TuxRunner

Well it’s about time!  I don’t know what the hold-up was with shipping this device, but it appears as if my order status on my Dell order for the Nokia N900 has finally changed from “in production” to “shipped” tonight.  Apparently I should expect it tomorrow some time.  I still think that Nokia was caught off guard with the demand for this device.  They didn’t really target it at the general public.  It was intended for early adopters, tech folks, and developers really.  But when the specs of the operating system and hardware came out, I think it caught some good press and started to gain popularity.

Honestly, as we’ve seen in the past, this process of coming out with a hot device and then having a very limited supply has worked quite well for many other companies.  Nintendo had a lot of trouble keeping the Wii stocked on shelves the first year it was out, and has since been one of the top selling console game systems.  Amazon had the same happen with the Kindle.  They weren’t making enough of them fast enough to keep up with the demand.  The Wii was sub-par compared to its competitors, and the Kindle just had some really odd design flaws.  Regardless, they both are highly successful.  It’s possible that this is just a strategy these two companies took to boost the desire of their products but purposely limiting production.

One thing that has bugged me about some of the attention that the N900 has caught is the perception that the N900 is a cell phone.  It’s referred to in a lot of reviews and blogs as a smartphone in direct competition with the iPhone, Droid, Palm Pre, Android devices, and more.  Nokia has never intended this device to be a phone primarily.  The N900 is the next device in line of N-series Internet tablets.  These are devices, sometimes known as Internet appliances, are intended to provide a simple way to access Internet services such as web-browsing, email, chat, and more.  The fantastic thing about the Nokia Internet tablets is that they’re more than just a purpose-built device.  They happen to also be small Linux computers that for the most part have the potential to do just about anything their full-sized Linux-based PC cousins can do.

It’s that versatility that has afforded the N-series device and Maemo operating system the ability to expand and grow beyond simply being an Internet tablet.  So Nokia has decided to jam pack this N900 full of hardware, which just so happens to include cellular radios allowing it to function as an cell phone with 3G data access.  Is it a phone?  Well…it can function as a phone of course.  But, so can GM vehicles with OnStar.  Does that make your Cadillac a cell phone?  No, it’s a car that can make phone calls.  The N900 is a pocket Linux computer, that can make phone calls.

I actually don’t even intend on getting cellular service on it right away.  I’m planning on using it strictly as a Wifi Internet tablet for at least a couple of weeks, just to see how it does without 3G.  It apparently has a Skype client built right into the OS…so I might try that out for a while.  Along with that, I have a Google Voice account, so I do have the ability to send and receive SMS messages via the web interface.  So I’m very much looking forward to using the N900 as anything but a phone for a while.  Hopefully I’ll find some time to provide updates on various apps I’m trying out and things I’m doing with the N900 once it arrives.  Until then, waiting patiently for the Fedex delivery…