Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Will Nokia Finally Buy Palm?

Nokia to manufacture Linux-based phones?
According to the Finnish business newspaper Kauppalehti, Nokia's Chief Financial Officer said Nokia is considering manufacturing Linux-based mobile phones. The article quotes Rick Simonson, Nokia's Chief Financial Officer, as saying "we are definitely moving in the direction (of Linux-based phones)" at a seminar in Boston run by JP Morgan Chase.

Look at it this way.

1) Nokia's vaunted Internet Tablets have flopped (just compare its sales to that other Internet Tablet, the iPod Touch)

2) Their open-source Maemo OS becomes proprietary Maemo when they use it

3) That OS is not suited for cellphones

4) Palm has been working on a Linux-based OS

5) Palm has a worldwide brand name

6) Nokia needs something to stay out of the Dead Pool that the iPhone is pushing it towards

7) Palm needs better phone designs

Sure, there's the Linux-based ACCESS, but who wants that?

Nokia has shown, with the failure of Maemo, that it can't ignite developer desire.

Palm has shown, even with its misguided Foleo, that it can.

A match made in heaven? Or one in hell?

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