Jolla is in part "taking so long" because in China (one of their primary markts) companies that do well are ones that have made a concerted effort to connect with their intended audience. Its not about marketing there as much as its about trust and reputation. That's not how things are sold "in the West," which marks as where much of this conversation thread has gone awry.

Another thing...

The appeal of the Jolla to that kind of audience is not in specs, nor is it in the goodwill that's done toawrds Nokia (their reputation is quite diminished towards that Chinese market, speaking towards my previous point). The appeal will be towards personalization. After trust and reputation, its the ability to address some sign of being an individual while not being too apart from the common culture. By making the *rear* of the device to transform it, they are allowing a commonality of experience on the front - the most seen area - and individual expression. That will appeal, and right now has been enough to allow Jolla to meet some of that initial needed attention.

I know I'm talking about thigns that seem flighty, but in terms of the sociology of mobile, these are the little details that come into play when looking to make a dent into mobile. Apple paid attention to these details for the iPhone, and to some degree, Palm did with webOS. Nokia has done this many times, so much so that Finnish/Nortic design elements are actually seen as necessary to aspects of customizing mobiles.

To me its simple. Jolla is doing what's required. I get the impatience on the side of fans, but unless you are doing something with code and documetnation, right now it doesn't seem that Jolla offers you much more than commentary in order to get into the action. Personally, I'd like to be in a position of helping to set direction and smooth out aspects of the product in markets like the USA, where the ecosystem of the back cover, doesn't quite make sense. But, Jolla isn't branching here. Not with where they are right now. Talk.Maemo could be a part of helping them branch out into saturated mobile markets like the USA, but only when aspects of fandom get put aside for making ...

...ah, but enough posturing on my end. I'm sure that this convo will spark some needed reverb into efforts to keep aspects of the N9/50 fresh (kernal updates, maturing of some apps and services, and *hopefully* improved development tools so that more of us "non-coders" can jump into the fray). Jolla could then come into two markets:
- the Nokia diaspora existent in current and saturated Western mobile markets
- the upcoming middle classes in the newer major markets of China, India, Kenya, Brazil, etc where mobile isn't just something to have, but a ticket to "a better life"

Sociology not specs