The difference to Debian, Angstrom etc. communities is, that they are focused on the software and are working on the software. The hardware is only a mean to run the software and they embrace and welcome every single one able to.

This community is focusing on hardware. The software (Maemo OS) is only a mean to enable the hardware, which noone really cares of and accepts whatever the manufacturer of the device throws at.
With the presence of new hardware, the older hardware is abandoned en-masse.
With the absence of hardware, the community is dying or jumping ships.


Without changing the focus, this community won't survive.