Hi Ian, welcome to the forums. I think the questions you ask are the same that many of us here have, to be honest not much details have been released about the future products (Nokia are notoriously tight lipped, and not to their benefit in my opinion) but the wiki link provided above will help highlight what we officially know.

My own expectation is that we'll get some sort of MeeGo release, but, as you might see with the wait for firmware 1.2 here in the West, it's best to try and enjoy your n900 as is and not hope too much for the future.

I certainly agree what you say about the iPhone in Shanghai, on my recent trip there I heard many times "Pssst... you want dvd, watch, iphone?" lol But Im not so sure they are all legitimate Apple products