I don't know. I do think these things could be handled better. Nokia shouldn't announce a phone until they're more certain it's close to being ready to be shipped. Look at Apple, they announce a product when it's ready. Or look at the Droid and how quickly it's shipping after it's announcement.

Also, assuming what's going on with the N900 is that Nokia is still tweaking the software, then, as a Linux user, I'm used to at least some distributions that set deadlines for themselves way in advance and meet them. Ubuntu comes out with a whole new version every 6-months. Gnome does the same (and Maemo's Hildon framework is after all part of the Gnome project). Deadlines can be an effective way to be productive, if managed properly. Maybe the comparison to Linux is not a perfect analogy. But it seems like there are plenty of organizations that handle these things better.

Ultimately it's bad PR to get the early adopters all worked up about something and then drive them crazy with delays. My excitement and interest is already waning. It doesn't help the buzz for Nokia, if people just burn out waiting and lose interest. So I just think, if Nokia's not pretty sure it's ready, then don't announce it. Don't start the buzz rolling, if you're not ready to deliver while people are still excited.