Well, while I liked the OpenMoko project, with Maemo, Android and Symbian all being open source, OpenMoko is more or less redundant. It's not like I think that redundant is bad, but in this case it was.

the difference with openmoko was that the hardware is open.

maemo is only partly open, and android isn't open at all once it's on a consumer phone.

IMO, they missed their window of opportunity. Their own lack of delivery (keeping ahead, or even keep up with, the rest of the industry) made themselves irrelevant. OpenPandora is about to do the same thing, IMO. If you take too long, then whatever lead you had vanishes, as other people with faster delivery are able to move into whatever niche you had identified (even if they don't do it as well at first).

There have been moments where I have wondered the same thing about the NIT platform, post-N810. They're taking too long. Other players are moving into the same niche. By the time the Maemo 5 device is out, will anyone still care about buying a NIT? Will those who prefer windows, but bought a NIT because it was the only player, have moved to devices like Samsung's N810 clone that runs WinMO? Or to a Windows x86 MID? Will those who prefer linux/unix have moved on to an Ubuntu (ARM or x86) MID because it delivered the right feature-set before the Maemo 5 device came to market? Only the die-hards will still be around if Nokia takes too long. And only Apple has enough die-hards to make a lasting market just on that basis.