All early adopters are guinea pigs - always, no matter who is the manufacturer.

Most of the time the manufacturer doesn't acknowledge that fact. Nokia did in the case of the N900. In an interview prior to release, Ari Jaaksi said the N900 wasn't for everyone. (No, I can't cite the reference, I can't remember where I saw it - probably shortly before Nokia World or something.)

It's unfortunate that a device fails at the one thing a user wants/needs it to do. If the problem can't be lived with, the early adopter shrugs and send the thing back (or recycles it on eBay or some such site).

The early iPhones didn't do MMS, couldn't send an SMS to more than one contact at a time, couldn't forward an SMS to anyone, didn't even cut and paste(!) and certainly couldn't talk to Exchange as a supported device (I know this, I've had all three of them).

But, I'm an early adopter, I can put up with flaws. I finally gave up on the iPhone 3GS when its limitations finally ran beyond my patience.

And I cannot be found on Apple fora berating the manufacturer because their device doesn't meet my needs.