Please don't misunderstand me. Success WAS expected. But recall the infamous 5-step plan-- the N800 was only step 2. It took off a little faster than expected. It was meant as an evolutionary move from the 770 but wound up being more revolutionary (tieing into the original topic here). Developers took the N800 to places that surprised even some of those close to the program. I count myself in that number.

And I'm also not saying there was ever a real move to kill the platform. I was not privy to those strategy discussions when they came up. I'm saying it's not uncommon for a novel product to face that situation under certain circumstances. I've seen products (not just Nokia ones) become ironic victims of their own success, so while it's odd it's not a total shock.

EDIT: ha-- just saw Benson's comment. Nice call.

EDIT 2: this is sheer speculation, but I'm betting the N800's polished look misled many purchasers. They were getting a hobbyist device that (IMO) looked like something really slick and sophisticated. The 770 in all its black plastic glory presented no such illusions.