Nokia Autopsy on MeeGo
communities-dominate.blogs.com
communities-dominate.blogs.com
In addition, one of Nokia's big problems is its inability to produce good modern software. In order to make Symbian and MeeGo realistic contenders, Nokia would have completely needed to change its software processes' direction. It would not have been as risky as moving to WP7.
The post is written by former Nokia exec, Tomi Ahonen. It might be reasonable to assume he had/has insider information that the public is not privy to.