Why is that in Nokia's best interest? I see a lot of FUD and speculation being created instead while Nokians are not allowed to show off every development of new software and hardware. So they read things here, know better, but are not allowed to correct false information with accurate information. Imagine how that feels.

You say it is in their best interest, but I see negative sides on this so-called best interest. Maybe it is the least evil option for them, and maybe you're right that this is what Nokia opted for, but its certainly not something inherently positive and smart if the case you say is correct.

Maemo.org is not owned by Nokia precisely for this conflict of interest you state. Anyone is free to develop their own hardware running Maemo, or porting Maemo to existing hardware. Anyone is free porting software based upon Maemo, such as Mer, to old Nokia hardware like Nokia 770, Nokia N800, and Nokia N810(WME).

Maybe they are changing the device very much indeed. Maybe they release several devices. Maybe this leak is totally ********. We don't know. We don't have official confirmation.

Besides that the tablet format existed long before Nokia started to work on Maemo or ITOS. Nokia did not invent mobile/embedded Linux with a touchscreen either. Many products did this before, like TrollTech Greenphone and Sharp Zaurus. Tablets existed too in the form of 'Tablet PC' and graphics tablets by wacom. Input devices using touchscreen are also still existing and lots of interesting developments happen in this market.

What did you expect?

You knew about the 5 stages. You knew that eventually Maemo was rather aimed at the mass market. At least, I hope you knew that. I hope you knew that when you bought the device you were buying an experimental product, not an ordinary end user product with a solid production line. I hope you also realize Nokia sells end products (mainly hardware), and more often than not do not update their OS or software anymore for old products/old hardware. Plus they didn't shove us DRM, nor did they have high profit margins like Apple with their products.

Please do note many other corporations which compete with Nokia stop support for product as well. At least not new features are priority; often its reliability and security fixes then. It boils down to TANSTAAFL. You bought a device for a price and you got your cake. Everything you got beyond that was free candy, often open source candy (and some proprietary software, a community platform, ..), but Nokia has no obligation to you to continue its line of experimental products or their support for your device. Or do you think they're breaking some kind of law here?

BTW, we all know Windows XP got a lot of software backported from Windows Vista. There is no legal obligation from Microsoft to do such. Surely though, Windows XP was (and still is) a big, mainline product of them on which they earned a lot of profit.

So if I were in your shoes I'd make sure my hardware was used in its full glory. Be glad open source drivers are developed, for example. Consider to give your hardware away or sell it for nice price to someone who really would use the device. Some Linux kid or Linux developer. Test software, or anything you like, and be glad you're able to put a community supported OS like Mer on your old hardware.