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World's First Tizen Tablet

DeviceGuru writes "Japanese firm Systena Corp. has announced what appears to be the world's first Tizen-based tablet, and the first Tizen product of any kind. The unnamed Systena Tizen tablet offers high-end features including a 1.4GHz, quad-core Cortex-A9 system-on-chip, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of flash, a 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200-pixel display, 2-megapixel rear-facing and 0.3-megapixel front-facing cameras, and a microSD slot — specs that approach those of the most powerful Android tablets currently on the market. Japanese carrier and major Tizen backer NTT DoCoMo will sell the device, according to a report by TizenExperts. Last month at the Tizen Developers Conference, NTT DoCoMo and Orange promised Tizen smartphone launches in 2013, presumably using upcoming Samsung Tizen phones, but mentioned nothing about tablets."

74 comments

  1. For those of you like me who don't have a clue... by apcullen · · Score: 5, Informative

    WTF Tizen is...

    Basically, Tizen is a cross-architecture, open source software platform based on a comprehensive standards-based HTML5 implementation that was designed to support multiple device segments, including the smartphone, tablet, smart TV, netbook, and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) markets.

    Pasted wholesale from

    http://linuxgizmos.com/tizen-android-game-changer/

  2. What's that name again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In case you forget...
    Tizen-based tablet, Tizen product, Tizen tablet, Tizen backer NTT DoCoMo, TizenExperts, Tizen Developers Conference, Tizen smartphone, Tizen phones

    1. Re:What's that name again? by binarylarry · · Score: 1

      My heart is all A TIZEN.

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    2. Re:What's that name again? by RedHackTea · · Score: 1

      Stop tizen us with your jokes!

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      The G
  3. I put on my robe & wizard hat by atari2600a · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...but can it run Ubuntu? :P

    1. Re:I put on my robe & wizard hat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The answer is define run.

      Tizen is Linux based. So same kernel as Android and Ubuntu. If you can unlock the bootloader most likely no reason why a Ubuntu firmware could not be installed.

      Tizen at this stage does not have virtual machines like Android does that allow Ubuntu to run inside Android. Again you can expect those to come as the platform Applications mature. But since Tizen can run Android applications yes its possible to run Ubuntu inside.

      Result is an answer somewhere between yes and maybe depending on what you mean by run..

    2. Re:I put on my robe & wizard hat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wizards don't run Ubuntu. Joe Bloggs does...

  4. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you for making up for Slashdot's lack.

  5. I for one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I for one support our new tizen overlords

  6. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Funny

    That was my first thought?

    Look up at Japan! It's an OS! It's a CPU! I don't know what the fuck it is! Tizen!

  7. Hardly high end by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    And the Tizen licensing scheme isn't exactly simple...

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  8. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by evilviper · · Score: 5, Informative

    WTF Tizen is...

    The only thing your copy/pasted explanation says, is that it's an open source OS, which seems like it should be obvious from the context.

    A much better explanation is that Tizen is the bastard offspring of MeeGo (Intel/Nokia) and LiMo/SLP/Bada (Samsung).

    If you'd really like to punish yourself, you can see the family tree, here:

    https://github.com/kumadasu/tizen-history/blob/master/tizen-history.pdf

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  9. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Useful information like that is always left out of the summary to ensure click-throughs.

  10. a Tizen architecture diagram... by __aajbyc7391 · · Score: 4, Informative
  11. LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Looks like Samsung is taking their first steps to killing Android and giving Google the finger. Windoze Phone is about to become even more irrelevant too.

    1. Re:LOL by icebike · · Score: 1

      Its clearly a club hanging from Samsung belt. But I doubt they will want to use it to try to build much in the way of consumer devices because the rich application and interoperability that Android already has. I suspect it is a threat which will be used to leverage control of Android away from the Android Alliance so that Samsung can dominate it.

      I think the time for that has come and gone. No sooner had Samsung engineered the near demise of HTC than Sony and ZTE and Huawei, and LG started surging.
       

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      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    2. Re:LOL by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      But I doubt they will want to use it to try to build much in the way of consumer devices because the rich application and interoperability that Android already has.

      I'm not convinced that the biggest companies involved really see "rich application and interoperability" as a good thing.

      If they're not going to sell these things in both unlocked and Wi-Fi only configurations, they're not looking out for us. If they do, they'll be celebrated and popular.

      They're going to fight this battle as long as possible, but sooner or later the notion of tying your device to one carrier or unitary corporate ecosystem will become an historic artifact of the early days of mobile computing. They'll try to tell us otherwise, but sooner or later, they're going to lose.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:LOL by Tough+Love · · Score: 0

      BTW, why did Android/Google feel it necessary to screw randomly with the standard Unixy top level dir layout? Just to piss everybody off? They succeeeded.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    4. Re:LOL by Microlith · · Score: 1

      Because Android was closed source during initial development up until Google bought it and opened it, so they did whatever the hell they wanted.

    5. Re:LOL by DrXym · · Score: 1

      More likely it's a bargaining chip. Samsung can pretend, semi-seriously to have a viable alternative to Android but if they get whatever they want in negotiations Tizen will pushed off the nearest cliff.

    6. Re:LOL by DrXym · · Score: 2

      What is a "standard application"?

    7. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they're not going to sell these things in both unlocked and Wi-Fi only configurations, they're not looking out for us.

      You expect them to sell a Wi-Fi only phone? A phone that doesn't make phone calls?

    8. Re:LOL by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      It's a tablet. Do you see the word "tablet" in the summary?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    9. Re:LOL by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      BTW, why did Android/Google feel it necessary to screw randomly with the standard Unixy top level dir layout? Just to piss everybody off? They succeeeded.

      \

      Message to Googlers with mod points: downmodding critical comments, especially when correct, is evil. That way lies the likes of Microsoft and Apple. Oh wait, you think that's cool. Ok then, feel free to mod away you fucking hippocrits.

      --
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  12. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by guises · · Score: 1

    I had thought that it was the successor to Meego, but Wikipedia says otherwise. Apparently it has some of the same people, and some similarities, but is a separate project.

  13. That is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a nice teasing for Tizen.

  14. Needs more bezel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Needs more bezel

  15. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by icebike · · Score: 2

    Its linux and webkit in a shotgun wedding designed by Intel and Samsung because Android was getting so big those players were getting scared.

    It may see the light of day in commercial deployment, but I suspect it is really just hanging around for Samsung to use as a threat if it doesn't get its way in dominating the Android Alliance.

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    Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
  16. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by cstec · · Score: 2
    From the Tizen article:

    The Android brand is no longer important.

    Best of luck with that.

  17. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by Microlith · · Score: 1

    I do like that map. Though Mer 0.17 has nothing to do with Mer Core but name, it does show that Tizen truly has nothing to do with MeeGo other than Intel's involvement in both.

  18. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by dbIII · · Score: 1

    It removes some of the overhead of android and gives access to truckloads of applications that don't require much work to port (in comparison to other platforms).
    I can see it happening because it doesn't need a lot of resources to get it going.

  19. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by rtfa-troll · · Score: 4, Informative

    Thank you for making up for Slashdot's lack.

    What he said is true but it misses the main points. The main thing you need to know is that it's based on the Meego system that powered Nokia's last successful phone, the Nokia N9. Like most of the new systems coming in (FirefoxOS for example) there is no hope of it immediately catching up Android and iOS on apps. HTML5 is becoming the cross platform way to quickly get that range so that's what they always push.

    Tizen is more than that; It's NTT DoCoMo's new main smartphone platform and since NTT DoCoMo is where much of mobile innovation starts that makes it important. As ever, the best analysis is he one from Tommi Ahonen. NTT DoCoMo was strongly into Symbian and pushing Tizen will be their revenge for it being killed.

    Tizen can support QT apps so the same ones that will work on Sailfish and Blackberry can easily work here. Also Tizen seems to be source code compatible with Bada which has been very successful in the newer mobile phone markets.

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  20. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by Tough+Love · · Score: 2

    It removes some of the overhead of android and gives access to truckloads of applications that don't require much work to port (in comparison to other platforms).

    Yep, that's it. Google's obsession with Java and crappy interpreters not to mention weirdo roll yer own application framework leaving out things like standard application exit is inexplicable.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  21. Another pain in the ass for devs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We got iStuff, Android, 2 different windows versions for tablets (x86/RT), soon mozilla with roll its own version, don't forget ubuntu's version for tablets and phones. So now tizen. (And don't forget QNX for tablets from RIM) Nice pain in the ass for any developer to create apps for all of this. They could focus on mozilla, almost same standards (html5) but nooooo, let's born another 4-5-6 different OSes for fun. They will screw up this market so hard

  22. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by Microlith · · Score: 3, Informative

    The main thing you need to know is that it's based on the Meego system that powered Nokia's last successful phone, the Nokia N9

    No it's not. Tizen is based on some parts LiMO and large parts Samsung's SLP combined with a general transition from DEB to RPM. It has nothing in common with the N9, which doesn't actually run MeeGo but what would be better called Maemo 6.

    since NTT DoCoMo is where much of mobile innovation starts

    NTT DoCoMo are a laggard in mobile technology by most measures. The Galapagos phones that they touted in Japan were advanced for a while but they were all caught off guard by smartphones, particularly the iPhone. Now NTT, their parent company, they tend to be pretty innovative, but not in the mobile space.

    Tizen can support QT apps

    The proper thing to say would be "Qt supports Tizen." Tizen itself will not include Qt libraries so any app that uses them will need to include them in their package or statically link.

  23. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by evilviper · · Score: 1

    It's not the closest of relationships, but you might want to note that little arrow going from MeeGo 1.2 to TizenIVI Preview.

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    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  24. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by twomi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When was Android last mentioned by Samsung? Their brand lies now with Galaxy, not Android. Samsung Galaxy is basically an industry synonym for Android (high-end) phone today. They likely intend to use this brand value to eventually ship Tizen phones as Galaxy phones, and if skinned with same UI and some Android compatibility layer for apps, nobody is missing Android.

  25. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by jrumney · · Score: 1

    Also Tizen seems to be source code compatible [bada.com] with Bada which has been very successful in the newer mobile phone markets.

    Where exactly are these "newer mobile phone markets" where Bada has been very successful?

    The markets in developing countries I'm aware of fall into the following camps:

    1. Android is dominant with iPhone popular at the high end as a status symbol
    2. Blackberry is dominant
    3. Feature phones are still dominant
  26. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by gl4ss · · Score: 1

    that commentary is SERIOUSLY weighed.

    "This is the year Tizen will ship. Tizen at least initially will feature Samsung's top phones, so imagine the Galaxy S4 but running an evolution of what we saw with MeeGo on Nokia's award-winning N9." take with a grain.. not a grain, take with a sack of salt and five mushrooms. it's so fucking high s***, it's as if he deliberately forgets how similar "yeah this new os xws will be teh shit and our main line! just wait! billions of devices!" promises went before.. hell, with meego at helm.

    he is a bad analyst. that much I know from working with mobiles for nearly 10 years.

    (bada doesn't have shit over android in sales... even in emerging markets.. there's zero reason to believe samsung to drop their main cash cow OS)

    docomo wanted symbian dead as much as others, tbh.

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    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  27. Re: For those of you like me who don't have a clue by Miamicanes · · Score: 1

    > since NTT DoCoMo is where much of mobile innovation starts

    Seriously?!? Japan is probably the only country on Earth whose mobile phone network is more locked down & arbitrarily gimped by carriers than America's. NTT even makes fsck'ing *Verizon* look like the shining light of open, interoperable Android freedom.

  28. specs that approach those of the most powerful by citizenr · · Score: 1

    those are specs of $150 Chinese Tablet (1K moq)

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  29. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by symbolset · · Score: 1

    This is an argument like APL vs FORTRAN, right?

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  30. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by symbolset · · Score: 1

    One of the funny things about open source is that the user is always welcome to go away if something else suits them better. That ethos works well with Google, where they expect if they don't give the best search results today and every day - you'll click away to their competitor. It drives them to excel and they like the spur. It doesn't work so well for Microsoft where chaining the customer to an oar is the first order of business.

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  31. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by rtb61 · · Score: 1

    Samsung dominating the Android Alliance, "You so funny". Right now the hardest thing I am having to do is choose which Android smart phone, so many choices, so close, mostly separated by just one specific feature. Each time I am about to make a choice a new Android phone is announced, to be released soon throwing the decision out again. Screen size 4.5 or 5 inches, now maybe 5.5 or 6 inches, waterproof, stylus, ir blaster and just to make it more interesting hints in substantive drops in price of top end smart phones. Samsung had it's time in the sun but that is already over. Sony is making a strong comeback, Huawei is pushing hard, Motorola is tenaciously holding on and that is just for a start. I do so like the idea of waterproof and bigger screen (the phablet seems destined to stay) is becoming real tempting, damn I just might toss a coin to get the choice over and done with.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  32. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by Nerdfest · · Score: 2

    Aren't they releasing stock Android versions of the S4? People do miss 'real' Android. The Samsung skin takes away far more value than it adds, in my opinion, and obviously many others as well.

  33. Failure to innovate by stevez67 · · Score: 0

    And, it's just another tablet in an already saturated market.

  34. 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution by ciderbrew · · Score: 2

    A screen size I can live with. Someone in that company gets it.

    1. Re:1920 x 1200-pixel resolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wont sell before they give the resolution a non-descriptive, intentionally vague name. How about "HD Super Duper High Resolution Tablet Display". (hmm.. guess there's a reason I'm not in marketing).

    2. Re:1920 x 1200-pixel resolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't it be awesome if you could buy a laptop with 1920x1200?

      Oh, how I miss the days before 1080 only laptops...

  35. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .... the N9, which doesn't actually run MeeGo but what would be better called Maemo 6.

    Funny, my N9 tells me it does .. http://postimg.org/image/llreqzblp/

  36. You call that a camera? by geekmux · · Score: 1

    "...2-megapixel rear-facing and 0.3-megapixel front-facing cameras..."

    Uh...I hate to be assuming and/or downright stereotypical here, but isn't Japan kinda...ah...known for it's camera enthusiasts?

    Perhaps it rivals tablets in other specs, but I think I left my 0.3 megapixel camera back in 1997...

    1. Re:You call that a camera? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      You seem to have failed to understand the words "front-facing". It's a VGA camera for the purpose of videoconferencing. At typical mobile data rates, that's a realistic resolution to support for this purpose.

      --
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    2. Re:You call that a camera? by Anonymous+Psychopath · · Score: 1

      That, and if someone uses a 10" tablet as a camera they probably aren't the sort that cares much about picture quality anyway.

      --

      Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

    3. Re:You call that a camera? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You seem to have failed to understand that at any resolution, mobile data rates mean that people prefer to videoconference while connected to a WiFi network. The most important competitor, Apple, has standardized on 1.2MP front facing cameras in both phones and tablets.

      The 2MP rear facing camera is also pathetic. I mean, I know megapixels aren't everything, and tablets don't have to have the greatest cameras in the world, but a 1600x1200 sensor for the primary camera in a device that's to be released in 2013? That's not good.

  37. ScummVM.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Has already been ported to Tizen

  38. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by DuckDodgers · · Score: 1

    There are tons of choices, but as a practical matter Samsung is dominating sales.

    People are speculating that Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility has Samsung and other Android partners worried. They're afraid that sooner or later Google will put the necessary resources into making sure Motorola has the best Android devices, and start crowding other Android vendors out of the market. If Google starts to do that, every Android sale by Samsung (and HTC, Sony, Huawei, LG, etc...) gives one more person using Google services on mobile, which increases Google ad revenue, which gives Google even more resources to spend ensuring that Motorola has the best Android products.

    So the speculators have a theory that Samsung is focusing a token effort on Bada and Tizen and other vendors are exploring similar Android exit options in case that happens. I can understand the idea, but I don't think it is serious - if Samsung is annoyed by a drop in sales and they start promoting non-Android products, I think it will just hurt sales more. I like Tizen - but then I had heard of it before this article came out, unlike anyone in my social circle outside of Slashdot.

  39. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by DuckDodgers · · Score: 1

    That used to be Google's standard. Now it's less clear. They haven't provided an API for accessing Google Plus, and they're killing XMPP support for messaging. Those are moves towards the Apple and Microsoft -style walled garden approach to locking in their customers.

    Android is open source, so Tizen can incorporate an Android software compatibility layer. However, in order to use the official Google applications for Android - the Maps app, Google Now, the official Gmail app, etc.... - you have to agree to certain contractual terms and I think if Samsung sold phones with Tizen and an Android compatibility layer, Google would yank the official Google apps off of all of the actual Samsung Android products.

  40. The tizen, give it to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I desperately want to load tizen onto my galaxy s. Cyanogenmod leaves me with ~35MB of free ram for apps (enough to load 1 webpage at a time it seems) and the official samsung rom is gingerbread.

    Sailfish, Tizen, Plan9...anything running natively - let me put you on my phone. Once I've verified that it works on my hardware, I will pay you real dollars.

    1. Re:The tizen, give it to me by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      why do you think they will take less memory?

      me thinks you need to take a bit out of that cyanogen. leaving flash with just 35mb of free sounds plausible but 35mbytes of ram sounds like a strange config for official gingerbread phone. what phone is it anyways?

      (if you're stuffing it with 4.1... why the fuck?)

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      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:The tizen, give it to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a galaxy s. The dalvik vm is incredibly heavy. When the plan9 guys disabled dalvik to port it over, the phone started up (from power button to their homescreen) in something like 8 seconds.

      Yeah, I'm stuffing 4.1 onto it. The previous releases are a morass of usability problems.

  41. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by jbolden · · Score: 1

    Samsung has a larger marketing budget then all other cell phone companies combined. If people not knowing what Tizen is presents a problem Samsung can fix it.

  42. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by gl4ss · · Score: 1

    hey that's actually an useful map. helps when trying to explain tizen to some people.

    btw imagine the amount of money put into the whole mess by now, it felt like an employment program 5 years ago already...

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    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  43. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When was Android last mentioned by Samsung? Their brand lies now with Galaxy, not Android. Samsung Galaxy is basically an industry synonym for Android (high-end) phone today. They likely intend to use this brand value to eventually ship Tizen phones as Galaxy phones, and if skinned with same UI and some Android compatibility layer for apps, nobody is missing Android.

    dunno.. how about the last time they released an android phone.. like, last week.

    and I have no doubt that you can quite easily find Samsung people who will say that all their phones will run Tizen in 2 years. I can tell you however that numbers walk and personal hopes talk. in 2006 Tampere, Finland you had no shortage of people saying that in 2008 maemo will be nokias main smartphone platform. so take it with a grain of salt and execs are not likely to mess with big seller lines. in other words the android experience with tizen has to be indistinguishable from android phone, including google play support - it might just as well be an android phone then.

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    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  44. high end? by bWareiWare.co.uk · · Score: 1

    They are very average specs for a branded Android tablet.

    Still good to have more choice though.

  45. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by DuckDodgers · · Score: 1

    Even if they know what it is, they may not care to get it. Many people already have a large financial investment in existing Android applications, a strong liking for the official Google apps for Android (especially Maps and Navigation, but also some of the others), and familiarity with the Android user interface. Plus of course they know the Android application store has a massive selection of applications.

    How can Tizen compete with that?

  46. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by jbolden · · Score: 1

    Tizen runs Android applications. Besides we know from sales data that very few people have an investment in Android applications.

    As for the UI... over 1/2 the people using Android are using Samsung's UI (TouchWiz) which may be part of Tizen. Anyone who doesn't like TouchWiz and likes the official UI and cares, they aren't possible to switch.

  47. Tizen on Cortex? by unixisc · · Score: 1

    Wasn't Tizen supposed to be Intel's project on having a native environment for the Atom? The successor to Meego - moving away from Qt based Meego and to a more neutral development platform?

    In which case, shouldn't any Tizen platforms be Atom based? For any Cortex or other ARM based platforms, wouldn't something like Android, Ubuntu Tablet, Plasma Active or something else be more natively supported?

  48. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So? The naming was a marketing thing since Nokia were transitioning and merging Maemo with Meego and wanted to use that name. But the thing is it was still based on their Maemo 5 code with a few bits imported from Meego to get some compatibility with it. It really is just Maemo 6 rebranded. The version after that was to be a true Meego release, before Elop killed the project. There were actually proper Meego releases for a number of devices including the N900 and the code used for those isn't what was used for the N9, one of the more obvious indicators that the N9 doesn't run true Meego is that is uses deb packages, like Maemo, rather than rpms which Meego proper uses.

  49. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by rtb61 · · Score: 1

    Which all boils down to, still not so much attacking each others market share but offering a wide range of choice and ruthlessly attacking Apple's market share and keeping M$ way out in the boondocks when it comes to market share. Paying attention to the Japanese market at this time might well forecast what is going to happen to the rest of the world.

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    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  50. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft has spent billions on Windows Phone 8 marketing, and that hasn't exactly worked out well for them, has it?

    You need to be advertising a product that people actually want, or they won't buy it regardless.

  51. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by jbolden · · Score: 1

    I don't see how this has much to do with Apple. Apple's strategy is at the $600 price point. The more complex it becomes for applications to target $600 Android phones that more that helps Apple.

    Microsoft wanted to go up market. But Nokia has chosen to focus mid-market because Windows Phone runs better on worse hardware than Android. Tizen could potentially be a counter move there, but I'm not sure Tizen will be ready in time. I'd suspect that Nokia is down at the $120 price point by 2015 and I don't think Tizen will be able to counter soon enough.

  52. Re:For those of you like me who don't have a clue. by jbolden · · Score: 1

    Microsoft has spent billions on Windows Phone 8 marketing, and that hasn't exactly worked out well for them, has it?

    They haven't spent billions on windows phone marketing unless you are counting subidies which were mainly being offered by carriers to counter the threat of an Apple monopoly. And yes that worked out very well for them. It created a situation where Windows phone in 2012 was supply not demand constrained.