Oh believe me, I understand it very well.

The NITs have always had radio interfaces that needed "extensive testing and certification" prior approval by national agencies, so what? Another interface won't make this all that much more expensive for Nokia. And if this was such an huge issue, they would have never done a N810WE. HSDPA-capable phones have become available for just a bit over 100€ by now, do you really think that just the cellular hardware without a screen, a housing, a battery, accessories, or most of the main electronics the phone needs would cost much more than maybe 30-50€? I don't think so.

In regards to carrier requirements: I think a lot of people on here need to at least try to look at the bigger picture - there's a huge market outside the US and its ridiculously fragmented mobile market dominated by control-freak operators. Nokia managed to sell the NITs on their own, without any subsidization, up to now. Why should this suddenly change?

That statement just doesn't hold any water right now - do you know anything about the N900's pricing? I certainly don't, but I certainly don't believe it will be much more expensive than any other tablet was in the beginning.

Well, nobody will force you into using any 3G radio the next-gen NIT will offer, simple as that. Once again, I'm sure it will be sold SIM-free (or contract-free or whatever) too.

And for me, having a dedicated SIM card slot is HUGE. Many operators here offer very good data-only contracts (eg 9€ for 3GB/month, which would suffice for the time I'm out of WiFI range), but as soon as you want to add a data option to a normal voice contract, they rip you off. So, just using bluetooth to connect via your normal phone is not really a good option for me.