It would take Nokia two years to steer back on MeeGo, two years they can't afford; it's not going to happen. Look how long it's taking them to get a Windows Phone model out, after steering in January and committing all resources they still have...
It's a shame, without the useless Intel deal this phone could probably have hit the market last summer and could actually have had a real shot at changing things. Now it's dead in the water. After wasting my time for months on the N900, I'm not going to touch again a dead platform.
Look at Nokia's recent past to get an idea of how you cannot just swap one platform for another on a whim. It looks like flailing frmo the outside and IME creates conflict and chaos within the company.
If this is successful -- which I imagine will depend on which carriers run it and how they push it -- I think you'd see a strategy to converge the experience somewhat so there could be a natural successor to this phone.
If they are as tightly wound as it seems, it could come in the form of changes to WP7 (tho of course that application grid would have to go!).
But what's far more likely I think is a layer not unlike HTC Sense. That would be a brilliant little way to bring people on over to a strange and foreign land of WP7. And many many people i'm sure wouldn't even realize that the underlying platform is different: If their web browser, calendar, social feeds, etc, are the same, then it looks just like an upgrade.
It would be an interesting situation for Nokia. First they announce that the company will be bet on Windows Phone, Symbian gets axed, and MeeGo will be put to the background. Many MeeGo developers saw the writing on the wall and abandoned the ship. Hiring them back would be difficult...
