Not following your logic here. Apple and Google both didn't have a mobile OS before 2006. Google bought theirs, Apple made theirs. And they both started from "ground zero" in terms of acceptance. There were no guarantees.

In fact, the two players that had long-term OS's - Windows and Palm were both outclassed by the upstarts. Both had some serious usability issues that were later overcome via the simplification of iOS and Android. Windows survived (much to my dismay) and Palm morphed into WebOS which was doomed due to Leo Apotheker's bad decisions.

People switched because the older way phones were done - notice I'm ignoring Nokia - it wasn't how folks wanted them. 7 years into this cycle of iOS/Android, it's time for something new. For something new from the next soon-to-be-big company. Let it be Jolla.

RIM had a bigger share than you give them credit.

Actually, I can expect reviewers and folks to switch. Face it, we're here huddled around all things Maemo and MeeGo for rather same reasons - the status quo plain sucks. The in-fighting and bickering that folks tend to do once there's an ounce of Linux involved is just a rather crappy inherited part of that. I hate hearing folks argue over which shell/editor/kernel/license/neckbeard quote of the month is about in all things Linux. It's offensive to the general population because they're clueless in those areas.

People switch all the time. Otherwise, we'd all be using Windows Mobile still (which also commanded a major percentage of prior generation smartphones).