Nokia Starts Shipping Its First Linux based Smartphone, Nokia N900

Accroding to Reuters’ Tarmo Virki, Nokia has started deliveries of its first Linux powered Smartphone, a real game-changer that will help Nokia to finally turn the tide of smartphone war in their favour and control the mobile market again.

Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a speech the company started deliveries of the phone on Tuesday.

Analysts see N900 and following Linux devices as key for Nokia to gain back ground in the coming years, something that market has been waiting for a years, a real game-changer that will help Nokia to finally turn the tide of smartphone war in their favour and control the mobile market again.

The most ingenuous and powerful combination of software and hardware ever created has received tremendous buzz from both carriers and consumers and I would say even Nokia has been surprised with the success of its first Maemo powered smartphone and unanimously positive response they were receiving from large majority of participants at its recent Nokia World show in Stuttgart.

Not only consumers but whole mobile industry itself seems somewhat caught by surprise with the release of Nokia N900 and Nokia’s decision to switch its high-end devices from Symbian to Linux based Maemo platform.

But it is not only Maemo, neither the hardware, nor the way it looks, it is openness that offers a huge potential for a flexibility that is not available on other mobile phone operating systems! Of course, Nokia N900 is not first Linux based device out there but what makes N900 different is how Nokia uses Linux and fact that Maemo is not yet another Linux BASED platform, Maemo IS Linux with a touch optimized interface, something that market has been waiting for a years.

"Since we started to show it to larger audience two weeks ago, there has been tremendous buzz and interest. A lot of interest," Ari Jaaksi, vice president for Maemo devices at Nokia, told Reuters on sidelines of a mobile software conference in Amsterdam.

"Now we are finalising the package, software, hardware, marketing campaign. The goal is to get it out in October," Jaaksi said.

The shipments of the Nokia N900, Nokia's latest mobile computer based on open source Maemo 5 software, have now started. The Nokia N900 will be available in retail stores in November with an estimated retail price of EUR 500, excluding sales taxes and subsidies.

"The Nokia N900 has generated a lot of interest since its public launch in August, which has been reflected in the device preorders," says José-Luis Martinez, Vice President, Nseries, Nokia. "What's exciting is the Maemo software, which takes its cues from the desktop computer and offers a full browsing experience like no other handset. We believe the Nokia N900 will be a very compelling device for people who are passionate about technology."

At the heart of the Nokia N900 is its powerful ARM Cortex-A8 processor and up to 1GB of total application memory. Users can browse the internet the way they would on any computer and keep dozens of application windows open simultaneously on the dashboard. The panoramic desktops in the Nokia N900 can be personalized with widgets, contacts and shortcuts. Pictures and videos taken with the 5Mpx Carl Zeiss camera automatically show where they were taken, and users can add their own description tags to make searching the photos even easier. SMS and instant messages are organized as chat flow and people can convenienty switch between the multiple conversation windows. The built-in 32 GB storage is big enough to store up to 7,000 songs or 40 hours of DVD-quality video, and it can be expanded up to 48GB with an external microSD card.

Nokia works closely with the developer community and has recently seen significant innovation happening with Maemo. As a result, people will be able to discover a wide range of games, utilities, themes, panoramic wallpapers and service plug-ins for photo-sharing and messaging for the Nokia N900 through Ovi Store and Maemo Select, starting later in the year. In October Nokia announced official Qt port to Maemo 5. This means developers can use Qt software to target the Nokia N900 and that applications can be easily ported to all Qt's supported platforms including the next Maemo 6 release as well as Symbian.

The Nokia N900 will initially be available in Europe, Middle-East, Russia and North America. It is also possible to order the device from the Nokia Online Store: http://europe.nokia.com/buy-online

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