Grr... Apple is using the "internet in your pocket" slogan. That's Nokia's baby!

I still don't see Apple's stuff as a direct competition because, as has been mentioned, they don't have the same level of codec support as a reasonably open platform like Maemo can give us. (+ More since I don't have to use Maemo, if I feel insane some day). When I was choosing between N800 and iPod (still waiting for the former to arrive), I realized I had plans to use either device for lots of audio / the occasional video. People can say all they want about the iPod being a more streamlined interface, but I don't buy that claim until I can literally drag and drop an audio or video file from my computer to my iPod and expect it to work. With Maemo, that looks reasonably possible, with the major limitation being decompression and resizing. As streamlined as my desktop PC which I use everyday; no need to divide the two into different markets, unless you're a company like Apple which has a true reason to create a distinct split in the available solutions. (That is, to sell double the devices and double the software).

Also, as sondjata mentioned, the screens on their current gadgets are very small. Great screens - particularly the seamless design, which would be perfect for an NIT - but I for one could not use them comfortably. I think they are pushing the multitouch angle a bit too hard, since most of the stuff one can do comfortably on that small of a screen can be emulated in software with a resistive touch screen. That is, pinching stuff... and pulling stuff. Rotating is about the only truly significantly fancy gesture, and that is replacing a total of two small context-sensitive buttons. Most of their "advanced multitouch gestures" are really just done with single contacts, such as kinetic scrolling or double tapping. Granted, they have it working really smoothly, but that is nothing which can't be done here.
What is unique about their screen is not the multitouch part, but the high responsiveness and solid feel, as well as its being made of glass. While we kind of lack those three, I think it's worth considering that they are superficial and most of the iPhone's fancy interface features can be implemented here using a little bit of imagination. (Modify GTK to do kinetic scrolling for scrolled windows, eliminating the scrollbars in all native applications, anyone?)

As for graphics capability: I just remembered (and I'm sure everyone else already knows) that the iPhone / iPod Touch have the same graphics chipset (PowerVR MBX) as the N800 tablets. Thus, I for have no concern about its graphics power being fancier than ours except that the iPhone has a smaller screen resolution (-> that funky bandwidth issue crops up around here, I believe?). Both are theoretically capable of OpenGL ES, unless my understanding of this stuff is about to be flipped on its head. (Likely).

Having said that, I for one am also delighted to see such a popular and visible platform using OpenGL, regardless of it being closed or not. The more developers learning that one, the less Windows and DirectX we see out there. The moment the majority of Windows games starts using OpenGL is the moment we have them running happily in Wine... and I think we can all agree that less Microsoft can only be a good thing. (Especially given Apple's heavy reliance on open source software; they are stuck with a certain level of obligation).

Back to the real world: I bet Nokia sees a particularly good reason to fix their graphics systems now.