While Symbian drivers may be a different animal than linux drivers, the instructions given to the chipset is the same. It's not like the chipset knows what the OS is and uses a different set of instructions to process graphics. As an example, the b43 project which uses the firmware extracted from windows drivers and allows it to be loaded into linux via wrapper to allow Broadcom wireless chipsets to be used.

But I recall Nokia devs just plainly saying that they didn't see a point in paying for the drivers, so I stand by my accusations that they were just too cheap to pay for the license.

People are so short-sighted with money sometimes, it never ceases to amaze me. Especially with giant corporations who will pinch pennies in the short-run, but then have to pay through the nose in the long-run because they cut a corner.