A while back I was reading this article over at the Internet Tablet School

It's been a while since I initially read it, so I went back to re-read since I had been thinking of the topic lately. The author's thesis is that Nokia doesn't want to compete with itself by offering two devices that do the same thing: the Nokia S60 touch interface phones (such as the Nokia 5800 pictured to the right) and the Nokia Internet Tablets.

The author further goes on to day that Nokia should put create subnotebooks like the Eee PC and put maemo on, abandoning the tablet factor, and that Nokia should focus on improving the functionality of maemo with regard to functions such as word processing and other office apps.


Now, I agree with two things:
1. You don't want to cannibalize sales of your flagship products (phones).
2. You should focus on adding functionality.

I disagree on the notion of getting rid of the tablet factor and making something like the Eee PC. Sub-notebooks are a pain to carry around. A tablet fits comfortably in your coat pocket, a sub-notebook does not. You don't need to put maemo on a laptop to clearly show who the intended audience is.


What should Nokia do?
Software wise:
1. Add a good PIM suite to your internet tablets. Contacts, Calendar, To-do and memos are a must and by doing this you will get people from the PDA market to switch over. While you're at it, make this PIM suite compatible with iSync and synv with Yahoo and Google as well.

2. Make office applications more accessible on Maemo. Word, Excel and PowerPoint are documents that people want to open and edit on the go.

3. Make mail for exchange available on maemo and integrate IM functionality into the OS (yahoo, MSN, ICQ, AOL). Pidgin does a good job, but this also adds one more app you need to run.

4. Get more support for web based clients, like the iPhone.

5. Get SMS, MMS, and phone applications on Maemo.

6. Make media playback easier on the device. Video podcasts don't play well on Maemo - fix this. Look at Canola for PMP inspiration (or support canola actively)


Hardware wise:
1. Integrate quadband GSM/Quadband UMTS (and if you're up to it, WiMAX as well). Will this cannibalize your S60 touch sales? To a small extent yes, but most people buy a phone for most phone related activities, and a tablet for extended internet activities. The tablets have more screen real-estate, and better processing power which makes browsing more pleasurable than on any phone.

2. Integrate your phone like and tablet lines. Make it easy to compose, send, and sync MMS, SMS from your tablet to your phone

3. Bring back the FM radio with RDS

4. Make tablets easy to connect to monitors and TVs for more real estate.

5. Take the N810 body and add some external buttons, so people don't have to slide out the keyboard to use basic navigation buttons

6. Throw in a 3.2 or 5MP camera.

7. Yes, do make wireless keyboard and mouse an viable option for maemo. There's nothing cooler than taking your tablet out, brining out a wireless keyboard and sitting and taking notes!



Nokia posits the N-series devices a multimedia computers. In my opinion it doesn't matter if you are running symbian or maemo. While current tablets can go online by tethering them to a phone, it's better and easier to keep the same form factor and add cell radios in them.