"Apple's OS and the Symbian equivalent dominate the list with between 30 and 40 per cent of the market share."

I can only assume you are quoting US figures. Unfortunately when it comes to mobile phones, the US market is very very different. Apple are still learning this.

In world figures Symbian has the 40% smartphone share, and Apple have less than 20%.

Symbian dominates.

I laughed when I read that "proof of concept". The Nokia N900 simply expands and extends what was started in 2006 when Maemo was developed for the Nokia N770. I have been using a Nokia N800 for a couple of years and love it. And do not forget that there is the Nokia N810.

We are multiple years beyond any "proof of concept" anyone who says things like that was simply unaware of Maemo + Nokia Nxxx.

Every time I show someone what my Nokia N800 can do, they want one. Most have no clue that they can get a computer (and phone) in that foot print. But after they see the capabilities first hand, they want one.

Having cellular and WiFi is just another plus for the Nokia Nxxx line of products continued by the N900.

I have been cellular free for well over two years now, a "smart" device (one that will allow me to run one or more Linux distros) like this one just might get me interested in considering cellular in the future. After all WiFi is only in about 80% - 90% of the places I am (work + home _ WiFi hotspots), there is always that other 10 - 20% were I might need cellular, maybe.

This is no longer a "proof of concept", not any more. This is a very stable platform, with a stable "semi-open" operating system, a large number of developers (18,000 and counting) with over 400 software applications.

Proof of Concept ~ 400+ software applications ready to go... you can see my point now I am sure.

Reports are that Maemo isn't that great. It's slow, and complex to use.

But also, what Nokia is doing here is managing expectations. If it doesn't prove popular, they can say that they told us they didn't expect it to be. If it does ok, then they can say it exceeded all expectations.

But it it doesn't do well they won't get those developers they want, so by telling people that it's just a proof of concept, or not for everyone, developers are more likely to stay away. That's a hole they're digging for themselves.

It's funny how some analysts are ignorant about technologies and design tastes.
Someone already commented about opensource, so i will point to another statement.

How can they say that N900 is not appealing as a phone or its not a good design. It infact looks more like a phone and less like an internet tablet. Haven't they seen a qwerty phone at all? Man, these kind of people spread wrong information around.

"the Android and iPhone open source platforms"... ok for Android, but for iPhone, probably a joke.
Did this analyst make a confusion between presence of a public development platform and an open system?
Anyway, something sound really wrong.

"According to StatCounter figures, Apple's OS and the Symbian equivalent dominate the list with between 30 and 40 per cent of the market share"

Where? If you are gonna quote something, post the source yerh? And your figures are unclear too, do you mean 30-40 percent combined? Or 30-40 percent each?

regards,

At the end of the day does it have to compete? Can't Maemo stay a relatively niche segment of Nokia's portfolio. If it take off great but I don't get the impression that Nokia are actively marketing it for other device manufacturers.

The more time goes on the less I become convinced about the one OS to rule them all principle. The important thing is to make it relatively easy to port applications between different OS's running on different form factors. That will give the user the greatest choice and allow for the greatest innovation in the IT industry. Innovation is something that has been sorely missing from IT for many years in my opinion.