Release The Nokia E71 Untouched

We the undersigned understand that only your marketing department can determine what is good for your companies, what devices you will be releasing and what each of these devices should feature. For that very reason, we would like to make you aware of a large following of the Nokia Eseries and, in particular, of the E61/E61i devices.

This large group of enthusiasts is anxiously waiting for a U.S. carrier to release what seems to be the replacement for the E61i, the Nokia E71. A simple search for E71 on mobile enthusiasts blogs like engadgetmobile.com, gizmodo.com, boygeniusreport.com, intomobile.com, mobilewhack.com, crunchgear.com, ubergizmo.com and many others will give you an idea of the potential market for this device. We know the official release of this coveted device is imminent (as in we thought an official announcement was going to be made today 5/8/08) and some sources indicate that AT&T Wireless will be carrying it as a follow-up to the late E62.

The main purpose of this petition is to ask that you do not do with the Nokia E71 what Nokia and Cingular decided to do to the E61 when the E62 was concocted. Please do not remove or downgrade the camera. Please do not reduce the screen resolution or quality. Please do not replace the processor. Please do not decrease the amount of RAM. And, most importantly, please do not disable WiFi or HSDPA. As a last request, we ask that no feature from the original firmware be removed when the AT&T software the phone will feature is designed.

When the E62 was just a rumor and we did not know how crippled it was going to be, we thought this phone was going to change the way many Americans thought of Nokias (they can be the business professionals best companion too) and help them discover the potential of Symbian and S60. We also believe the device failed to do this to the extent that it could have because of all that was removed or changed from the original device, the E61. We honestly feel that neither Nokia nor Cingular gave the Eseries QWERTY a fair chance and that is, in the opinion of most of us, what caused it not to be the strong BlackBerry contender many suggested it could be.

We understand a high-end device like the E71, if kept untouched, will not be offered cheap, but why should it be? With devices like the iPhone selling for $399 and the aging Tilt and BlackBerry 8800 selling for $399 and $349, respectively, there certainly is room for a new S60 QWERTY device thats not only sexy (very important feature in the forming American market), but also feature-laden.

It is no secret that Nokia has recently devised a plan aimed to gain back the market share is has lost in the U.S. in recent years and that part of this plan is to enrich the Finnish giants relationships with American carriers like AT&T Wireless. Let this mighty device be the turning point.

Please Nokia Please AT&T Wireless Release the Nokia E71 untouched!