Ok, so I got myself Samsung Vibrant at a good deal for existing customers (100$). The same day the phone was rooted, recovery flashed, bloatware deleted, CM5 applications ported (music, clock etc ) GPS fixed yada yada yada...

I had G1 before that and it started to die on me so I thought newer, faster Android phone will be what I'll ever need.. And now I can honestly say that despite all my previous complaining about how Maemo is being dropped, n900 abandoned, bugs and missing features on the device etc, Android just does not cut it... It is limited and it is just plain boring. Most of the similar features between Android 2.2 (what was on my G1), 2.1 and Maemo 5 are implemented far more elegantly in Maemo 5. I will use the phone and despite what I said to myself previously will seriously consider n900 successor.

As far as the OP goes, I think even though Nokia said that they dont want to be under Google's thumb, having one or two high end phones (n8 equivalent) running modified Android with Ovi store and Ovi maps ported on it will do more good than bad and bring some profits as well. I think in its current state Nokia has to keep an open "Mind" when talking about this. Having an Android device from a company that is known to make a TOP quality hardware will I think pull customers from HTC, Samsung and Motorola.