Even if they do not reduce the number of headsets, they definitively should consolidate the number of platforms and unique hardware.

In my mind the sheer diversity of operating systems along with several hundred hardware variants that Nokia has to support and develop, are the main reasons for Nokia being unable to respond quickly to the rapidly evolving smartphone/super device market.

For example, there is definitively no need or sense for MeeGo to coexist with Symbian devices at the same price point. If MeeGo works as well as Maemo 5 (will after the mythical PR1.2, or will it be PR1.3? upgrade), then developing and maintaining a parallel smartphone platform with Symbian ^3 would be remarkably counter productive. Unfortunately the signs point to exactly the senseless scenario of Nokia MeeGo devices hitting the market at roughly the same time as bug free Symbian ^3 devices.

HTC has two main platforms: WiMo and Android, Apple has the iPhone OS. Their task is much simpler, especially for Apple who have just 4 cross compatible devices currently in the market, all sharing the same basic OS.

V.