Here's a post at Nokia Conversations that clears things up: http://conversations.nokia.com/2009/...for-operators/
Ooooh, addressed here. Now, I've got more than enough PR knowledge to know that this means something in some discussion got some stakeholder a bit wary No biggie. This is a good thing. The benefit of Maemo to users is its openness. The benefit of Maemo to Nokia is the control Nokia gets over hardware and software implementation (moreso than Symbian which is more or less driven by committee). What then is the benefit to carriers? Because if users can customize the device to their needs, and only need the carrier as a pipe, how then does the Nokia-experience speak as something carriers can continue to find healthy revenue streams towards? Because Nokia isn't Apple or RIM; Nokia's brand is much more about the devices than services at this point, and for carriers, Nokia's services become a threat overtop those devices they (too) would no longer have control over.