Cingular to launch Nokia N75 launch in April: Freedom not included
By Stefan Constantinescu on Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at 3:57 PM PST In Devices
Word on the street now has the hotly-anticipated Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N75 — the first phone out of Espoo with UMTS 850 and 1900 in tow, not to mention the first new S60 device officially launched on an American network in quite some time — should finally hit streets in April. The bad news? The delays appear to have been caused at least in part by AT&T (NYSE: T)’s request to remove the ability to stream any music not being hawked by the carrier itself or one of its partners — Yahoo! and Napster, that is. Worse yet, there will allegedly be no ability to add apps to do so (at least for a few days after launch, at which point we suppose it’ll be unceremoneously cracked for all to enjoy). For what it’s worth, some folks in Nokia are apparently not terribly pleased with Cingular’s demands; may we recommend a fully unlocked version be waiting for us in Nokia’s flagship stores around the same time as the carrier-subsidized launch?
Couldn’t have said it better myself Chris!
At least http://www.symbian-guru.com was able to install S60 apps, but not some Java ones.. hope at least S60 can be installed, otherwise Cingulars cripling of the phone is just outrageous! I’ve been waiting for this phone to come out so that I could buy it for my wife and then use it myself.. lol..
From what I have been told, due to the exclusive agreement on this phone, the Flagship stores will indeed have branded/locked N75s at launch. That’s not set in stone, obviously, but it’s what I’ve heard from several separate sources.
I was able to install S60 apps, as well as java, and use S60 Internet Radio, which is what I believe to be claimed to be disabled in this post. However, I know that I also had a dated firmware on my device.