Thing is with Nokia the apps have generally not come later. Its been forever and they still haven't really attracted a meaningful developer community. That might have been a decent answer when the 5800 came out, but its just a poor sentiment when the OS has been out this long (I realise this is a new version, but most of the apps are forwards compatible, so the comment still stands). Whether the devs will come to the party now remains to be seen. I don't think given the history over the last 2 years though that its sound advice to tell people asking about apps that 'they will come'.

Regards some apps being niche - thats part of the point and advantage of a large app availability isn't it? Having niche apps that let you perfectly tailor your device to your use, explain to me how that doesn't add value?

What quality apps? Geez dude, I could be here forever listing them - there are thousands. If you want to practice the ostrich theory and stick your head in the sand go ahead, but the number of quality apps dwarfs Symbian. Don't forget Symbian is where I cut my smartphone teeth. I remain a fan, but not a fanboy. Reality is what it is.

Your comment regards people choosing on features/hardware etc is irrelevant to the particular discussion as I framed it - that for some people app availability is extremely important. Clearly I'm only speaking to them. They come places like this looking for advice, and you do them a disservice if you gloss over this weakness of Symbian.

EDIT: OK, quick search at the Ovi store - some things it lacks immediately that I'd like to have on any mobile:
- Kindle/Nook/Kobo/Aldiko etc - I'd hardly call ebooks niche, and for people who have Nooks/Kindle's the ability to also have their library, replete with sync'd bookmarks available at all times is golden
- Decent RSS reader, can't find anything to match any of several good Android ones
- Social networking - OK, there is a good one, its Gravity. Its also $15. There are any number of awesome ones in Android, many free, certainly none even close to approaching that cost. They all offer various pros and cons, so users are likely to find one that fits their needs with regards to their approach to social networking
- Stuff like Grooveshark etc
- Games - seriously lacking, particularly would miss emulators for platforms like GBA and PSX1
- Many places that have dedicated Android and iPhone apps that don't appear in the Ovi store - Time, NY Times, Guardian, IMDB, Ebay, Paypal - these tend to all come to the iOS and Android platforms, this is not the case presently for Symbian
- UI replacements - there are plenty in Android, for instance I use LauncherPro to replace TouchWiz on my Galaxy S (SPB Mobile Shell was once awesome, but its got nothing on stuff like ADW Launcher and LauncherPro)
- Having trouble finding good remote desktop software
- Having trouble finding remote software for things like VLC/WMP
- Lack of alternative media players for those who need functionality not in the native player, there are many very good ones for Android

Its possible there are some of those floating around that didn't show in the Ovi store, I didn't look exhaustively. Lots on that list is hardly what you'd call niche though...