When Nokia’s new CEO Stephen Elop announced that the Finnish handset maker would dump Symbian and MeeGo and make Windows Phone their primary smartphone operating system he broke a lot of hearts. Symbian, as complicated as it may seem to new users, has many fans around the world. MeeGo on the other hand has a small, but extremely enthusiastic fan base. The only device to actually ship with Nokia’s home grown OS and come with cellular connectivity was the N900. It didn’t sell too well, partly because it was massive, and also because it was labeled a product suited for bleeding edge early adopters. Before Elop became CEO a handful of images leaked of what people around the net are calling the N9, the successor to the N900. Elop could have killed the product after he took control of Nokia … but he didn’t, and now the N9 has hit the FCC. It’ll support all 4 GSM bands and 5 3G bands, meaning it doesn’t matter if you’re on AT&T, T-Mobile, or live in Europe, you will get high speed internet access.
So when will the N9 actually come out? The FCC filing says that the images of the N9 must remain confidential until June 24th, which is 1 month after the first MeeGo conference is scheduled to take place. According to an anonymous tipster who spoke to The Nokia Blog, who apparently has been correct about previous leaks, the N9 will not be announced at said MeeGo conference, but will instead become official in, you guessed it, June. Now we want to know, who is actually going to buy this thing, knowing full well that it has absolutely no future or ecosystem around it? Hardcore Nokia addicts, maybe, but beyond that is there really anyone?
It’s a shame Nokia decided to throw away MeeGo and join the dark side, and the N9 will serve as a final reminder of what could have been.