Nokia's N97 Does Not Kill iPhone, Here Is How

There is a lot of buzz today about the iPhone "killer", Nokia's N97 at Nokia's annual conference for themselves, Nokia World . As much as I would like Apple to get some real competitors, this is not it.

Here are 3 reasons why:

1. Price Point. This phone is priced to start at $700, the iPhone is priced at $200. Granted, post-subsidies it might come down to $350, but given two very similar phones, I think most people will still opt for the iPhone.

2. App store. The Nokia phone is allowing 3rd party developers to distribute applications through their traditional "Download" application. What this lacks is 1. deep integration into the phone and 2. a way to pay for applications. Might I suggest doing some sort of partnership with PayPal or Amazon?

3. Size. Bigger, fatter, heavier.

This is starting to get pathetic. The Blackberry Storm was a let-down, the G-Phone was a flop, and now even Nokia is completely paralized by a phone that was created almost 2 years ago. Come on guys, get your act together. If we want a mobile revolution, we're going to need everyone to chip in. Here is what everyone that wants a shot at Apple needs to do:

1. Worship developers.

None of the other big mobile manufacturers have a viable app store. Right now, the user has to know how to physically go around and find applications on their own. This is horrible, the reason why the iPhone App Store is so successful is because it caters to impulse buying and downloading. To one-up the iPhone App Store, the rest of you guys (Blackberry, Windows, Android, and Symbian) need to come together and create an app store and distribution channel together. You need partnerships with every payment processing service; PayPal, Amazon, and Google. It's not hard guys, stop being lazy and innovate.

2. Break the price point.

The only reason why Palm is still in the game is because they broke the $100 barrier. These smart phones need to be f-ing FREE. We do not need a 5 megapixel camera in our phone, we need internet connectivity at an affordable price point. Make the iPhone the premium product, not your own entry-level competitors.

3. Touch Screen EVERYTHING

Stop with the QWERTY junk. The iPhone touch screen is far superior to tacticle feedback. Like Henry Ford said, "If I asked what people wanted, they would have said faster horses." Apple succeeds because it knows that people are stupid and are going to want stupid features, like a keyboard. If you use my application, iType (shameless plug), you can see that people can get up to 40 WPM (my co-founder) on the iPhone, that's without spelling correction. Given that it is highly possible to type well on a touch screen and that screen space is the biggest value-add to any mobile device, it is STUPIDLY obvious that you need to switch off the tacticle keyboard.

Sources:
[Engaget]
[Gizmodo]
[Scobleizer]