Why can't we pay for S60 upgrades like we pay for Windows?

A question that often gets asked is: "Will my Nokia ABCD be upgradeable to S60v3 Feature Pack 1 or 2?"

We’ve been told numerous times: no, no and NO.

Financially it makes sense. A few engineers would have to spend their time to make sure a new OS would work on an old phone. Why would Nokia spend money and not expect anything in return?

T-Mobile Dash (HTC Excalibur) owners recently got the good news that they will be able to upgrade to Windows Mobile 2006. Pricing hasn’t been announced. I wouldn’t be surprised to see customers being charged a fee, but that’s just speculation on my part.

People who buy prebuilt computers don’t expect Microsoft to mail them a DVD every time a new version of their OS is released. Most people buy a new computer when it is time to upgrade, but there are a few who like their machine enough to go out and purchase that new Vista DVD. Apply this similar purchasing model to different versions of S60 on our mobile. Most of us will buy new phones that have the latest version of S60 on it. What about people who don’t want a new phone? Why can’t Nokia sell upgrades to those people?

I spoke with Darla Mack recently and I point blank asked her: Would you pay for S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 for you current phone? The answer was a definite yes. I know it’s something I would do too.

Let’s play with some numbers. Imagine Nokia sold 1,000,000 N73′s. One percent of those users are extremely hard core. They love their phone more than their significant other.

1% of 1,000,000 is 10,000. These 10,000 customers pay $30 to get the latest version of S60. That’s $300,000. Money that can be poured back in to research and development.

I’m not a developer. I wouldn’t know how difficult it would be to make S60v3FP2 work on my E61 or everyone else’s N73. If a Nokia developer could let the community know it would be greatly appreciated.

What do you guys think?

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

korokmu

Yes . I’m totally agree with you and Darla . I will pay for an upgrade on my nokia n93i .
Alessandro

Ciao Stefan,

there is a big different between the computer and telephony world. The mobile/telephony world is highly regulated. Why? Simple, your phone must make an emergency call. With this I mean that mobile/telephony equipment goes through a set of tests and that need to certify their quality.
As you know before a mobile phone is released it goes through the FCC certification (in US). There are severe tests and so a software upgrade should not degrade that certified quality.

So while is technically possible, I think it’s really difficult to have hundreds of mobile phones tested on every single configuration possible.

Alessandro
Stefan Constantinescu

how would a software upgrade screw up an fcc regulated device?

there is no fcc in finland
Jonathan Greene

better yet a fresh unlocked one… there’s no reason why it can’t work. They like to sell more $500 phones
cooli

Well as now users can do firmware update on their own via NSU, why not a software/firmware upgrade to latest Feature packs if users really want to get it/pay for it?
ragz

i would definitely pay to upgrade to newer versions of S60…. maybe we can get a petition to nokia… same idea for getting continuous auto focus as an option on the N93i…. wht do u think?
JonnyBruha

I have a hunch that Windows and Symbian are completely different beasts when it comes to updating feature packs and the like. Each Nokia model usually has some pretty unique hardware and every Nokia phone has a specific firmware. I think Windows can get away with updating their phones with things like this much easier, since the models don’t really change across the board. Where Nokia would have to write a new firmware with ALL of the new features of FP1 for every single model, Windows could probably release 3 or 4 variants of the update, since there aren’t nearly as many hardware changes as Nokia’s models.

Another point to mention is that Windows on our PC handles hardware much differently that phones do. Windows is extremely open to whatever USB device you plug into it and as enough of a software base to be able to run that hardware accordingly. I have a feeling Windows mobile may even be the same way so that only one version of Windows Mobile 6 was written, with the ability to configure itself for whatever hardware changes may be present on whatever device it was installed. Try to flash an N73 with an N95′s FP1 firmware (or ANY firmware for that matter). That’s an instant ticket to brick heaven and praying to the iunlock.com gods that they can bring it back to life for you.

I’m not a developer either, so I could be completely wrong. I’m just piecing together what seems logical based on the performances of the three different operating systems.
Phil

That’s a very good question Stefan, and I got that question ALOT at 3GSM. S60 already has the capabilities to be upgraded. However, it’s up to the device manufacturer if they want to offer the upgrade. So far to my knowledge, Nokia/Sendo/Siemens/Panasonic/Samsung/LG/Lenovo etc… have not offered this upgrade. So it’s not an S60 issue, it’s a device issue.
cybette

JonnyBruha has the right idea. To integrate the different hardware/firmware/software configurations is not simply just pick-and-choose, throw them together and it’ll work. A lot of customization and adaptation work is involved to make a release work on a specific hardware. I don’t work in a product group so I don’t know exactly what tweaks are involved, but when we have to (modify our software/middleware to) support the different permutations of hardware configurations and features, it can sometimes be quite a PITA… and we are just one of numerous apps that goes into a phone.

It might be feasible for a few selected models, but not for every single device. However if we make it available for one model, customers who own another model will demand (ok, firmly request) that we make it available for their devices as well. How do we decide which ones can get upgrades? How many upgrades can a device get? FP1 to FP2 to FP3 and beyond, or stop at FP2? Where do we draw the line?

I don’t think it’s simply a question of whether it’s fiscally sound. Even if it only comes down to finances, I don’t think it’ll be profitable, but I could be wrong.
Joanna

If Nokia didnt offers upgrade, 1% of hardcore users will buy new phone USD500:

1%x10,000×500=500,000
500,000>300,000

If Nokia offers, 90% hardcore users will never buy a new phone till SP5:

90%x10,000x500x3-(300,000×3)=12.6M net loss
geek

If nokia doesn’t offer upgrade, people start to see that windows mobile actually offers an upgrade path. Nokia loses market share to WM.

I’m certainly leaning this way after hearing about the upgradability of WM.
Stefan Constantinescu

Well Geek they’ll only offer upgrades one version up.

So people with E61′s for example would only be able to upgrade to S60v3 FP1

People with the N95 can gt FP2

Nokia pops out a new feature pack or version number every 6 months. that’s discouraging to a lot of people.

i’m not asking for S60 6th Edition Feature Pack 2, in 4 years, to be made for my E61. What I am saying is give us at least a +1 upgrade.

that sounds more reasonable.
Stefan Constantinescu

phil: doesn’t nokia make the hardware?
geek

Hell, I’d even be happy if they just released the v3 firmware for e60 that has already been out for months on the e61. The Symbian version itself doesn’t mean a whole lot to me.
Anonymous

I am sick of nokia s60 upgrade issues – wife has S60-original E65 and there’s a few apps which I’d really like to install for her, but they don’t exist. I have an E71 and luckily most apps on ovi store are available. I would happily pay to get S60-FP1 on the E65 to extend its useful life. The E66 is not really that different!

People say that this forces people to upgrade their phones. When this article was written people might do that, but now of course they are wise to the upgrade “treadmill” and with very good (better) alternatives such as android and iphone, so Nokia’s smartphone share fell rapidly. There’s only two games in town now for smartphones, android and iphone. Nokia wasted at least 18 months switching maemo to meego (from gtk to qt), alienating members of their community in the process.

The whole thing has been a mess for years.

Although I’ve had nokia phones for years, and the 770 and n800 tablets, my next smartphone will run android.