Completely agree, the whole positioning mobile or tablet is basically impossible to distinguish now. This is just marketing speech and I guess it is like comparing a netbook with a smaller laptop... nobody knows for sure!! It is clear that Nokia created Maemo and the N900 thinking about competing with iPhone and Android, not competing with Dell/HP/Acer and so on.... the fact they brought phone capabilities to their so called Tablet line-up was just the natural step. Imagine if N900 had only Wi-Fi connectivity and removed the phone... no matter how much money Nokia spent on Marketing it would sell much less units than the previous device N800, just because the market has changed since then!! Keep in mind we are living the hyped term "convergence" with electronic devices, remind that a few years ago you only accessed the Internet using your computer, and now through your TV, videogames, mobiles, etc...

That was my business view of the cenario, now the consumer point of view:

I love my N900, but I wouldn't have spent 600 bucks if it wasn't to replace my N95 mobile. And yes, I had disappointments since I expected a Nokia phone to be have at least the basic features Symbian had on my N95 (if N900 had this from the beginning it would be a huge success right now, IMHO).

I don't regret buying and this portrait mode for the UI, even if it is experimental, it is a GREAT news since it was something that was supposed to be available only on Harmattan (now Meego), so I understand this as a signal that Nokia is listening to N900 feedback. As it happened to the browser, I guess PR1.2 will bring this option as an "experimental" feature and implement it officially on PR1.3 or later.
PS: Sorry if this was already mentioned before, I got this thread at page 7 and hadn't the time to read it all...