According to Kai Öistämö in charge of device design, Symbian will next year;

use a new optimized graphic architecture with a focus on graphics and responsiveness, showcased beautifully on a large capacitive screen. Later in the year, a completely new visual architecture re-working of the UI will drastically reduce the complexity throughout and bring fresh appeal. We will execute here.

Note there’s no talk about better integration with Ovi, nothing about hardware. I’m not sure that people trust Nokia this late in the game.

When I see the shipping device from Nokia, I’ll believe it, until then mark me down as a sceptic.

I’m not sure I actually believe the numbers that have been thrown around; only Apple and China Unicom know for sure, but if media reports are to be believed the iPhone isn’t off to a good start.

Shaun Rein, reporting for Forbes says:

The phone is being sold packaged with monthly subscription plans, just as in the U.S., but the vast majority of Chinese prefer to buy pay-as-you-go charge cards. Top-up cards can be bought and recharged cheaply at street vendors everywhere in less than 30 seconds, with no identification required. Subscribing by the month is a pain.

Apple has shown they are willing to change the way they sell the iPhone depending on different market preferences. If it really is the case that the iPhone isn’t selling well in its current form I’d expect them to change the model quickly.

In Australia, iPhone’s are available on Prepaid so there’s no reason the same couldn’t apply in China too.

Last year’s N97 flagship was an exercise in how not to create a touchscreen phone, complete with an odd three row keyboard featuring a space bar mysteriously moved right of center. The N900 feels more like a science experiment to me than a product that’s designed for mainstream users.

He also mentions Ovi, the Nokia equivalent of the App Store:

That leaves Symbian-based S60, which was totally innovative in 2002 but now looks creaky and has fragmented into multiple versions, leaving a very confused developer market. Sure, Nokia supports Flash and Silverlight with Qt somehow tying all this diversity into some unified grand theory, but it’s enough complexity to make most developers look elsewhere — and that’s exactly what’s happened.

And his conclusion is right on the money;

Truth be told, Nokia now reminds me a lot of Apple back in 1996, losing relevance and market share in places that matter but with huge potential to leverage core assets and a terrific brand with millions of loyal fans. And as Apple did in its day, Nokia must now either try to decisively seize back its leadership position — or lose it entirely.