If Nokia were to actually market the 770, they would be nailed with class action lawsuits.

This is a Beta product. It lacks important functionality out of the box. As an experiment, I am sure it would be considered a success - it might even break even, which is no small feat!

Nokia is pretty good at thinking long-term. I would guess that their desire is to make another platform viable for late 2007 for mass market. I think that the biggest risk to Maemo is RIM regaining momentum after the Blackberry patent mess. That could spell a smaller potential market for the internet tablet.

The biggest strength they have is de-coupling the phone and AP from the device, which can fill a different niche than other toys out there. The open source aspect could help it make into uses not previously thought up. ...assuming the next gen doesn't see power/memory problems we have today!