone world it is essential for rival manufacturers to make menus and home screens look as crisp and modern as possible if they are going to keep up. Thus, to many, the N97's interface looked a little drab and lifeless, due in part to Nokia's inexperience with touch screen technology and exacerbated by the ageing Symbian platform powering it all. But when news came of a firmware update to add in a shiny new coat to the N97's interface, things began to look up. Improvements and updates are almost always a good thing, even if they just tweak a few icons, although UK customers have been getting the short end of the stick in this department for some time now.
Loyal customers of Nokia who had invested hundreds of pounds in technology from the firm over the years have been becoming increasingly disenchanted with the way in which they have been treated recently. It is of course true that mobile phone communities can develop independently of manufacturer support, but for smartphones it is impossible for a majority of the users to really get the most out of their handsets without the manufacturer providing a framework to properly support its products later in life. It is for this reason that the N97 has sold well but is likely to cease to be relevant to the market far sooner than Nokia would like. Nokia needs a hit handset again and unless it can begin to deliver updates and support for the N97 and the N97 Mini, previous Nokia fanatics may well jump ship to more inclusive, stable platforms. The next 12 months will prove vital in determining the fate of the N97 and of Nokia as a whole.
