And yet the original iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS all outsold the N900.

Because it's a dumbphone or your choice of phone has "true" multi-tasking - the 3GS is still supported, will get iOS 5, is readily available and people still buy it.

I think the concept of marketing a product to the masses is lost on folks when they concentrate on such small things that in the end don't really affect sales for the consumer that will actually buy the thing.

Simply put, concentrate on those things you like. Sooner than later, those things will no longer be around. Ask the Zaurus group. Ask the BeOS lovers. Ask the OS/2 lovers. All of those things had killer features that somehow didn't help it sell.

Same for Maemo. Not a mainstream seller. Not going to continue getting support. Hell, this website's future is somewhat of a danger (unknown future that is) because of the lack of support and ultimately sales have done for this platform.

"It's the best!" - I know you're probably thinking that. But it quite didn't sell the best. Or else we'd not be having any of these discussions.

Marketing. Hitting what folks truly want. Selling it in numbers that support those features. Maemo didn't do any of that for Nokia. Thus the drop of support - if it sold in the millions, Nokia would have dedicated more to it.

Or would you rather I say that the N900 got outsold by a dumbphone. By a lot. Even the Nokia 5800 outsold the N900.