I love the n8x0s and Maemo -- but Nokia should really be pushing the device itself to civilians and not talking about Maemo so much (from a marketing point of view). I think those that know Maemo don't need to have it marketed to them.

The device - and its strengths - are what's important. No one truly cares what OS runs on the iphone - Apple lauds its "coolness" in ads and shows off what it can do. Android - same thing - the masses have a vague idea what android is - the experience is what is sold to them.

If Nokia can integrate Ovi into the N900 - and offer an app installation experience akin to the iphone - then they'll have a real competitor here. Also, Ovi needs to get its act together and function like (sorry) the apple app store so people like my Aunt Irene can load an app or game onto their n900. I want nokia to succeed - and this is something they need to do to succeed.

I don't understand all the talk about the n900 being a geek's device and not quite ready --- it looks cool, is a mulitasking beast, and has the best browser on the market --- market it correctly nokia!! You have a winner here!

There will be "Ovi Store" on the n900 "by the end of the year". And installing stuff from the reposities is pretty straightforward but I suspect it might be even easier from the dedicated Ovi Store application.