I had in mind the vast public that Nokia is missing. A lot of the laptops and notebooks that travellers haul in their hand baggage could be replaced by Maemo devices. Problem is, those travellers and their employers have never heard of Maemo. For the record, most of them don't care in the least about Accelerometer-Induced Enhanced Delusion, or the other features that sell well in the toyshop. One of the things they do want is to be able to plug in their USB sticks at print shops that might object to unfamiliar devices.
Part of my question was, "Are we back to hardware hacking?" It sounds as though the answer might be "Yes."