Nokia N8 to be the last Nseries Symbian smartphone. Or not
By Julien on 23 Jun 10Since the very beginning (represented by the N70 and N90 – introduced way back in 2005), Nokia’s Nseries smartphones used Symbian and only Symbian as their OS.
With MeeGo being close to release, this is about to change, and we should see Nseries smartphones based on MeeGo soon (the Nokia N9 will likely be the first one).
Even more, the yet-to-be-released Nokia N8 might be the last Nseries device to use Symbian, with all future models running MeeGo – that’s what Cnet has understood from “Nokia peeps” during an even held today in Australia.
This could be true, as Nokia may want to keep Symbian^3 (and the other versions to come) for its Xseries and Eseries handsets. But I’m a bit doubtful. Here’re some reasons why:
- With the first Symbian 3 device not released yet, a major user interface revamp in Symbian 4 coming in early 2011, and Meego for handsets still in pre-alpha stage, a decision to abandon Symbian on Nokia’s flagship Nseries sounds way too premature.
- Rank and file employees have been known to spill some unannounced things during these kinds of press meet-ups. But the likelihood that some “Nokia peeps” in Australia office know about this kind of strategic decision, many months in advance, is remote. Even if they know something, the possibility of them talking freely to the the press about it is even smaller. I would love to see an exact quote of what the Cnet people overheard about this stuff, but it sounds as some kind of misunderstanding to me.
- Eldar Murtazin – who knows a few things about Nokia’s ins and outs, including their device line-up for this year at least – tweets that Cnet’s editors may have misunderstood what Nokia said. He believes that there will still be a few other Nseries Symbian smartphones launched after the N8.
Expected to hit the market in the third quarter of the year (thus starting July), the N8 is a multimedia powerhouse, and yet it will be sold for a rather low price: about €370 unlocked). Until Nokia officially announces something about this (reports from non-Nokia websites don’t fully count), we won’t know for sure if the N8 is the last Nseries Symbian device or not.
If you liked the post, you might find these interesting too:
- It’s official: Nokia N8 will be the last Symbian Nseries handset. MeeGo is the future
- Nokia N9 (or rather N8-01) photos leaked – no sign of MeeGo
- Nokia’s first Nseries touchscreen handset to come very soon. N97?
- Nokia reconfirms: Symbian^3 and Maemo 6 devices are coming this year
- Shocker: Nokia officially adopts Windows Phone as its “primary smartphone platform”
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