1. With some reservations, yes. US markets will be tough for Nokia in the future and it's not always the one with best OS or device that wins. Marketing jargon will sell even total crap when done properly, which is not one of Nokias strong points.

2. and 3. Yes, I consider choice of mergin Maemo with Moblin to be wise in the long run, even if it pisses of many Maemo and N900 fans for a while. MeeGo has gained a lot more attention and visibility than would have been possible by sticking with Maemo 6. In the end, Meego on next Nokia device is still mostly Maemo-Harmattan with different name. There is simply nothing that would have been different on N900 even if merger didn't happen. We would be ranting about Nokia abandoning Maemo 5 for Maemo 6.

4. Of course. Manufacturer that has large market share worldwide always matters, even if it makes few mistakes like N97 and decision not to support MeeGo on N900.