Siemens Screws Up
I just read this article about Siemens in The Reg which breaks the news that Siemens is going to slip the launch of their SX1 Symbian Series 60 phone until November. Wow. In a phrase? They *really* screwed up.
The phone was supposed to launch in the first half, then slipped to Q3, now on to Q4. Well that would've been fine if the rest of the world had just stopped, but it hasn't. In July, people who were balking at the size and odd styling of the Nokia 3650 would've been lining up to grab the Siemens SX1 (called the SexOne but us in the #mobitopia chat room). It was smaller, had a bigger screen and some other benefits as well.
However, delaying for 4 or 5 months is really going to hurt them. I don't know *anyone* who will go out and get the oddly configured SX1 instead of waiting a month for the insanely great Nokia 6600, which is smaller, nicer looking and has a rev better version of both the Symbian OS and Java. Now Nokia may slip, but even if I have to wait until January, I'd rather do that than waste my money on a less capable phone (especially when my 3650 is serving me well right now with essentially the same stats).
Urgh. Like Andrew said in the story, Nokia *needs* competitors to its phones for the platform to succeed, so it's a real shame that Siemens has missed their window of opportunity with this phone.
-Russ