The Nokia N9 have now started shipping to customers and stores. Pre-orders for the Nokia N9 started in many countries recently, and since the launch the device have created a huge buzz and positive feedback from both Nokia fans, and people that in recent years been more negative towards Nokia’s products.
“There is a lot of buzz around the N9 and the consumer demand has been huge,” says Product Specialist Risto Lahi from Nokia’s Flaghsip Store in Helsinki. “People love the new, button-free user interface and the intuitive way to browse the Internet. When they try out the device, they are first amazed and then impressed.”
The Nokia N9 seems to be Nokia’s first, and last MeeGo device. But even if the future of the operating system is very unclear, the demand has not faded. The opportunities that an open, Linux based system creates, seems to have kept most people focused on the possibilities, and not so much the limits that the uncertain future support might mean. MeeGo is based on Debian and there for also have support for .deb files. the Qt development environment also makes it fairly easy to develop for both Symbian, MeeGo and also other systems with Qt support.
Nokia provides lots of resources for Qt developers at their site qt.nokia.com. Everything from tutorial texts and videos, to a strong community based forum. The Qt development tools are also ready available for free and are often updated. So even if Nokia should choose to drop support for the device prematurely, something I doubt they will, there is a strong community that will continue to support for this device on their own. A benefit of an open system that inspires development, and has a strong fan base.
The future for MeeGo might look bleak at the moment, but the Nokia N9 impresses so much it might not even matter. The device will still sell a lot, and it’s possibilities and innovation right from the start will most likely mean that if you buy it today, it will last you 2 – 3 years without a problem. And then it’s usually time be looking for something new.
To learn more about the Nokia N9, visit http://swipe.nokia.com
