The Nokia N800 Internet Tablet was released in January 2007. When demonstrating the N800’s Internet capabilities, the most common question asked “is it a cellphone?”, in which I respond with a no, confusion and panic ensues. Next thing I know, I’m tied to a stake and the village people are chanting burn the witch, it’s black magic! The confusion is understandable, since Nokia is best known as a cellphone manufacturer. The N800 is by no means a replacement for cellphones, rather they were intended to complement them. The N800 is actually apart of a new breed of gadgets, called Internet appliances, which are designed to perform Internet related task. The term appliance is fitting, like a toaster or blender, these devices serve a single purpose. The N800’s sole purpose is to provide easy access to Internet related features, such as web browsing, instant messenger, Internet calling, Internet radio, e-mail and so on. Perhaps new isn’t the best way to describe Internet appliances, the concept was first introduced in the 1990’s but never gained traction.
The Internet landscape has changed greatly since the 1990’s, with the advent of online video streaming such as YouTube, Internet radio, social websites, blogs, podcast, web applications, the list just keeps going, there’s just so much more to do online. If the Nokia N800 is able to capitalize on the growth of the Internet by providing an easy way to access most of these Internet features we could have a real winner on our hands.
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