Ok, it's time for a discussion about What Business Is Like, even if it is somewhat of a thread hijack, sorry.

People are always talking about the "intention" or "secret plan" of this company or that. The fact is that all companies (and governments, for that matter) are built out of a combination of groups with clashing perspectives. Who wins whatever contest depends on how the wind is blowing, or the business equivalent.

In the case of Nokia, this eerie decision to basically drop the N810 without an immediate replacement seems weird.

Have you noticed the economic environment has been changing?

I bet anything that SOMEONE at Nokia is wondering if the whole tablet thing is the right way to go. It would be a shame to waste a lot of money on a project destined to fail.

I'm not saying that this perspective is going to win at Nokia, but the weird gap reminds me of the silence after the release of the video chat beta for the N800. Remember it was a beta, it was a beta, and then ... silence. And then people started saying that it was never guaranteed anyway, it had just been a beta, never a serious plan?

(That's the first time in my experience, btw, that a beta resulted in an absolutely abandoned project. I'm sure that there have been other instances, but they are damned scarce. Imagine Ubuntu releasing a beta, and then announcing a few weeks later -- "uh, we've decided to drop the whole idea.")

I remember my Timex Sinclair 2068, a pretty cool computer, which Timex threw down an elevator shaft just weeks after some made their way to my local Toys 'R Us, and I eagerly bought one.

So, I don't think we completely know that Nokia is going to continue this project at all.