"But the N9’s accolades did not ultimately carry the day. "

I think it would have. The N9 was killed before it came to market. It was never sold in any of the major markets, the platform was declared dead as the switch to Windows Phone was already announced. But the N9 was technically a very good phone and I do not think it came too late. At that time Nokia was still strong with Symbian and the iPhone was not strong in Europe. The move to Windows Phone (even if you think it would be a good platform) delayed things further. Declaring all your existing products a dead end before having an alternative on the market was a really bad idea.