I'm not saying this is a great letter, but he wasn't wrong. I owned both Symbian and Maemo devices, and the experience (both to use and develop) really was this bad. That's not to say everything about it was bad, or that there was nothing to like (as HN comments have often pointed out, there was), but it didn't hold a candle to iOS, or even Android. (And Android in those days was pretty hideous.)
Now what Nokia did in response... that may not have been right either. But they had to do something.
Now what Nokia did in response... that may not have been right either. But they had to do something.