Looking back - The beginning of the end for Symbian
Usually its hard to pinpoint when something's popularity starts to wane, the exact moment which signals the start of the end of an era. In the case of Symbian we can pinpoint it to a single date in time, the 19th of June 2009, but first a little history....
Many people would credit the public announcement of the Apple iPhone in January 2007 as the start of the end for Symbian, I don't believe this to be the case, back then it was riding high, owned mostly by Nokia and used in a huge range of devices in both the consumer and enterprise markets. Worldwide, Symbian held massive market share and had all but seen off the challenge from Windows Mobile and other smartphone operating systems. With the availability of the N95 just a few months away, the future looked rosy for Symbian and it appeared to have little to fear from Apple, in truth the iPhone was a warning that Symbian needed to adapt.
Nokia's N95 went on sale in April 2007. With a 5 megapixel camera, built in GPS, WiFi and accelerometer amongst its features, the N95 was a device ahead of its time. It wasn't without its faults, a lack of RAM being the main one, but all in all the N95 was a highly rated device with both the media and consumers. Unfortunately over the next two years Nokia stood still, releasing several updated devices based on its N95 flagship that added little to the experience, a multitude of low-mid range devices and scoring a couple of hits in the enterprise market with the E90 and E71 before releasing its first Symbian S60 5th edition touchscreen handset the 5800.
Aimed at the mid range market, the Nokia 5800 wasn't outstanding but it was a great little device, especially for Nokia's first attempt at a mass market Symbian touchscreen device, yet to the surprise of no one in December 2008 before the 5800 had even reached the shops in the UK, came the news Symbian fans had been waiting for, Nokia announced its new flagship device the N97.
So now we've arrived at the 19th of June 2009, at the time of writing, two years ago yesterday, a momentous day, the first nail in the coffin for Symbian, the day the N97 went on sale.
I certainly don't remember everything about that day, but one thing I do remember about the 19th of June 2009 was that I was grumpy, in fact I was very grumpy.
I had pre-ordered the N97 direct from Nokia's UK online shop back in April months before it was due out, and here we were on release day and it hadn't arrived, worse still it wasn't going to arrive because as a quick call to Nokia revealed it hadn't even been despatched, even though I'd paid for next day delivery and they'ed taken my money, this was more than enough to give me the grumps, but what really tipped me over the edge was the fact that a friend had ordered his from them on the 17th June and it had arrived on the 18th a day early! Nokia promised I'd receive it soon, but being a Friday... soon was going mean Tuesday at the earliest, ok so it's not long to wait, but I was impatient.
Another phone call, this time to the Nokia retail shop in Winchester, "yes sir we have the black N97 in stock" and the grumpiness starts to fade as I jump in the car and start the twenty mile drive to Winchester. Not the easiest place to park Winchester, so I decide to use the park and ride service from outside the city.
Reaching the shop, someone else is playing with their sample, so instead of waiting I pop up the road to the O2 shop to have a play with the iPhone 3GS which Apple had released that same day, although I was impressed with it, I didn't really want to switch from Vodafone to O2 to get one, and hey, I was a Nokia fan not an Apple fan, that 3GS was never going to be as good as the N97. Back at the Nokia shop, I can finally have a play with the N97, and ten minutes later I am back on the bus heading towards the car park with my shiny new N97 in a bag on my lap.
Back in the car, I take a quick picture of the N97 to email to my brother, and drive home to play with my new toy.
The rest is history, many articles have been written about the N97 and it's failings, some sites even decided not to review it until it had received a couple of firmware updates. What should have been one of Nokia's and Symbian's finest devices, turned into a disaster for both.
Needless to say I was disappointed with it and a few weeks later I sold my N97 and purchased an iPhone 3GS, it was the last time my main sim was in a Symbian phone.
The N97 didn't kill Symbian but in the hearts and minds of many, geeks and consumers alike, it was the beginning of the end. With its popularity waning and market share collapsing, less than two years after the N97's release Nokia announced that Symbian was to be phased out.
