Erm, actually... the Psion had a keyboard, then the Palm & iPaq didn't, and then the Sony Clie did, and then the n700/n800 didn't, and then the n810 did, and then the iPhone didn't, and then the n900 did. It is a matter of personal taste, and quality. Having a keyboard is much more useful to me than not having one - so there will always need to be both. The place where I can see there being an advantage in losing the keyboard is in a large multi-touch tablet, because there is enough space to allow for a large on-screen keyboard that allows you see what you are typing as you touch-type. Dials, rather than buttons, are a fashion thing - like black stereos vs silver stereos. Betamax was better than VHS, but VHS replaced it. Once Sony lost the lead with both these devices (Betamax and Walkmans), they never regained the market share in that area.

What makes you think that Nokia, that once led the world in mobile phones, having effectively lost out on the smartphone & emerging tablet market, can stand back and hope to
establish a position in this new market? It can only be because they know that the majority of people in the world want a cheap, basic, uncomplicated phone. That is because the majority of the world's consumers do not live in countries with well-developed communications infrastructure, and are over the age of 25.

Phones like the n900 appeal to a very limited number of people - and most of the people I know who have had a smart-phone have traded them in for a more basic model. That is because most people want them to make phone calls with and to text people. Anything else they can do on an iPod or laptop.