True, but the Open source developer community is large compared to the current smartphone developer communities for any platform (WinMo, S60, even iPhone). And they have their own business models regardless of the Maemo development / success. I think Maemo will become more of a tool that is useful for developers rather than a platform that needs to make a profit on its own. It may be more developer/producer oriented, but it is also a lot more powerful because of it. I think that is what will make the platform grow faster than anything we've seen yet. For most nomal people (not the gadget fanbase) if they need to buy an expensive phone, they want a phone that is most useful for them. That is why email-centered Blackberries are so popular and the Nokia camera phones or the webbrowsing iphone. They all do something extremely well. A developer oriented platform provides the power to users to use the device for the things THEY find useful.
Linux has one of the nicest software distribution methods with the repositories. I think that adding a second way to install software using something like OVI would only confuse users.