IMO, from the standpoint of the US market, I think the 770 looks like it could be reasonably successful. However, it’s hard to know what Nokia’s expectations of the 770s “re-release” are without knowing how much they have put into its development.

After looking into subnnotebook PCs, tablet PCs, UMPCs, Sony’s ultrasomething PC, and PDA communicators, IMO, the 770 still has no direct competitors. Unless I’m mistaken, any other way of surfing the web on an 800×480 or higher res screen always involves a full OS PC that costs around $1000 (UMPC) to $2000 (dualcor cPc). The Nokia 9300 phone is an exception, and costs $500 or so.

The new Sony micro PC comes closest to delivering similar functions as the 770 in a desirable form factor at a similar size. $1400 difference is a lot of money. However, the 770 is a more limited device, in a way that directly affects the desirability of the 770. So, for instance, many people are commited to other IM networks, and a lot of people don’t use gmail or other google services. As a networking device, if the 770 is going to take off in the consumer market, it will have to mean that whole networks of people will buy into the 770 and Google Talk.

The more I think about it, the more I think it could make sense for me to buy 770s for my friends and family - when I hit the lottery. But really, let’s say you want to stay in touch with someone, anywhere really, either in the same city or traveling around the technological (networked) world. The 770 is a pretty slick device that gets the job done with enough generic functions to make it a good individual tool as well.

I think the itT forum represents a mix of people, some of whom are learning how to customize the 770, and some who are using the built in functions and are more representative of the general consumer market. I’m in the latter camp. So I’d be curious what other people thought about this.