Hmm why are apple in this "unique" position ??? common sense I would say. It is Nokias choice/bad management that they produce a large range of unconnected handsets, I have never used an ipad, but I'd bet in 5min id be pretty well conversed with its operation, why ??? consistent user experience across a product range. People don't like to learn new stuff, Windows case in point.

Going from one Nokia phone to another is simply a big a leap as going from one manufacturer to another, couple this with the fact that Nokia doesn't even seem to have a viable roadmap, instead hopping from platform to platform.

Maemo 5 / n900 should have been a defining moment for Nokia, I bought into the dream. A slick polished Maemo 5 running on great hardware, could have put Nokias "foot in the door", after a product cycle of refinement and honing/improvement, Maemo 5 could have been rolled out to other handsets, gaining momentum. But it turned out so different.

The n900 is just a hot potato to Nokia now, Maemo 5 was afaik only relased on the n900, and as such it should have been pretty well polished, it wasn't even beta quality.

its about time people stopped making excuses for the inexcusable and face up to the fact Nokia released a poor quality product, with PATENTLY NO QA carried out, and have no real intention of rectifying it, and they have left the community to carry the can without so much the decency to open up its code. People are missing the bigger picture, Android are building up an excellent ecosystem rapidly, and thats why imo they will succeed, Nokia simply didn't know what to do with the n900/maemo combo.

/end rant