Nokia phone has good resell value here. If there's no other Maemo/MeeGo phone around that time, I'd probably buy a N950.

I'll believe it when I see it in stores.

True! That's a very valid concern. Coupled with the growing concern about how much support a Nokia MeeGo device would get, buying it could involve quite a risk.

However, to me MeeGo looks like a technically superior platform, so I think my next device will be with MeeGo - Nokia or another quality brand with HW KB.

+1

Elop won't change course, he's a M$ man through and through.
I bet once he got control of Nokia, Ballmer was on the phone within seconds:

"Hey Steve, it's Steve........... Ya know, Monkeyboy? Developers... developers... developers? Hehheh.
Yeah, listen up. You know we got this WP7 cr@p that no-one's interested in? Do me a favor, eh?"

Deal done.

Better be careful what is said on here against Nokia because they might pull all support for this community ! ha do we really need them now?.

@stickymick: heheh yeah that's a possible scenario... but personally, I think Elop is more selfish than that at this point of his career. He'll take whichever platform will bring him the best (brand & financial) glory.

If MeeGo turns into a beautiful swan, I believe Elop wouldn't hesitate to backstab Ballmer.

But I also think that that's quite an unlikely scenario. MeeGo will take years to gain traction. So Elop will make use of WP7 to bring him his glory for the time being.

Disagree here. If he's a "trojan" like oft cried in these parts, then if MeeGo becomes polished enough to be a true threat to anything else out there and they still don't know how to market it, then it will probably get killed off.

Reminds me of when Macromedia had Director and then mTropolis came out, instantly started gaining share. Quark bought it, didn't know how to market it, sat on top of it, shopped it around a bit, then just killed it. Shame too... because it was honestly better than Director in so many ways.

I don't see Elop as selfish. In so many ways, I see that he could be seen as such; I see him as an opportunist that's been handed a situation that could go either way; it just went towards WP7 because it could be built against - internally and for other purposes into concepts whereas the 6 month incremental builds of MeeGo, while steady and dictated on a very programmatic schedule have yet to yield an UI (yet) and/or product that's "refined". Not that I'd call WP7 refined, it's still a rather beta-ish OS imho.

MeeGo on Nokia will happen only if they can equal or better the desktop application offerings than Microsoft - which are limited due to DRM, OS or whatever. So far, I don't see that happening - that happens, Elop might switch or append to the current scope.

So far, he just seems (as do the board) unimpressed or unconvinced that MeeGo could do it. No amount of ranting, raving, wishing, or stomping like angry toddlers will convince anybody. It just needs to happen.

Will online stores count? Otherwise that's a tall order, given you're a U.S. resident.

I've only seen one Maemo/MeeGo device, an N810, on display in a physical store, and I had to travel more than 5,700 kilometers for that privilege.

@gerbick: Do you think Elop is a trojan?

I do think he came as part of a larger deal from Redmond, but I doubt he's got blind loyalty toward MS; especially past the initial honeymoon period with MS.

At this point in time, I think they're just looking for something that would sell. They'll market 'unrefined hoes' if that's the current market wants...

MeeGo is the refined prude in this case. She needs to puts out a little...

Who's fault is that? Either my fault for being born American or Nokia's fault for not having a North American presence. I can't control either, so let's call it a draw.

And for the record, online stores do count. Sad that I have to pay full price for a gadget that I've yet to hold in my hands. That's a risk I normally do not take.

CompUSA had the 770, N800 and N810 in their stores before they went out of business. I held them all in my hands before I purchased them.

Only 20km for that privilege. Would be even less if Nokia sold their stuff via Best Buy.