Is it really? I thought it was exactly the same hardware as the N9, and from what Nokia have said Harmattan doesn't require huge hardware adaptations.

It isn't so odd. Nokia has a clear strategy and doesn't want us as customers.

A particularly spiteful part of me desperately wants WP to fail spectacularly for Nokia just to prove Elop was wrong for betting the farm.

If he and Nokia were comfortable about Windows, surely they would not be chopping off one leg like this before they have even started.

Unfortunately so. US & UK both have the possibility for strong WP7 markets, as such, they're not going to release anything to compete with it.

Though, I for one, will be willing to part with my 750 odd dollars if it lets me use an N9 in the US.

How old is Elop? Am wondering when he's going to die from "natural causes"

Not unless it's an act of God sped up by helping hands. He's only 47.

LOL I was thinking they will soon announce that they will only be shipping the N9 to Myanmar with a Burmese script keyboard and no other language support, suck on that gray market

Not saying that this is not the case, but I have a very hard time understanding the logic behind that.
It's a free market, with MANY good phones coming up every month. It's not like you can only buy Nokia phones.. So if someone doesn't want a WP7 phone and they can't get a N9, they will buy an Android, or iphone 5 or whatever, which means that Nokia will lose money.
As the saying goes, it is better to compete with yourself than with your competitors.

Sorry for the double post, this will be of interest

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...31#post1067731

cheers, it has prompted an email of my own:

Dear Mr Elop,

Please understand that I am not writing to you to rant about the WP7 direction, I accept the fact that Nokia did not believe Meego would bring them the level of success deemed necessary, rather I am worried that Nokia's WP7 marketing strategy will prevent me from acquiring a Nokia N9 on a typical carrier subsidised contract within the UK.

I have no doubt that I will be able to buy an N9 from etailers such as Play.com, etc, but the N900 which I have happily used since its UK launch was £450 sim-free when it arrived, whereas my T-mobile contract with an unlocked handset was £110 upfront followed by eighteen payments of £20, or £470 in total. I am very keen to own and use a Nokia N9 but question why, in the UK, I would willingly pay the RRP for a phone when I can get it along with eighteen months of calls, texts and internet for £20 more.

I understand that you would urge me to have a closer look at Nokia's new, and no doubt innovative, WP7 handsets that will be arriving in the near future, but I remain uninterested in them just as I remain uninterested in iPhones or Android phones. I merely seek reassurance that Nokia's UK product support for the N9 will not preclude UK carriers from offering this handset on contract?

If you can offer this reassurance then I will be a very happy person, and can promise to remain a happy Nokia customer for years to come.

Kind regards

JBT