No it's not. The more superior OS is Bada!!!!!

In a world where HP buys Palm then, a few months later after investing a LOT of resources and cash into shoehorning the OS onto their touchscreen device (which HAD been intended for Android), decides to ditch their own tablet, and phones as well, into the gutter... you can't see Nokia--whose CEO outright already stated his own disregard for the Maemo/Meego and Symbian platforms--wasting billions (which, by the way, I'm pretty sure, is an inaccurate estimation) on the N9 and then abandoning it? Really? Y'sure?

Get ready to be pissed... in 3... 2... 1...

A chance for what exactly? The N9 is what it is, nothing more - nothing less. Most people will see it as a successor to the N8, C7, 5800 etc. It will sell in volumes where it is available. It is available where Nokia traditionally is strong, and coincidentally that happens to be most of the world (Sorry for the Germans and French though, but the phone can be purchased unlocked anywhere).

The most popular/hyped phone right now is the SGSII, just look at any thread about it in any forum, and you will see nothing but complaints. Most people with SGSII had iPhone before, got tired of it, and wanted something more exciting. Now they have an alternative, the N9. The N9 is fresh, it's simple, easy going, good looking, and it is hackable like no other. Finally something else than bad taste (and technically stupid) "metal and glass", something else than flimsy cheap plastic. One piece polycarbonate is cool, it's tasteful and more durable than anything you can think of, polarized curved highres AMOLED is cool and superior to any other screen technology. WP phones will also have all this, and that is good. This is what most people see, high quality, tastefulness, beauty. Then, in the store they are shown NFC, Angry birds, Twitter, facebook etc etc and the best browser on any mobile phone - and they are sold, they are sold also because they know the sound quality is the best, reception quality is the best, and the same goes for WP phones.

It will be fun to watch both the N9 and WP, and how they become the new "must have".

There is no swipe on S2 but I think there is task switcher it is with pinch to expand but I agree nothing near what n900 is.

Swype is good but doesnt attract a premium price.

@ericsson
I don't really see the N9 or WP becoming the next "must have" any time soon but by naming convention alone alot of people are going to "upgrade" anyways from the E7 and N8. As you stated the shing new one piece case and fast browser with the usual supsects in app support will be enough for most general users to jump on board. It is only about a month after that those people will realise that they have actually upgraded to a discontinued OS. Whilst the phone may be great I can see it causing a lot of issues, I think even on here we will see a lot more general users coming on asking about updates and such as we are sybolically linked to the N9 and Meego.
I my self will still be buying one as soon as it is released as usual but I have not misconceptions about what to expect and will probably be quite happy with my new toy untill something even sparklier comes out.

The Samsung Nexus Prime sounds like it's going to be even better than the SGSII series
And out in freaking October....
http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/18/s...ch-in-october/

If pricing is just as aggressive...
Then for most folk it's going to be unreasonable to justify the N9 over one of Samsung's offerings

Then there's the juggernaut that is the iPhone 5...
Plus there's rumors Nokia will announce all it's WP device/s before they finally freaking release the N9 anywhere!
[in 2wks at IFA? conference]

I find it hard to believe that Harmattan/N9 couldn't have been made buy-able at least 2mth ago.
Cut some of the feature-creep & add it in later, has worked beautifully for iOS/Android.

SIGH......

@gerbick
The N9, even with Harmattan was the MeeGo flagship, MeeGo actually put on a device.MeeGo is uninteresting beyond Free, Open, QT, Linux. Harmattan was something that could actually be sold. Intel can try all it wants, but until it comes out with an x86 phone powerful enough to run 1080p@24 over HDMI while decoding content at that quality, (wine and windows programs would be awesome too) at the size of an iPhone with the battery capacity to last you 2 days of real use at a price that says "no harm in trying it", they are nowhere.

@ericsson
Nice phone, but apparently easy to forget. Even Nokia seems to be forgetting to actually sell it. I'll probably get mine secondhand from someone who decides that it wasn't the right choice for them.

Most people who consider buying a N9 will probably read a review first before spending that much.

There they'll read:

- Not as fast as android dual-core for some applications.
- Very good camera
- Very nice design
- Very nice UI
- Not many apps

etc. At this point some people still want to have it. And then:

- Last Meego device.

and thats it. Except for us hardcore fans . Nokia has to promise a future for the N9 before releasing it, somehow I still think (hope) they will.

Final random readings:

http://mynokiablog.com/2011/08/19/mo...s-on-preorder/
http://nokiagadgets.com/2011/08/19/d...ymbian-and-wp/
http://www.meegoexperts.com/2011/08/...-berlin-meego/

Some Apps:
Very simple app, but could prove to be popular.
http://nokiagadgets.com/2011/08/19/v...for-harmattan/
http://projects.developer.nokia.com/qadfilemanager
http://mynokiablog.com/2011/08/19/fm...ging-and-more/
http://www.meegoexperts.com/2011/08/...attan-n9-n950/
http://www.meegoexperts.com/2011/08/...ego-harmattan/
http://www.meegoexperts.com/2011/08/...-tunes-client/
I personally don't get why this one's supposedly so awesome, but it's a quality/high-profile app nonetheless
http://mynokiablog.com/2011/08/21/4s...otos-and-tips/
I do like this...
http://mynokiablog.com/2011/08/21/jo...anna-handsets/
Yet another file-manager: the duplication of effort, instead of pioneering different genres, is a bit worrying.
http://www.meegoexperts.com/2011/08/...50-aplication/

But that's not true, & it infuriates me when people keep citing that.
Fair-enough if it was an official line from Nokia, but it never has been.
When popular opinion is: "It's the last MeeGo device Nokia will ever make".
It has a terribly negative impact...

I want Elop to clear-that-up, once & for all, at the next major conference.
After/if WP's become more firmly seated in the market in 2012.
Will MeeGo still be actively used for at least 1x top-end ph /yr from 2013 onwards?