This is very exciting news. While Apple’s iPhone OS and Google’s Android OS have been fiercly battling for the top-dog spot in the mobile OS market, Intel and Maemo have struggled to be noticed at all. Which is kind of sad, because I consider both of these platforms superior to the two major players (Nicolas already described some of Maemo 5.0′s features on the N900).

With this merger, these two currently minor players promise to become a serious competitor instead of fighting for scraps left over by Apple or Google. After all, Nokia is still the largest manufacturer of mobile handsets – it owns almost 40% of the smartphones market vs 17% for Apple according to Gartner – , and anybody watching the Linux crowd is no doubt aware of  Intel’s  immense contributions to the Linux kernel in the past few years.

I just hope they release a usable SDK to application developers A.S.A.P.  I wouldn’t want MeeGo to suffer the same fate as Maemo did:  a superior platform alone won’t sell many phones if only a handful of apps (~ 164 at the time of this writing) are available for it. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem though. Unlike Android, which has a custom Java-based virtual machine for running applications, both Moblin and Maemo currently use toolkits already well-known within the open-source community, GTK and QT (MeeGo will only support QT, however). The learning curve for new developers shouldn’t be that high.

Let’s just pray that Nokia and Intel will expedite this merger so that we won’t have to wait too long for the first handsets. Nokia had Maemo 6.0 planned for 2010-11, but I think it is safe to assume 6.0 will be dropped in favor of MeeGo.  Early 2011 would be great, but  I guess I won’t get around buying a Nexus One until then…

But what does that concretely mean and what will it bring to the final user?

Well, just like its little brothers, the Nokia N800 and N810, the N900 runs on a Maemo OS and embarks a built in version of Skype which is totally integrated into the phone’s operating system, with no extra downloads required. You can make free Skype-to-Skype calls and instant messaging on 3G or WiFi, and call phones abroad at great, low rates. And that’s where the revolution is!

Before the Nokia N900 was launched, Skype’s VoIP function on mobile phones could not be fully enjoyed, as mobile phone operators in some countries put some limitations to the use of VoIP on their networks as it was competing against their own services. Those guys were not ready to see their customers spend less bucks into their monthly mobile phone contracts!

From a business point of view, this is legitimate. From a consumer point of view, that clearly sucks!

Historical Issue

The Maemo software has now been running for some time on Nokia’s Internet Tablet such as the Nokia N770, N800 and N810 and it has turned to be a viable solution for new generation mobile phones (i.e.: using a  “Home” screen as the central point from which all applications and settings are accessed). But the BIG feature those three tablet were missing vs the N900 was the ability to communicate using mobile networking protocols like 3G. Only WiFi and Bluetooth were available then. They were Internet Tablets, not mobile phones.

As for mobile phones running on a Symbian OS, they had 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth, but no integrated version of Skype. SkypeLite, the version of Skype for mobile phones, was only running in a limited number of countries. The only alternative available to VoIP lovers who were not living in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, the United States and the UK, was to download a third-party software like Nimbuzz or Gizmo to enjoy from free phone calls.

The Solution

Today, the N900 blends the very best of Nokia’s mobile phone technology, Maemo and Skype software to deliver a fine mobile device that will probably help you cut on your monthly phone bill (say good bye to your monthly mobile phone bill!) thanks to its integrated VoIP feature running on 3G and WiFi.

You’ll just need an unlimited monthly data contract (I pay 4€ monthly for a 1Go data contract), or a wiFi connection, and your Nokia N900 to call the world from anywhere for free or almost, and save on your mobile phone bill!

Mark Douglas, Skype product manager for the N900, reveals more in the video below

Last week, I was in our London office, and I talked with the guy in charge of Social Media for Nokia (fantastic guy, by the way) and his N97 started to ring. After his conversation, I engaged the discussion on the forthcoming N900, embedding Firefox Mobile, codenamed “Fennec”. And by chance, the guy was playing with it …
Hopefully, I had my camera not too far. I just took these few pictures.

I had not enough time to make an in depth review. However, I played with the browser and with the device for a few minutes.

First impression: it’s glossy, it’s black, it’s sexy.

The people in charge of the design at Nokia are making remarkable efforts, and the N900 is probably one of the most convincing one. The keyboard slider looks remarkable and very robust. It’s a bit thicker than an iPhone, but would perfectly fit in my pocket

Second impression: it’s not S60 – Penguin inside.

Nokia for many years has been working on its Symbian platform, making it the most popular OS for mobile in the world. But looking back to the first steps of Nokia in the tactile world, it seems this OS has difficulties to keep racing against iPhone’s OS or Android’s OS in term of ergonomic, ease of use and user interface. But Nokia secret weapon could be with open source OS. Nokia is experimenting since many years now its Maemo OS, based on the Linux platform, slowly nurturing its community. And having played a few minutes with it, the interface is truly remarkable, far ahead what the Symbian OS could do. And probably the best answer from Nokia regarding the incoming Android Phone and the iPhone.

Third impression: it’s not Firefox – it’s Mobile Firefox.

During the few minutes with the N900, I especially focused on the browser. I carefully followed all the development stage of Fennec, and I must admit that I’ve been truly impressed to test it “live” and to see that Mozilla has made a fantastic job by bringing Internet to the mobile. Of course, iPhone definitely created a market with its iPhone (internet on mobile). But now, Mozilla is in the place, and it is truly great news, since they managed to make a real “mobile Firefox”, not “Firefox redux” or “crappy Firefox for phones”.
I encourage you to have a look at Jay Sullivan demonstration of Firefox Mobile. Nope, it’s not photoshoped, I also did that last week

As a conclusion

This article isn’t only to talk about a nice glossy incoming new phone. The N900 is probably a milestone, by bringing true internet access and raw computer capacities to mobile worker and internet nomad addicts … Can’t wait to test it more extensively, and to see how the ecosystem will work (on today’s phone, the “markets” and the “stores” plays a big role in phone success – look at the itune store and the the android market … probably a big challenge for Nokia).

Looks like just found a new thing to add on my whishlist for Christmas …

More info : http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/

Author : Kerolic

However the revolution this time is that this tablet-like mobile phone won’t be narrowed to reaching the world only through its WLAN IEEE 802.11b/g chip, but will benefit from a full HSPA-based 3G access with up to 10 Mbps download speeds and 2Mbps upload speeds!

The specs include a 3.5-inch 800×480 pixel (resistive) touchscreen, sliding QWERTY, 32GB of on-board storage expandable to 48GB via microSD, GPS/A-GPS, FM transmitter, TV-out, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, 1320mAh battery, and 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual-LED flash.

According to our fellow bloggers at Engadget, this monster MID brings the power of the ARM Cortex-A8, up to 1GB of application memory, and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration to make quick work of polygons and what Nokia promises will be a “PC-like experience on a handset-sized device.” It also brings a Mozilla-based Maemo browser with Adobe Flash 9.4 support.

Unless you’re planning to attend Nokia World next week, you’ll have to wait until October to have a chance to see this beauty priced €500 ($710)

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