All of this ignores a couple points. Apple's iPod Touch sells well mainly because of its marriage to iTunes for media delivery, and games and ebooks from the inappropriately named App Store. The iPod Touch isn't seen as a web tablet at all by most of its users. Most of its users see it as a media player and ebook reader. These new figures mean little in terms of Maemo or tablets, and more to iTunes and its heavy gaming and ebook focus in its App Store.

Nokia has just unveiled Maemo5 to the public about 7 weeks ago. Just because there isn't a SIM-less model now doesn't mean there won't be. Apple didn't debut with the iPod Touch and iPhone simultaneously either. Nokia could've debuted Maemo5 with a SIM-less and phone model, but I doubt it would have translated to much higher sales or better developer support.

The main folks wanting a tablet version are previous NIT owners. I haven't heard complaints from beyond the previous owners. The fact is Maemo without cellular connectivity only appealed to 300,000 to 500,000 consumers. That amount doesnt justify dedicating manufacturing capacity to such a small market, negating the thing that would make it cheap: scale. Without no large scale, there is the same circumstance that keeps Symbian devices from CDMA networks. The small lot would be more expensive to produce.

Don't forget that while Apple sells alot of media players, Nokia sells more. They may sell a large amount of media devices capable of working as a web tablet without a SIM, Nokia sells more. In the sub $300 segment, Nokia's 5800 and its various variants are better sellers globally, comparable to the iPod Touch sales. So if price is the issue, Nokia already has better equipped Symbian touchscreen devices with better browsers, ability to read more ebook and media formats, higher quality cameras, louder speakers, front facing cameras, and more, yet in the same price range. ALL those Nokias can also be used as phones. The only advantage is games, but that is addressable.

I think Nokia should have a SIM slotless model, but not running Maemo5, but Symbian. Maemo is for computing, and the futur of computing is the cloud and web based services, so the always on model is best. A Maemo model without a SIM slot would be cool, too, but it will most likely be a niche device with its target market shared by other cheaper devices in its portfolio. Unless it features a 7"+ display, it will not appeal to many people. That market is waning, and the future is convergence.

Nokia isn't stupid. They are just focused. They really don't care about Maemo or Symbian except in terms of pushing Ovi and Qt. If there is a desire for a cheap alternative, Symbian may fill the void, or we'll have to wait for a SIM slotless model. Nokia is listening, and everyone sees the desire for a tablet focused model. I think it will be still premium priced, possibly with higher end hardware to protect branding.