Editorial: How Important is the N9?
Bear with me guys, this is a random post that really has no objective except to get my ideas out infront of me, unfortunately you might have to suffer through them. Skipping through the anecdote of what brought this on the other day I was in “Jarir” the largest Bookstore/Electronics place in Saudi Arabia; who very recently have gotten an exclusive stock of the 808 Pureview (for a very reasonable 2000SAR = 530 USD which actually got me to buy one- but that’s another story). What interested me though was the fact that the display panel in the center of the electronics area (where you would usually spot the high end phones/latest phones) had the iPhone 4s, Samsung Galaxy S3, Nokia 808 and surprise surprise the Nokia N9. The N9 is almost a year old now and is by no means “new”, Nokia have released well over 10 phones after it in the past year- and some of those are pretty good phones, so why did the N9 have the same price-tag as the brand-new 808 (yes also 530 USD)?
That’s when I realized that “latest” doesn’t necessarily mean “new” at least not in this case, for all intents and purposes the N9 IS Nokias flagship phone in the Middle East, Gulf, North Africa and everywhere else where Lumias aren’t available- till now any Nokia store in the region has the N9 front and center on the show room, with swipe posters all up on the walls.
As I was playing around on the 808 a random customer next to me spoke up and said “Nokia can never be anything anymore, now it’s all about Samsung and iPhone” (ironically he was buying a blackberry- but that’s besides the point). I felt like responding, proving him wrong but what could I say? what was there to prove that there are still some great devices being made? (this is not a cue for a flame-war, satisfaction rates on lumias prove that they are “loved” = “great”). For all intents and purposes Nokia had abandoned the area for the past year or so, dropping the N9 and disappearing, with no answer to the hordes of customers who bailed on Symbian and went to Droids and iPhones; the N9 is a great device, and has done it’s bit keeping Nokias name out here, but no single device can withstand the continuous onslaught of android phones pumped out, nor the monstrous iOS app store; let alone a single device that has been abandoned by its manufacturers.
In some countries (mostly Dubai/UAE) out of what seems to be sheer desperation the Lumia 800 was launched on a slightly smaller scale, being available but without the large advertisements and campaigns, but who in their right mind would by a device that doesn’t support his native language? If anything prematurely launched software will do alot more harm than good, no matter how many units are sold the word of mouth will be “that phone- HAH! it doesn’t even support Arabic” even after WP8 brings it’s unicode Arabic/Hindi/Hieroglyphics support; reputations aren’t easy to shed just take a look at what the original S^3 did to the whole Symbian name.
Back to the main idea, it fell upon the N9 to represent Nokia in its leave of absence in these areas, but imagine if once Meego was scrapped the N9 was never released; could Nokia really have survived without a “gap device” something to keep people hooked until WPs were ready? Any way you look at it the N9 was a vital piece for Nokia no matter how many were sold (especially since after a whole year they’re still going for 500 USD); and by the way things are going it will remain the “Flagship” until October/September or whenever WP8 is coming, the question is can Nokia really risk going any longer without proper dedication to these markets?
Go ahead and share your thoughts guy, but as always be polite and considerate (thank you).
*Side Note: Are the N9s still in production? I can’t imagine all of what’s being sold is just the end of stock clearance, anybody have any clues about that?
Category: MeeGo, Nokia, Symbian, Windows Phone
About the Author (Author Profile)
Heyyo, names Ali- Currently a fourth year Dental Student from Chicago; studying in Jordan. I love all sorts of gadgets almost as much as I love my cookies! (Have: Green Nokia N8, Cyan Lumia 800, Black N9, Stormtrooper White Lumia 900, Black 808 PureView, Red Lumia 920). Follow my twitter handle '@AliQudsi' - no pressure. Thanks.Subscribe
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In Europe Nokia N9 is well known Nokia’s flagship. Total amonut of sold N9 is estimated from 3M to 5M worldwidely. This is cool mobile, in fashion, easy and userfriendly, heavy duty, very good software ecosystem, compatibile with everything, outstanding hardware standard… The best Nokia of whole decade and perhaps the best Nokia ever, at last so far. What Nokia should do is to develop the N9 successor AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Millions are waiting for it. MeeGo is best system and this is the future. I prefere it then anything else iOS, BB, Symbian, bada or any other mobile system. We, I and my friends who use N9, are eye withess this is the most reliable and the most comfortable mobile on the market. It also has won in ranking for consumer’s staisfaction (the 1st FIRST place in ranking!!!) and yellow pencil for desing! Why it is not promoted and not under hard development and in produce – that is hard to believe and beyond common sense IMHO.
lol 3-5 million
what are you smoking? lol
Dear MDF,
I don’t smoke anything
In Europe? Certainly not in the UK. No-one has ever seen nor heard of the thing. I know a lot of people on here will big up anything as long as it doesn’t have Microsoft branding on it, but we have to at least base our ideas on reality here…
Must be a great feeling to know everyone in the UK.
As I have read N9 has won the price “the best in customer’s satisfaction” just in UK… So seems there were some brave hearts smuggling N9s to UK most probably…?
Sorry I live in europe but I am yet to see anyone with an n9 or even at a single shop
I see N9 everywhere, in shops, in regular peoples hands, all over the place. This is Finland though, so it doesn’t count.
But I am sure, that it would have been massive hit, and obviously at least far more impactfull than Lumias if it was handled properly and released with N950 and a little marketing campaign, or at least without marketing their death.
++++++ on “at least without marketing their death” that would be a dream.
n9?
good but too different,too late from the first announcement and leaks(,some months before elop got at nokia, remember:
open source,QT(crossplatform development),physical keyboard….;now it would have a real appstore or why not linux repositories.
instead nokia sunk,meego already dead…no availability(in france no n9),no apps(counting on html 5 to get apps?)
and lumia succes is a joke ,they won’t even get wp8 update !recent nokia results are….!!!
sorry from exnokiafan!
Here in the Netherlands the Nokia N9 was not released and I got it from an online retailer who “accidentally” sent me a Swiss device, giving me some trouble when I wanted to update the firmware to 1.2.
Thanks to the very helpful personnel of my carrier, I got 1.2 and now have 1.3 without even having to go to my carrier.
But with the N9 not officially released in the Netherlands I have to suffer through many many sniping comments about “MeeGo”, whenever my colleagues or family have some app they want to share with me, but turns out not to be available for MeeGo.
I don’t get why Lumia 800 is such a big success here (might be the extensive and agressive marketing), and the N9 is not known AT ALL.
Apparently the value of an OS is measured by the amount of well known apps
I don’t think that Lumia is all that popular in the Netherlands either – I’m frequently in the NL (in fact I am there at the moment) and so far I saw only one person with a Lumia on a train a couple of months back, and I wouldn’t even know about it if the guy didn’t approach me when he saw me using my freshly acquired unicorn N9 asking me excitingly `where in the hell you got a white Lumia?!`, then he went on to compare the looks and was confused because he didn’t even know the N9 existed.
What I can see is that, and amazingly so, quite a lot of people use HTC around here – I probably saw more people fiddling their HTCs than Samsungs and even the iPhone. Lumias are as sparsely used as BBs – I haven’t seen anyone use a BB around here. You can encounter people using old Nokias and SEs, but unlike in the UK – you’d be hard pressed to see someone with a BlackBerry…
You are so right i never seen anyone with a Flopia in real life
i always have to explain that mine N9 is not a Lumia , and the Lumia is a copycat of the N9
I keep seeing the damn Lumia everywhere and everybody just keeps asking me what I think of the Lumia 800.. Just to look totally dumbstruck when I say I don’t have one..
I live in Netherlandsn (Amsterdam) and eventhoug the Lumia isnt as popular as the Galaxy or the iphone or even HTC its catching up speed.. I regularly see people using it and it has a fair share gof maketing.
There are shit load of blackberries in the Netherlands, especially among yong people .. I think you only visit tourist destiantions when you come around.. I’d say Blacberry might be more popular than even Galaxy or at least at par with it. iPhone is the most popular..
I’m mainly at either Eindhoven or Groningen, hardly touristic destinations. Sometimes I jump to Rotterdam for a weekend. Been to Amsterdam only twice in my life. I really haven’t seen a single BB anywhere, and given that I’m frequent in the UK as well, that’s the first thing I’ve noticed.
Also, as I said, never have I’ve seen so many people fiddling a HTC as here – almost as much, if not more, than with iPhones.
As for Lumia (800), as I’ve said I saw it only once with some random guy in a train. N9 I haven’t seen anywhere around here, except my beautiful unicorn one that some people mistake as a Lumia
Well Eindhoven and Groningen are small cities.. I live in Amsterdam and work/study in Rotterdam so am in the one of biggest cities each day of the week .. Occasionally I go to Utrecht too. Two years ago Blackberry was the number one phone around but it got significantly reduced. Now there are more iphones, Samsung Galaxy and a lot of HTCs. Nokia used to be the top brand like 4 years ago but its nowhere to be found except for a few Lumia 800 .
The only difference between Android and N9 is Apps… Otherwise, user experience on N9 is far better than all of those droids IMO
Not so fast my friend. N9 can use N9 apps (eg. see here http://my-meego.com/software/index.php my favourite source) but with “Tizme” can use Tizen apps, with another soft can use Android apps on N9 directly as native, or with another can be dual but MeeGo/Android. I haven’t seen ANY OTHER mobile having even a friction of such a flexibility and posibilities of personalisation, adjusting to my needs. Frankly I don’t suffer of software needs, simply all I need I could easly obtain. And in general MeeGo software is of much better quality, what is an advantage – at last for me.
Hence I think the main difference is in support of OS and customers. From my experiences in both Android and MeeGo systems, the MeeGo is much much better.
I have taken N9 with full awareness of advantages and disadvantages, and now after almost 2 years I can confirm that advantages prevails, and prevails significantly.
So I have already taken decision I will buy next device with MeeGo after N9. However I have 2 of N9s, one for everyday use, and second just for every case.
N9 is a classic, and evergreen. It is not ageing, and works perfect in every country I am – no other phone before was able to do the same.
Considering the fact that now after updates I have better phone then I have bought – I am really happy with my N9. An we will stay together for nearest years.
What is really disadvantage of N9 is the lack of dualsim – with dualsim and dualstandby – that would be second to none. IMHO.
Sniping comments? f***** them.
Knowing to have the best phone in the hands, would shield me against all the envy
out there.
I have the n9, and i know many who have – and amazon is your friend, if its not sold in your country.
I have had many phones before, and i had the free choice given by my employer – and from all teh hi-ends out there (i.e. iphone, uh. galaxy?) i choosed this one after i saw and touched it, and knew what it could do. I do hope it lasts forever, because 1 year later – i see no succsessor – by no manufacturer.
No phone before and after, til current day can do what this thing can, as reliable as this thing can, as convinient as this thing can.
Oh nokia.. WHY! did you invest many years into the best possible OS out there, to abandon it the minute it was completed?
..in any case, since it is completed – it is a good buy for the existing userbase n9.
Well Nokia’s entire product-line consists, since 2-11, of gap devices. The Lumia range was only to prepare the company for WP8. The N9 and 808 are for show of mucles. Only the Asha-line represents something relevant.
not even sure that Asha was relevant : was meant to fill the gap waiting for meltemi. Now, it seems that WP will take the midrange as well, smarterphone is probably still planned (they bought it 6 months ago …), but the transition S40->smarterphone will be made silently. There will be Asha and except devs, people will not know about that.
It make me wonder if the decision to axe Meltemi has been taken when SmarterphoneOS has been bought …
Its same here in Bangladesh. Nokia N9 is still offered as the flagship device in the local Nokia Showrooms at a premium price of BDT52000 or USD600. Checkout the Nokia Bangladesh’s home page which features N9 – http://www.nokia.com/bd-en/
I’m from the Caribbean, Trinidad, and Nokia phone here are an endangered species, because:
1)The price is way to high for even old devices
2)With the amount of android devices on the market, people don’t know what some Nokia phones are capable of. eg. Nokia N9 and choose an android instead. When I made the very first video on N9 video calling on Youtube, I expected a lot of videos to focus on that, but it disappointed me, and I thought that some people lost interest in the device.
I had the beastly N900 and now i have a beautiful N9 and as well as a few of my friends, so in the whole country, there is probably about 15 N9 devices. When people see my phone and I tell them the OS is Meego, they never even heard of it, but they love it, so, imagine if Meego phones were more popular, they would sell like hot bread!! People see my phone and call it a lumia right away, and that annoys me.
Nokia had a chance to be different and still make it back to the top, but corruption in the company ruined everything.That’s why I’m supporting Jolla all the way, and in time, they will make Meego a popular topic!
Nokia N9 with MeeGo as it is Linux is currently the most safe mobile aviable fo common user. I don’t mind special coded mobiles used by special services, Man in Black, presidents etc. etc. not common users. When you have you private photos or documents in N9 you can use is as pen drive and you can be certain that to break into your N9 is more then difficult, unless aggressor can’t access physically you N9 for a bit longer time. That makes this one of the most safe mobile for business and private use.
I agree with above mentioned opinion that N9 has established new standard. I changed my previous iPhone to Nokia N9 – that was good deal, and I hope (whatever they say) that N9 will have successors, and will the beginning of line like Symbian mobiles some years ago. Otherwise this would be like the Mercedes has stated that there will not be any more car from the Mercedes because they start to deliver BMW or Audi only, that would be hard to believe!
Here in South Africa the N9 did get some marketing, albeit rather poorly. In fact when the reps promoting the phone learnt that I had the handset already they asked ME to tell THEM a little about the phone (they thought it ran on Symbian). The Lumia, on the other hand, received huge marketing with treasure hunts, parties, etc.
I doubt either phones sold really well though. I’ve only really seen one other person with anN9 and one Lumia. The most popular smartphones here are BBs and Symbian.
I do agree though that it is extremely annoying (and insulting) when my phone is mistaken for a Lumia.
There were some stock cleaning sells in Scandinavia and central Europe. One dealer in Sweden sold the N9 at the beginning of June for SEK 1999. (around 225 Euros). Another one in Austria sold it for 199 Euros.
Apart from these sell offs, the phone can still be found at a lot of other sellers. Their price for the 16GB version is around 300 Euros.
I will buy it, when it is available again for ~200 Euros, otherwise I’ll wait for the Jolla phones.
JOLLAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Sub.
I think Nokia with N9 has developed his own like-iPhone phenomena, but instead of use it for money making, has abandon it.
Absolutely agreed with you. But Mr. Elop is not brave enough to be a great CEO like late Steve Jobs.
N9 is still being sold in many European countries.
no operators in Ireland took it in. when I asked here, Three said there was no requests for it. O2 and Vodafone said they didn’t take it in since they where stuck with strict Microsoft enforced regulations on Nokia smart-phones weather they where running windows or not.
bought my N9 2 weeks ago from Norway since I have a Norwegian mobile subscription in addition to my Irish one. they had a killer deal on it, and I wanted that phone from it was released, but it was outside my budget. ingenious phone. and came unlocked. (not common to lock phones there anymore since the law states that they have to give you the unlock code for free upon purchase if you ask for it).
Ireland was never one of the roll-out countries, sadly.
No doubt specialist importers have brought it in, but it’s not there with telcos & their related resellers.
So availability would never have been good there…
Never available “officially” in the retail channel either.
If it’s there it’s only there thanks to specialist importers etc.
Another Irish N9 user who had to look further afield to get hold of one. I used a car analogy to describe the N9 verses other mobiles, the N9 is an automatic whereas the competing phones are still stuck with manual gearboxes and clutches. Its UI is and major application integration are still industry leading 12 months on.
IMO the N9 is still Nokia’s defacto flagship model, the Lumia 800 is a cut down version with lowered specs and the Lumia 900 may have a slightly bigger screen but looks to be cheaper to manufacture (it does not have the tight tolerances where the glass meets the body). I think the Lumia 900 was made mainly for the US market.
I was getting worried that I would have to go manual again in 12 months or so but with Jolla starting up I may get a reprieve.