A few days ago, I succmbed to pressure from Joel and got a new phone,the Motorola Droid (The GSM version is called Milestone but I prefer the name Droid. Sounds hardcore)

Although I really like my new phone, I am still sad. For the fist time since I got my first phone 8years ago (6210) , I am not using my beloved Nokia. I am a huge fan of Nokia and in the early days before they went haywire with models, I knew almost all the models they had by heart. In those days, if I wanted to get a new phone, It was either Nokia or Nokia. I did not even consider any other manufacturer. This time around, I tried looking for every reason to buy a Nokia but I could not justify it. The reason? Apps.

I wrote a while back that what we know as telephone is dead. My argument was that a great majority of the activities we peform on our ‘phones’ are non voice related. This is where Apple got it right and Nokia has wobbled on in the last 3 years. Because of the fragmentation of the OS on Nokia phones, apps that make the smartphone smart are not available. (Developing for Nokia is 4th choice since it will take almost the same cost and man hours to develop for one of the fragments with far less reach.) The few available are a chore to download. What Nokia needs to do is simple, decide their positioning and cater for it. They cannot be both an expensive and a cheap brand. Having one million models of phones is very inefficient. iPhone users have shown they do not really care if all their classmetes have the same model of phone as long as it is cool.

Nokia, what I believe you should do is divide your phones into two categories. The smart phones and the not so smart phones. For the smart phones (not more than four models please) quickly decide on an OS and go with it. I think there is still space for 2 more players (you guys and WebOS). Android is taking the advantage you guys should have had against the iPhone- one software with different models of phones. Luckily, your brand is still very strong and you have a good distribution reach. When you guys have that OS thing sorted,  $5m and get the best 100 apps on your platform. Yes, pay people to develop their apps . hopefully, things will pick up from there.

One I can be productive on Nokia (Googla Apps, Project Management, OnePage, Twitter, To do’s, etc) I promise to return.

Until then,  I have gone Droid.

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98% of this post was done with my phone including getting and posting the image. The last sentence just kept cutting off so I completed it online.