Just when we were starting to see clarity with Nokia's way forward, they go and muck it up again. By being unclear about the positioning of MeeGo and Symbian, by not having competitive phones on the market with either OS, Nokia are ruining the prospects for either, and damaging Qt's hopes to be a competitive mobile platform.
One problem, the complete lack of competitive phones, can't be fixed by Nokia now. They need to be working on these devices and get them out the door as quickly as possible, with as few bugs as possible. Period.
The other problem, the lack of clarity of Nokia's future product roadmap, can and needs to be fixed by Nokia *immediately.* They need to provide clear guidance about where they see MeeGo and Symbian, and draw a clear line between the two. Also, they need to be emphasizing the way forward for developers is Qt, Qt, Qt.
IMHO, the first thing they need to do is redraw the *series product map. There seemed to be some clarity where the Nseries was going when they announced the N8 would be the last Symbian Nseries, but now even that is muddled. If the various series are indeed just marketing, then here's how Nokia needs to layout the product lines for the current and future market:
Nseries - exclusively MeeGo-powered, 2 main devices, N9 and N10**, to compete directly with iPhone and iPad, respectively. When someone thinks Nseries, they need to think "MeeGo." Obviously tablet devices with relatively large touchscreens (especially the N10), may or may not have QWERTY sliding keyboards depending on market conditions.
Xseries - multimedia phones running Symbian^3 (or 4) - several phones focused on music and camera tech. All tablet devices with smaller screens than the Nseries, no physical keyboards. With a memory and OS upgrade to Symbian^3, the X6 carries over almost unchanged, with a variety of storage sizes. In addition, since "media" also means "camera", the forthcoming N8 device is simply relabeled the X8, and slots in as the top end X device. Another device, the X7, could be for the more budget-aware cameraphone buyer, carrying a Carl Zeiss-equipped camera (of lesser MP than the X8), but with LED flash and the smaller memory storage of the X6.
Eseries - continues to be choice of the business user. All have QWERTY keyboards, either in old-world E71-candybar style or as touchscreen sliders, though there still may be room at the low end for E75-like non-touchscreen sliders. Again, these devices would be Symbian-powered, with screens smaller than the Nseries. Top of the Eseries would be something like the N/E9 whose photos are making the rounds of the rumor mill (which in my new world numbering would be called the E8). There should be room in this line for a less powerful E7, perhaps with less memory and/or smaller screen. E6 could be a new version of the E75 nontouchscreen slider, and E5 could be a E71-style candybar, for as long as those device form factors are viable in the market.
Cseries - as before, the Cseries phones are the consumer-oriented replacements for all those numbered phones not even Nokia could keep track of. However, note that in my new world scheme, there is little if any overlap between the Cseries and the E and X phones. This is reflected in the numbering: top of the line Cseries would be the C5 which would have small, low-res touchscreen w/o QWERTY keyboard, less storage than X6. The other Cseries would be numbered 1-4 and have T9 keypads (or maybe sliders with QWERTY keyboards, ala AT&T Nokia Surge). They may even be able to get by with S60 3.2, since they would be targeted at the got-this-from-the-carrier-for-free market. Primary reason for Cseries in the new world is to impress consumer enough with Nokia brand they will eventually want to move up to E-, X-, or Nseries phone.
All the while, Nokia should be pushing Qt. "You want your app to run on N-, E-, and Xseries devices? Develop a Qt app!" They should be stressing how easy it is to develop a Qt app, and putting together tools that not only help developers write apps, but easily get them to the Ovi Store. They are trying here some, but they need to do better.
Some of you will say that my scheme is very close to Nokia's, and it is, but there are key points that make all the difference:
* Nseries == MeeGo == do everything communications device. These are the best devices with the cutting edge OS. Strong branding, strong marketing for strong devices.
* Xseries has been marketed by Nokia as media devices, but their lackluster cameras and lame music player software have made them look half-hearted at best. As I've outlined, the Xseries truly becomes the "mediaphone" line. For those niche buyers that are primarily looking for a cameraphone, the X8 and X7 will serve them well. Those younger, teenaged buyers that want a musicphone can [get their parents to] look at the X6, which will serve up all the music and videos they want at a price much less than the Nseries.
* Eseries more clearly becomes the business messaging phones they are supposed to be, with little overlap between the Nseries above and Cseries below. They are smartphones for those that don't quite need full Nseries (or iPhone or Android) power.
Ultimately, my "new Nokia world" is about giving each line a clear identity that consumers can understand. Gone are the days where a Cseries device (or the old numbered phones) is more powerful than some E- or X-series, or an Eseries device ends up being a better quality phone than the Nseries. Good phones with clear brand identities will help customers choose the phone they need. Choosing a good phone that fits a customer's lifestyle and budget will help build brand loyalty, and consumers will come back to the Nokia brand.
**(Oh, yeah, that N10 thing...I just threw that in there because I think Nokia ultimately wants to make such a thing to compete with the iPad, and the netbook market in general. The original Maemo devices were about halfway between iPhone and iPad, and the Booklet device shows them trying to build a presence there. Ultimately, a iPad-sized device, running MeeGo with the netbook profile, could be an interesting device in the Nseries line, and could compliment a MeeGo-powered phone-sized device. IF it's clear to everyone that Nseries == MeeGo. IMHO, anyway.)