I think they likely invested a lot to the modern UI stuff, like QtQuick. They also financed the initial PySide project to get LGPL licensed Python bindings for

I think they likely invested a lot to the modern UI stuff, like QtQuick. They also financed the initial PySide project to get LGPL licensed Python bindings for Qt (PyQt is GPL/commercial license only). But indeed, in other areas such as non-Nokia mobile platforms they even blocked progress. It was only after Nokia let go that the Android port really took off and was mainlined for example.