Well, we will never know now.....
But UI is just a matter of habbit. Sure, for those of us who tried everything we can debate and pick one over the other. But back then when average joe was introduced to iOS and android he would be equaly confused with maemo also. Middle aged people were affraid of smartphones then and now every grandma knows how to use them.
And nokia was betting on that fear and continued to push their worst UI, S60, that everybody was familiar with. And when they reilized that people do like touch UI they halfbaked it to S60 and we know how it ended.