So maemo has following problems:

• limited number of developers for obsolete devices (770, N800, N810, N900) thanks to developer devices.
• no active device (well that actually depends on the fate of N9, but it seems Nokia does not want to associate it with maemo.org),
• uncertain future for infrastructure after one year,
• orphaned by Nokia.
• closed sourced binaries for drivers and other stuff, which effectively prevent creation of modern alternative for obsoleted devices. (this actually my main rant for some time)

What next:

1. Find new sponsors?
2. Find new devices?
3. Merge with meego?
4. Merge with ubuntu/debian/angstrom/gentoo (difficult thanks to binary blobs)?
5. Simply die in one year?

At the moment angstrom has far lesser community, but unlike maemo, it's still active.