n770
Nokia announced its first pseudo-nonphone-PDA, or “Internet Tablet” as the press release calls it (specs are already public).
What makes the release very important is the fact that this is not a Symbian-based product (like the ubiquitous Series 60 phones). Nope, this baby uses Linux as its operating system.
Which means that producing software for this leverages existing developer base and existing tools. Which should bring lots of interesting applications in short order. Especially when a full-scale development environment is already available.
And the price is on the sweet side as well, first estimates hover around $350.
And at the same time the company also announces that it will not enforce patents in the Linux kernel. A good start in a very controversial field.
[Mandatory disclaimer time: And no, despite yours truly working for Nokia, this is a product of a whole different business unit. And I had no part in designing it. But am quite interested in playing with
it and porting stuff.]
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