At the moment, Maemo is a mindshare grab more than a technology-share one. Symbian is a larger and more concerted effort towards more pricing points and regions. Its also the carrier of their reputation, so its handled carefully and more broadly right now.

Maemo is what things look like when they can develop from nearly-scratch. Its potential won't be grasped for a few years and approx 1.5 revisions. A mobile OS platform, when done right, can have a nice-sized shelf life. A computing platform - a well executed one - can be the shelf.