1. Come out with ground-breaking R&D device (770) that defines a new nich for internet tablets

2. Lose the metal cover, and follow up this device with a much more capable and versatile internet tablet (800). Add cool features like 2 SD card slots and a FM radio.

3. Shrink the device slightly to make the device more pocketable. Add a keyboard for thumb typing. Lose the radio. Abandon SD cards in favor of mini-SD cards to keep size down. Substitute 2 GB internal storage for removable storage.

4. Release another device. Experiment with wi-max, then abandon it

5. Continue to develop the maemo software

6. ???

7. Profit

It looks like the N900/maemo phone is supposed to fill the gap between (6) and (7). Actually, the fact that Nokia was willing to invest quite a bit and release three devices (four if you count wimax) before they got to the "???" step says a lot about them. I am sure quite a few companies would have dropped out long before.