Nokia's N97 was its 'iPhone killer' — with a resistive touchscreen that needed a stylus

The Nokia N97, launched in June 2009, was positioned as Nokia's flagship 'iPhone killer.' It featured a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3.5-inch touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera and 32GB of storage. On paper, it competed with the iPhone 3GS.

But the N97's touchscreen was resistive, not capacitive — it required pressure (or a stylus) to register input, making the multi-touch gestures that defined the iPhone experience impossible. The Symbian S60 operating system was buggy and sluggish. The phone's build quality was criticized, with a loose slide mechanism and a screen that wobbled.

The N97 sold reasonably well in Nokia's existing markets but failed to attract the premium smartphone buyers Nokia was targeting. It was a transitional product: too late to be a great Symbian phone, too early to be a modern touchscreen device. The case illustrated how a company can check every spec box and still miss the experience that defines the category.