Depending on how Alien Dalvik works out, Meego may be able to take advantage of the existing Android ecosystem, while keeping the really nice bits of Maemo/Meego like telephony/messaging/address book subsystems.

       Phones need strong app ecosystems and familiar 
       apps that everyone expects

Both iOS and Android started with zero apps.

MeeGo is based on the Linux ecosystem. Porting games from Android / iOS to MeeGo should be trivial. Building cross-platform apps that run on all of them in C++ is also doable, since you can share the business-logic.

Android would be a bad choice for them. They are big enough to want to differentiate themselves from the competition. Forking Android would be terrible for everybody; Symbian all over again.

So MeeGo or a new version of Symbian is their best option: they can reuse existing code-bases and they also have enough control.

Either way, the partnership with Microsoft is a disaster.

"Porting... should be trivial."

There is a world of difference between getting an <strikeout>executable program application</strikeout> app to run and designing one from the ground up that is platform specific and provides an optimal UX.

That's why I said "games", which are written in C++ and for which you only really need OpenGL ES. Other differences can be easily abstracted.

And when speaking about "games", they have their own UI, so providing an optimal UX is not about using OS-specific widgets.

Apologies. I missed your games distinction. Quite right.

    Building cross-platform apps that run on all of them in C++ is also doable, since you can share the business-logic.

What about the OS-specific APIs? I would be more confident in a mono-type framework that makes Android ports much easier.

If you want the best user-experience, you have to use the OS-specific APIs.

Otherwise your best options are Webview components + HTML + Javascript + some native hooks to provide the missing functionality. Works quite well, take a look at PhoneGap + JQuery mobile / jQTouch.

I disagree. The platform has to first exist and be attractive for developers to wanna invest in it. This is the big advantage WP7 has over MeeGo.

I have both an iPhone and an Android with dozens of apps on them.

But I could do without all of them, all I need is an Email client + a browser + a Skype client.

If you build a usable/reliable OS with a usable browser and email client, people will buy your phone and devs will come.

WP7 is not even on the radar yet for developers. Porting apps to WP7 for me is waisted effort instead of improving the code-bases for Android / iOS (which also have shared logic that I cannot port easily to WP7 because WP7 doesn't allow native code).

Right, but the problem is MeeGo doesn't even exist in a final or mature form yet. As Elop said, they could probably only get a MeeGo device out next year!

As for the native code argument, well I don't entirely buy that. Developing for WP7 is easy and accessible enough - as evidenced by the flood of apps the platform has already.

Mobile phones are practically fashion accessories. You can buy jeans for $20 (if you don't mind the quality and lack of a brand), but lots of people still buy Levi jeans.

Levi's are the Fords of the jean world; they're hardly a fashion label.

I can tell you it varies by country. In places where they are scarce it is very much a fashion label. Believe it or not, so is GAP. I've given away tons of old GAP stuff I bought in college to family and friends who absolutely adore it but can't afford it.

Your reasoning sounds exactly the same reasoning they used against Apple for the iPhone.