Nokia, the Finnish handset maker, recently announced their N900 Internet Tablet.  How is an Internet Tablet different than a Nokia smartphone?  Well, with this latest release, the line is blurring even more.

Internet tablets are not new to Nokia.  In recent years we have seen the N770, N800, and N810 models make their debut.  The most recent Internet tablet from Nokia, the N810, has been out for about a year and a half.  This device features a large 3.5″ touch-sensitive screen, connectivity to the Internet via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a front-facing camera for video conferencing, a full QWERTY keyboard and expandability via SD cards.  On the software side, Nokia Internet Tablets come installed with everything you need to interact on the ‘net including an email client, web browser, IM client, Skype, and a traditional VoIP client.

Internet tablets are popular with the open source crowd because they run Maemo, Nokia’s Linux-based operating system.  While the tablets have been popular with the geek set, they have yet to catch on with a mainstream audience and have experienced good, but not great, sales figures.

Enter the N900, Nokia’s newest Internet Tablet which adds some smart capabilities onto the already healthy feature set of the previous Internet tablets.  The N900 adds:

• Maemo 5, the next generation of the Maemo operating system.  This OS release seems to be much more Internet-savvy and user friendly.
• A beautiful black form factor with touch screen
• A  5MP digital camera with Carl Zeiss Lens
• 32GB of onboard storage
• 1GB of app memory
• In addition to Wi-Fi, a 3G data connection for calling and mobile data access.

So, all in all, the N900 appears to be a strong player in the Mobile Internet Device market.  Could the Nokia N900 be the perfect pocket-sized computer?  When the device debuts in October, we hope to find out.

So far, the N810 for me has been a great device to be connected to the Internet when lugging around my laptop isn’t convenient.  Also, the N810 is great as a media playback device on an airplane with its compact size and perfectly sized screen.  However, I’ve always desired the ability access the net via 3G and to make calls from my Tablet.  With the N900, this appears to finally be possible.

What are your thoughts on the newest Nokia Tablet?  Please reply via the comment section below or via Twitter.

Every August, around 400-500 geeks migrate north to Seattle, Washington for the annual Gnomedex conference.  This event, put on by Chris Pirillo (former host on Tech TV), is a fantastic tech conference that is centered around facilitating conversation and building relationships amongst those who attend.

Gnomedex is a single-track conference where hallway conversations almost outweigh the sessions themselves.  The conference is not billed as a “blogging” conference or centered around any one particular technology.  The popular event is where tech-savvy enthusiasts of all backgrounds and interests gather to learn, explore, and network.

This year at Gnomedex, Taptu’s US Community Manager (me) Jason will be at the event to take part in all the action and hopefully meet some cool people interested mobile search and the mobile ecosystem.

In fact, to kick things off, Taptu will be hosting a round (or two) at the kick-off Tweetup that is occurring on Thursday, August 20th at the Alibi Room in Seattle.  Join us at the Alibi Room from 5:00 – 6:45 PM.

Drop in, say hi, and join us for a beverage! 

Here’s more info about the Pre Gnomdex Tweetup:

Please RSVP At AnyVite

Official Gnomedex Event Calendar

Upcoming

When looking at the mobile markets in the US and most parts of the world, there has been one major glaring difference.  Whereas most consumers outside the United States utilize mobile service on a pre-paid or contract free basis, we in the United States have operated under under a post-paid model.  That is, in the US, we prefer to be under extended contracts and service agreements with mobile network operators.

If activity in the blogosphere and pre-paid mobile network operator financial results are indication, this tide might be changing. Whether caused by growing disdain for high monthly cellular service costs, the sagging economy, or a combination of the two, more Americans are turning to pre-paid and contract-free mobile phone service.

What does the pre-paid market offer us here in the U.S.?  For the most part, prepaid customers enjoy a flat monthly fee for unlimited minutes, texts, and mobile web access.  For example, Cricket offers a plan for $40/month that includes unlimited services for those who subscribe to it.  The other major players in the pre-paid US market include Boost Mobile, Virgin America, and MetroPCS.

For comparison, if you were to sign up with one of the major dominant players in the US market such as AT&T or Verizon Wireless, you’d be looking at around $130-$150 for unlimited services.  Granted, those who sign up for Cricket or MetroPCS don’t have the broad nationwide network that T-Mobile, AT&T or Sprint offer, but customers who choose these lower cost carriers rarely travel outside of the geographic area served by them.  Although, these customers can buy reasonably priced roaming service when they need to travel out of their home areas.

Recently, some prominent bloggers have been attracted to the pre-paid market, including GigaOM’s Stacey Higginbotham.  Aside from Stacey, Cricket and the other carriers are attracting those who want simplicity in their monthly bills and are driven to save money on their wireless bills.  Apparently these folks are not alone – as Virgin Mobile reported today that they recently had a record breaking quarter, hot off the heels of coming out with a $49.99 unlimited plan.

Also, for those looking for mobile data access, Cricket offers a mobile EVDO data service for $40/month.  This is 1/3 less than similar service offered by Verizon Wireless and Sprint.  Also, Cricket’s data service comes contract free, unlike their bigger competitors that demand a 24 month contract for their over-priced data service.

As you can see, pre-paid has a high degree of upward growth potential as US customers evaluate their monthly expenses and realize they’re paying too much for mobile phone access.

(photo credit: Flickr user playerx)

In using the Taptu Search App on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you’ve seen that we have done away with traditional search engine results and given then a new visual representation that utilizes the beautiful touch interface that is native to the iPhone.  We’ve done away with result lists and replaced them with visual ‘cards’.

We think it’s a pretty novel way to surf through search results. Each result is presented in a card format. You can flick horizontally through the cards, in order of relevancy.

This interface is brand new and is something we at Taptu have been working hard on. In fact, it’s a key differentiator between our search results and other options available on the mobile web.  Granted, flicking through search results may not be a way to research your college thesis, but flicking is a fun and functional way of navigating search results on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

As always, we’re looking for ways to improve our apps and core search service.  If you have feedback, please reach out to us by leaving a comment below, via Twitter.

We recently found out that we’re a finalist for a Search Engine Watch award.  The editorial team from SEW announced the finalists and we’re among the three contenders for “Most Innovative New Search Engine”.

We are amongst some other strong contenders for the Search Engine Watch award and we’re flattered to being in this group.  At Taptu, we have been working really hard to hit our goals and help bring a fantastic mobile search experience to mobile phone users – whatever platform they’re running on their mobile device(s).

The winners will be announced throughout the day next week on 11 and 12 August at the Search Engine Watch Stratetgies Conference in San Jose, California.

Thanks again to the SEW editorial team and hoepfully I’ll report next back with good news!