Is Nokia doomed?

If you're coming late to the party, you really need to turn up with something special. Nokia, it seems, has dropped the ball in a big way with the new N97, the $1129 handset upon which it's staking its hand on in this round of the phone wars. The new flagship phone has received a pasting from Gizmodo:

The N97 is Nokia's attempt to stand tall in an unfamiliar, hostile world populated by the iPhone, Pre and Android the only way it knows how: by throwing the kitchen sink at them. If this is it, they're doomed.

Strong words, and slightly surprising that it's so bad, or maybe the bar has been raised so much that it would have been good - but about two years ago?

Reviewer Matt Buchanan highlights the woeful Symbian S60 Operating System, dodgy viewing angle, poor keyboard feedback, underwhelming screen, resistive touchscreen (old-fashioned compared to the capacative touch screens found in the Palm Pre, iPhone and Android phones), and an underpowered processor driving it all.

Positives included great overall feel, expandable storage, two-way FM transmitter, and an OK 5MP camera.

 Is this really the best Nokia can do? Their future in this segment doesn't look too good - and this is from a phone that's 30-40% more expensive to buy outright than its immediate competition.

Furthermore, since Gizmodo first posted their review yesterday, a company called Generator Research is predicting Nokia will crumble in the next few years and Apple will pass it in marketshare in just two years. Ouch.

Perhaps they should rethink their strategy about not using Android? And that massive N97 advert on Gizmodo (see right), has to hurt.

[Gizmodo]