There. fixed that for you.

Yes, the Register is truly the wellpool of all things Nokia. God forbid you're actually referring to the article by Andrew Orlowski, because:

a: He's been wrong so many times, I'm surprised the register keeps him as a columnist

b: even that articel has NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

My theory is a simple one.
Wrangling behind closed doors, between Elop and the board resulted in:

A decision to release the N9 as a "test the water" device, having already invested in Harmattan to the point where it was almost commercially ready when the WP strategy was announced

A determination to keep Harmattan (and Meego) as a backup OS in the event that WP is a complete failure in the high end market.

An agreement that the N9 would not be released to markets where it may impact on possible sales of WP handsets

sound too far fetched?