Reaction to the N97

Microsoft Devices Team

BARCELONA, Spain – There’s been no shortage of coverage of this week’s big announcement. And in terms of size, the volume of opinions is just as big as the volume of coverage. This makes for pretty interesting reading too. Of the 1,000 or so N97 related stories listed in Google news, we’ve just flicked through a handful of intriguing headlines to see what’s been said.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s being said…

Brian Caulfiled from Forbes.com makes the comparison to Netbooks, with his rather strong headline of “Why Nokia could kill the netbook”. His reasoning is certainly interesting, but he delivers a twist at the end which makes the whole thing worth a look:

“The real damage will come to netbooks. They’re a fad in the U.S., but their real mission is to serve as an affordable first computer for the masses in the developing world. The problem with this strategy: most of those consumers will wind up looking at something like the N97 first.”

New York-based Paul Taylor at the FT.com wonders whether it’s too little too late, citing a number of reasons as to why the N97 might well have a tough time of it. He isn’t all negative though, describing the device as both sleek and innovative.

“Among its most significant innovations, it features a personalised home screen populated with software “widgets” that pull together information such as meeting reminders, the online status of friends and family, and local weather conditions.
While the widget concept is a familiar one to PC users, the N97 will be one of the first smartphones to incorporate the technology.”

Seth Weintraub takes a more hardline approach in his blog on Computerworld. With the headline “Nokia N97 fails as an iPhone competitor” sure to attract plenty of attention, he goes on to list his reasons why he believes the N97 isn’t going to take down iPhone.

“The product name is lacking. You can’t fall in love with a “N97” or a “N810″ unless your name is C3PO or R2D2.”

Writing in the LA Times, Alana Semuels draws a curious medievil analogy that’s well worth a read. Semuels quotes Current Analysis research director Avi Greengart who was in Barcelona and played with the device calling “drool-worthy”and “a beautiful device”.

Lily Peel at the UK’s Times Online got some hand’s on time with the device and was pretty pleased with it. She described the addition of the slide out screen as “a nice touch”. Lily also picked up on the software:

“While the hardware is impressive, it is the software that Nokia executives are most excited about and which they say will let users personalise the internet.”

Finally, Jack Ewing at BusinessWeek believes the N97 is the new rival to iPhone. Drawing the laptop comparison, he opens his story with:

“The buzz on the Internet was that Nokia would announce it is building a laptop computer. That wasn’t quite right, but it’s easy to see how the rumor got started. The N97 smartphone that the Finnish handset maker unveiled in Barcelona Dec. 2 looks very much like a laptop, albeit one that it fits in your pocket.”

That’s just a snapshot of what we’ve seen so far, and I’m sure there’ll be plenty more to come. Now, what do you reckon?

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