From cnet:

Rick Simonson, decided to speak with the India Times on Monday to clear the air. Simonson acknowledges that things aren't great, but he's not willing to throw in the towel.

"Yes, we have lost ground in the smartphone space over the past 18 months, but the decline has stopped and stablized in the second and third quarters of 2009," Simonson told the India Times. "The new year will see [our] recovery in smartphones with the introduction of Maemo and the stabilization of the Symbian operating system, which by the way, continues to be the platform for the largest number of smartphones, globally."

Simonson went on to say that Nokia shipped over 200 million smartphones in 2009. The main problem for Nokia, Simonson said, is that it's "not well positioned in North America, which is a huge market."

But his company has a plan.

According to Simonson, Nokia will start "focusing on 'messaging' in a very big way." He added that "the likes of RIM are known for their success in high quality, very expensive e-mail solution, [but] Nokia's strategy is to bring inexpensive mail for everyone."

By 2011, Simonson predicted, Nokia's "efforts will start producing results, as we will be at par with Apple and RIM in smartphones."

Nokia plans to do so by making its e-mail platform more appealing, while increasing the value of its software through extras, like music and entertainment.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10...=2547-1_3-0-20

As to what this means for Maemo and the follow-ons to the N900, I don't know. But the reality is that an enhanced Symbian is all you need to compete with RIM and Apple in the messaging department. It sounds to me like Maemo will continue to be the marginalized stepchild.

Well, future for Nseries is Maemo, and Nseries stands for Nokia's multimedia devices. Music and entertainment is something that are targetted for these devices, so I guess the plans are something more than marginal. What the future will be, I don't know, but I sure do not like this less humble communication of Nokia directors. IMO they have not shown anything that would change the direction of the company, and not being humble enough has led the company where it is currently regarding smart phones.

as long as nokia doesnt mean Nokia messaging service with "making its email platform more appealing"

We just need imap-idle support on the N900. Why all those other options like to implement there own stuff when there is a standard way of getting real push email is beyond me

Maybe Nokia is positioning Symbian for the business market, and Maemo more towards the general public.

E-series + Symbian go after RIM
N-series + Maemo go after Apple

They don't even have a working ovi store for their n900...yeah, go compete nokia! woohoo!

I do love my n900 though. (on it now)