A significant part of the "cost" of developing a new design like RM-680 is going to be ensuring it doesn't fall apart, or failure of the complicated hinge mechanism.
We’ve also learned that Nokia’s first MeeGo device, originally scheduled to be announced late last year, has been sent back to the drawing board by operators. The problem, says our source, is in relation to the “flimsy’ hardware keyboard mechanism, which fell short of operator standards. This is surprising as it’s thought to share a similar hinge to the N97 and E7, both of which were accepted by carriers, although it could be that MeeGo requires a larger CPU and battery compared to Symbian and therefore leaves less room in the chassis. As a result, the first MeeGo smartphone, thought to be the N9-00, has indeed been canned. Instead, a second (and possibly last) MeeGo smartphone on the roadmap – the N9-01 – sans physical keyboard will be pushed out first, as earlier reported by Engadget. Interestingly, well-placed sources also tell us that the device won’t feature the stock MeeGo UI but instead one designed by “a three person external team rather than any of Nokia’s hundreds of internal designers.” It could be announced as early as next week at Mobile World Congress.