Nokia announces Open Source Phone Software

Big news from the land of the Finns. Nokia made two big announcements for the Open Source world today. The first is the newest release of their maemo (Internet Tablet) platform. Named Diablo, this is a big release because it is the first iteration with iterative updates. This means that you can update the tablet like you can your laptop running Debian Linux, by merely upgrading the components and without the need to re-flash the device. No more re-installing /everything/ when you flash your tablet.The second -and bigger- announcement is that Nokia will be purchasing Symbian and has plans to open source the Symbian platform. Symbian runs the majority of the world's mobile phones. This comes hot on the heels of Google's Android platform, which has been demonstrated but will not be available until 2009.

This really signifies a major shift in mobile phones. First, there was Openmoko, more of a proof-of-concept type phone, but it received quite a bit of press regarding its open platform. Then, Android and now Symbian, which will leave Windows mobile as the last really major closed source phone. (New Apple iPhone sales could make that phone a true player, but currently it is just a niche device which has made a big splash but very little impact on the actual market).To me, this shift toward open source can only mean great things for the mobile industry. We are just entering a phase where the mobile phone you carry does more than just make calls and check some e-mail here and there. The handsets are truly becoming mobile computers and this trend will continue and accelerate just as all technologies following Moore's Law. This is not to say they are a replacement for your laptop. Rather, this new mobile computing will allow you to do some (many?) of the things for which you use a traditional computer, but they will enable other technologies and uses. Think about how difficult it is to have an ad-hoc video call with your computer. If you want to use Skype or Gizmo to video talk to your family, you need to pre-arrange that. A mobile handset with video streaming capabilities will let you do that anytime. Sure, you can do this with a select few handsets, but they are limited by the software. The ones I know of require you to connect to an equally-capable device. Why? If my mom's phone can display but not send video, why can I not let her see me while I receive only sound? There is no good reason, other than that the software we currently have available does not allow this type of asynchronous video communication. That is just one example; by making the phone's software open source, Nokia (and Google) will expose thousands of new developers that will want to create exactly this type of use, and a hundred others you or I might not have thought about.

And I anticipate this will be even bigger than Linux on the desktop. It is difficult to move people from Windows or MacOS to Linux because they are very accustomed to what they have and perhaps have certain programs that simply will not run in Linux. So far, this has not happened in the world of phones. I suspect that most people that have owned multiple phones have had a different system and set of applications each time they get a new one. They are not tied to anything. I also predict that the "killer app" of this new mobile structure will be a good, easy-to-use, and seamless application delivery system. I bet that Nokia is learning its lessons from the problems us early tablet users have come across with the massive number of applications available for Maemo, with nearly as many options for installing them. This is confusing to the user, especially users not accustomed to installing new applications for their phones.

Perfect Phone Redux - downsides and alternatives

There are a couple downsides to my "perfect phone".

• The first is battery life. Mobile phones are battery starved as it is, and the number of services I propose installing on your phone will take its toll on your battery life. You will certainly need a car charger, easily accessible wall chargers (one at home and one at work, for example) and some sort of portable charger that runs on batteries or solar power.
• The other thing is I am not sure what happens to the wi-fi connection when a call is received. That will require some testing.
• The third is that the cost will go up if you send many text messages or talk in areas without 3G quite a bit. You may need to add a text plan or add more pay-as-you-go minutes to your plan. I believe it will still be cheaper, but you may not hit the $20/month sweet spot.
  

A friend of mine responded via e-mail to my Perfect Phone posting and I paste it and my response in its entirety:

great article kevin. not sure if it will work for me though. 1) I have a contract with AT&T so would have to wait until that is up and 2) I just changed my phone number once already and I use it for client's and everything else so that would kinda be a pain too. I might try it out though once my contract is up. So I am assuming this would still work if I go the Iphone right, even though I know you don't like apple products.

And my response. Warning, the numbers are estimates, but I think they are pretty realistic:

I don't have a problem with Apple products, but the iPhone is definitely not a business-class phone. Replace N95 (in my article) wtih E66 or E71, which are superb business class handsets that can do everything I mentioned.

If your contract is up, I am not sure you can get the discounted pricing on the iPhone anyway, so the $200 phone may be $500. They probably have a plan for that, but still..

The real point is money. Let's assume an iPhone costs what? $200? Then the service for an additional 2years is what, $2160.00? ($90/month x 24months). That is a good bit more money than my $652 (20/month x 24mos (data and voice) + $3/mo x 24months (phone number redirection) + $100 incidentals)

If your contract isn't up, you would simply use that until it is and then switch to my plan. unlimited data on AT&T is only $15/month. That plus voice is not as cheap as my plan, but cheaper than the $90/month an iPhone would cost.

There is legislation that forces carriers to allow you to transfer your number. I learned this weekend that my cousin has had the same mobile number since the late 80s (yes, she had a briefcase phone, then a carphone) and that has been over multiple carriers.

This would not work on the iPhone because Apple sets the phone so that you cannot install other applications on it without "Jailbreaking" the phone. Apparently, that is a simple process but I know nothing about it. My plan would work on any phone that does 3G, has wi-fi and can install the applications I listed in my article. I know of nothing that turns the iPhone into a hotspot.

Also, you do not have to use one of the Nokia handsets I mention in my posts. I just happen to know more about them than others so they are the examples I use. Any handset that can handle the applications I mention (mobile hotspot supports Win Mobile) will work just fine. Use what is comfortable to you.