Nokia announces Microsoft tie-up...

[CreativeEye]

Have Apple missed a trick here?

Nokia sell a huge amount of mobile fones and have a broad range - products aimed at young people, business professionals etc etc.

The Apple / Moto tie up is great - but should Apple have built on this faster? and got Nokia on board too?

I hope Apple are working with SonyErricson to get the same type of itunes software onto their fones like Motos'.

Article re the Microsoft / Nokia link is here...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4264161.stm

[fryke]

Yeah, I really think Apple - from the beginning - should have partnered with Nokia instead of Motorola. Or at least have played with Motorola, Nokia and SonyEricsson at the same time. It'd have been a win-win situation for all of them, basically.

[Pengu]

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[celeborn]

Originally Posted by Pengu

Nokia make crappy phones anyway. they are the dell of mobile phone makers. they jam as many useless things into it as they can, and still charge double the competition.

In some respect that's true (at least I agree on the many-useless-features part ), but Nokia does do a lot of usability research (a lot of it is done in the town where I live), and IMHO the results can be seen in the very consistent user interface Nokia phones tend to have. In that sense Apple and Nokia might have been a good combination. Nokia, on the other hand, is not known for supporting Macs in any way, until recently.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Pengu

Nokia make crappy phones anyway. they are the dell of mobile phone makers. they jam as many useless things into it as they can, and still charge double the competition.

O.o I'm getting tired of these fan-boy statements... dell probably puts together the best PC out of the major PC manufacturers.

Anyways, I don't really see what the big deal with the phone companies are right now, I have yet to see anyone listen to music on their phone, or for that matter request it... but maybe that'll change *shrugs*

[Pengu]

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[fryke]

you sounded like a fanboy, of whichever football team or computer maker. but he probably meant 'Motorola'.

well, well. guess that's a matter of opinion then. Tell you what: I've tried and tried to use mobile phones _not_ made by Nokia, but usability just lacks. Whenever I buy something else than Nokia, my next mobile is a Nokia again. Through about 10 mobile phones that's been true. And my very first one was a Motorola. There were _two_ mobile phones that were not as bad as the other non-Nokia contenders: One was the Sony CMD-1000, one was the Sony CMD-Z5. (Then Ericsson brought interface misconceptions to SonyEricsson.)

I can agree that Nokia isn't as good as it _could_ be, but interface-wise, they're doing a lot of things right where all the others just fail - including Motorola.

But this isn't just about whether you personally like or dislike Nokia, this is about whether Apple should have made the deal with Nokia about iTunes before Nokia partnered with Microsoft. And the combined marketing power of Nokia and Microsoft should not be ridiculed. And IF MP3/AAC on mobile phones is ever going to take off big-time, Nokia currently _is_ in the strongest position. And it doesn't look like users will have much choice. Got a Nokia? Get songs from Microsoft compatible stores. Got a Moto? Get iTMS songs. But I don't see many people choose mobile phones depending on which music store they go with, since music will still be a 'nice2have' feature, not the primary reason for choice.

So if Apple had a _choice_ in this, whether or not to partner with more than just Motorola, I think they've made a mistake. If, however, Nokia, Samsung, SonyEricsson, Panasonic, Siemens etc. didn't WANT to be on the iTMS bandwaggon, then Apple isn't at fault. It just doesn't sound very plausible. "Do you want to be part of our iPod success story?" - "Nah, we rather go with our smartphone enemy Microsoft." I don't think so... Either Apple's offer was just BAD for the mobile phone makers (whether that was just money or because Apple didn't understand how the _networks_ work outside of the USA) or Apple didn't even make an offer. Both ways: Bad, Apple.

[Pengu]

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