From my very limited interactions with them, Nokias saw mobile operators as their customers, not end-users. They were never going to do anything with it that would piss off the likes of the like of Verizon, Vodafone, Orange etc.

I have an n800 and n810 - the n810 is a thing of beauty in my opinion, even now. But there's no way they could compete with Apple or Google because Nokia designed phones that kept the operators happy and didn't step on any toes. Apple and Google didn't care about any of that.