Understand that I'm certainly not trying to throw a wet blanket on anything-- I just can't see Quim or Peter making something like this happen. It will have to come from somewhere else... just not sure who offhand.

Two things to consider here:

1. The N9's popularity. I'll be frank here: thanks to my own former work with the Maemo products, contacts and continued community work, I have received every single device from the 770 to the N950 free of charge. That said, I do not anticipate ever coming remotely close to getting an N9. It is just in too big of a demand. I'm betting Nokia will free up very few for out-of-channel acquisition.

2. Elop's attitude. He comes across as not wanting this device to succeed... which it will do anyway. But ultimately he would have to approve irregular distributions... and I don't see that happening.

However, let's try to find ways around those limitations...