What happened to FOTA?

Remember FOTA? First introduced with the N80, FOTA or Over-The-Air firmware update, allows your Nseries to  update the firmware directly from the manufacturer’s server using a wireless data connection like Wi-Fi. This is a handy function that allows you update the firmware without ever needing a USB cable and Nokia Software Updater or those visits to the Nokia service centers. On top of that Nokia could offer smaller updates, patching issues as they arise. Newer users would also find it much easier than the NSU solution. Most important of all is the fact that the chances of getting a bricked phone (unusable phone due to failed firmware upgrade) are greatly minimized. While Nokia has made HUGE improvements, making the firmware update via the NSU/USB cable combo almost fail-proof, it’s also a fact that sometimes things still go wrong. That’s where FOTA steps in: it’s a much more convenient and safe solution.

But what happened? Sure, the N80 got a few updates via FOTA and several devices like the N73 got the feature enabled (but never used it), but how many times have you had your phone updated via FOTA lately? Wasn’t this supposed to be one of those big features of S60 3^rd Feature Pack 1? Honestly I had even forgotten that it even existed and it wasn’t until I read the N810 WIMAX edition where they mentioned “Seamless Software Update functionality”, which to me soundws like they’re talking about FOTA. If Nokia is going to introduce this on the Internet Tablets, they should remember that they have this thing called FOTA on their S60 devices and actually use it this time. Better yet, instead of larger updates, they could look at issues users are having in mobile forums and patch them a lot quicker than it would take to do a major update. Do you prefer updating via FOTA, NSU or the good old Nokia service center?