In an interview about a couple of weeks back at the Nokia Developer Summit, David Rivas – Nokia VP, discussed the Nokia’s strategy for having multiple software platforms – basically stating that different devices need different OS for different tasks – not one OS fits the bill. The three major OS used by nokia are S40 which drives the “volume” division, S60 which drives the “value” and Maemo (built on Linux) for the internet tablets and “other interesting products”.
S60 for Value? This and the excerpt below sides with Eldar’s speculations about a month ago when we heard about the Nokia Nautilus and other new Nokia Touch screens, where Nokia maybe shifting S60 (or Symbian Foundation) into mid range/mass market handsets, and possibly have Linux reserved for the high end devices. Many, including myself, have been a little underwhelmed with S60 touch, especially with the first ghastly demonstration – , it was embarrasing to be a Nokia fan – it had no optimisation for finger touch, it just looked like they slapped on a touch screen to normal S60 3rd edition. It’s evolved somewhat since then, as we have from both the 5800, N97 and even from the Samsung camp with the i8910 with S60 5th edition. However, it still lacks complete finger friendly optimisation, or really any new innovation – much of which is hampered by the fact that it is S60 with touch and has a lot of legacy and compatibility issues to deal with. The only real solution is to start from scratch. Much like what Palm has done with the Palm Pre and WebOS – delivering an unexpected dish of usability and intuitiveness to the table, last brought onto our plates by Apple’s iPhone.
Whilst we can go on to bash S60 5th edition for not being a completely dedicated touch UI, it maybe worth considering (or just hoping) that S60 touch is just an interim solution for Nokia’s REAL touch UI. Get some user base familiar with S60 touch, roll out some important services (Ovi) whilst silently working on what maybe Nokia’s game changer.
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