I had to back up upon something that i remember, Like you said, i don't think it's the lack of money, here is my theory,

Nokia- Intel creates a love child, Meego Harmattan, Intel rans away and leaves and leaves Nokia to bring up the child alone.

Ms- comes and will support Nokia, and at that point.

Ms-Nokia is trying to kill the love child Harmattan, By saying that even if it is a success we won't return,

Thanks to the INTERNET and the Chinese whisper sites, People now believe that Meego is dead.
Because a large company like Ms-Nokia has said it. Most people know nothing about Os, Kernels or anything, so if Nokia says, People think, They say, therefore, Must be

I believe you are right when you say about getting your product out there, Most people have no idea, they literally get things because someone says ICS is good, iOs is Good, But don't know anything about it.

Seeing Ms-Nokia has/is trying very hard to kill the love child, Normal people, will think, well i won't get any app support so, it would not be appealing to them, and so they would not want to change. So Ms- Nokia has tried very hard to make sure, the love child does not show it's face again.

and this is what i believe is causing problems to developers.