Yes, he did say that it was dropped. The first N9 (remember, that's a marketing name, not the system/internal name) was rumored not just by him but by folks here as being put on the back burner. It wasn't long after that the MeeGo alignment came to light.

His initial comments about the N9 were that he loved the hadrware, but the software was too rough to make assumptions towards. Most recently, he called the entire product garbage. There's about a 9 month outlay between those. If anything, he's *not* said that its an immature product - only that its late, and its management is one of the many ills that Nokia's current product run has going against it.

Production runs, especially on the scale that Nokia tends to release devices, are always approximated. Many times, these numbers aren't that far off, with the exception of successes (the 5800 was a bit unexpected because it was late, the N900 got a bit more run even though it was late and unfinished, etc.) Any company that's been running things for as long as Nokia has plans and rolls pretty efficiently (remember, they've essentially defined leadership in mobile for a decade, and technically, they still lead even after bleeding 10+% of marketshare while increasing sales). It is a rare case when Nokia isn't able to meet production needs for their products, and usually, its so far down the line in terms of components that they can usually get another contractor to fill what is missing - companies of all kinds would kill for that kind of logistical efficiency.

So yes, they break molds at 92K, they even break molds at 1000. It all depends on what the market is, what the company wants to bear/support, and in the end, whether the mark is worth it to the shareholders.

I say all of this not because I'm a fan of Eldar, but because he has been more right than wrong. And normally, its his attitude that comes across to many as a cancer, not his facts.