We would be lucky to even get 10,000 supporters.
And if these people are doing a "bargain" for "only" 390 euro for just the board, then I say no dice.

A better choice would be to build an actual (high-end) phone from scratch and port Maemo/Mer to it.

An even better one would be to get a pre-existing model and port to that device. Perhaps if a collection was gathered for like $2-3M ...then a handful of talents could be hired to work full-time with open invitation for other devs to contribute.

Perhaps, they could select the device... maybe something that would be easier to port to because of available documentation and found on several devices.

That way, although they could target a single device... there efforts could potentially be used to make quick ports to similar devices eg/
- Target: Galaxy S4
- SoC: QSD 600
- Other "sibling" devices: SGS4 Active, HTC One, Optimus G PRO, Xiaomi Mi-2S, New Nexus 7, Oppo N1
- Similar Specs: QSD 800, QSD 400, QSD S4 Pro
- Similar Spec devices = Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, LG G2, Optimus G, HTC One Max, HTC One Mini, SGS4 Mini, Galaxy Mega 6.3, Nexus 4, Moto X, Oppo Find 5, Pantech Vega 6

Perhaps it could be something along the lines of:
$1 or more gets you a "Thank You"
$50 allows installation
$80 installation and T-shirt
$100 installation and exclusive developer access
$150 installation, dev access, permanent name in credits on website and software
$200 installation, dev access, credits, keyboard accessory
$800 phone with pre-installed software, engraving, accessory, dev access, credits, TV shirt

...the project could even strike support from the likes of Samsung, HTC, or Qualcomm.

what about building a phone around those cheap chinese soc-s that are around 10$ and have 1gb ddr3, around 1.5ghz proc and 4 core mali 400 gpu/dsp...?

What is so difficult to get the concept of open Hardware, like open source software???

There is no dream device possible for maemo to port to.
We might be very lucky to have any working device at all.
Nokia added all the binary blobs not for the pure joy to screw open, but to get the chips of the device working at all. The manufactures of the chip consider the obscurity of the chips as the single key of their trade success

Tell me what you opted for and what you would like to change it to, and I'll count that in in my statistics, particularly when it's >=700
many thanks!
/j

PS: wooohooo post#999
PS2: and 170 of them weren't thanked at all :-S

Oh and, battery?

Yes, it will have one!!!

What batteries do you use in N900? Why? Why don't other batteries fit? How is that going to change when case remains the same?

Let's make it without a battery! Just imagine those fancy chipsets we can add in its place! Full-sized SD reader? Checked! Full-sized USB and HDMI sockets? Checked! And that's just a start!

You know there are people over here who might take your last post seriously?:P

Yes, wireless energy, revive Tesla's dream!

Gonna be a project of epic propotions