Peet,

I think you are missing the point. The point isn't about having both on the market, but about if having a tablet at this point makes sense businesswise.

While the previous Maemo tablets have had their following, they really haven't had much of an impact beyond the geek community. So, Nokia went where they could get more visibility: the cell phone market. So far, demand has been higher than expected, and at least in Europe, they get some visibility from cell companies. I know it got me interested, where I've previously passed on closeouts on the previous tablets.

Riddle me this: Considering the current state of Maemo and available applications, do you think a stripped down N900 with no cell and no hardware keyboard could compete with the iPod Touch at this time? I don't think so. Software leaves something to be desired. So does the built in media player. The only thing the platform has going for it right now for the general consumer is web browsing. That really isn't enough to go with Nokia over Apple.

Course, there is a difference of opinion on what people want for a tablet. The OP is saying something like the iPod Touch. Many on this forum were hoping for a beefier 810.

In any case, I think the OP is likely wrong that the N900 means that Nokia has abandoned tablets for good. For Nokia, it seems clear that Maemo 6 is a milestone for the OS to be more consumer friendly and it is likely that there are perhaps bigger things planned for that release. The N900 is just a step further in that direction.