How many times have you bought an operator locked, branded handset expecting it to be the device it actually was and not something that was loaded with the usual "crapware" - as most branded, customized software are termed?
This was a common occurrence across most brands. Operators were given the liberty to tinker with the phone's firmware. This resulted in users locked to one network usually ending up with heavily customized handsets - complete with operator specific services forcefully embedded into the phone. Nokia seems to have had enough of this forceful thrusting of customized stuff -- and has subtly announced that its Maemo platform would see less of operator intrusion into the device software.
Nokia seems to be taking a stand where it, rather than the operator, would dictate the terms of the level of customization that goes into its devices. This is also particularly important for the consumers, as they would not need to resort to methods like debranding which is a great excuse for operators to "void" your warranty, in case you brick or damage your phone whilst debranding.
This is what David Rivas, Nokia's vice president for devices R&D, had said when he was asked about operator customization: "Very clearly Apple, Android are a whole lot less about providing customization to the operators and a whole lot more about providing a really cool, compelling value proposition to the end-consumer. We have an opportunity that we are going to take advantage of, with Maemo platform to play the game a little bit more along those lines than with Symbian lines."
We are still unsure how things would work out between operators and Nokia if they resort to such a stance. Will Nokia's stature as the world's biggest phone maker be enough to "force" operators to soften their stance on the customization levels? With the Maemo based N900 ready for sale in October, we would soon find that out!
This was a common occurrence across most brands. Operators were given the liberty to tinker with the phone's firmware. This resulted in users locked to one network usually ending up with heavily customized handsets - complete with operator specific services forcefully embedded into the phone. Nokia seems to have had enough of this forceful thrusting of customized stuff -- and has subtly announced that its Maemo platform would see less of operator intrusion into the device software.
Nokia seems to be taking a stand where it, rather than the operator, would dictate the terms of the level of customization that goes into its devices. This is also particularly important for the consumers, as they would not need to resort to methods like debranding which is a great excuse for operators to "void" your warranty, in case you brick or damage your phone whilst debranding.
This is what David Rivas, Nokia's vice president for devices R&D, had said when he was asked about operator customization: "Very clearly Apple, Android are a whole lot less about providing customization to the operators and a whole lot more about providing a really cool, compelling value proposition to the end-consumer. We have an opportunity that we are going to take advantage of, with Maemo platform to play the game a little bit more along those lines than with Symbian lines."
We are still unsure how things would work out between operators and Nokia if they resort to such a stance. Will Nokia's stature as the world's biggest phone maker be enough to "force" operators to soften their stance on the customization levels? With the Maemo based N900 ready for sale in October, we would soon find that out!
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