Sorry for all the questions, I just think it's an interesting insight to what happens if you pick a language / framework that isn't terribly mainstream.
I started a new webapp two months ago. I ended up using merb again because I already have a merb app in production and could leverage my investment. Merb is obviously not mainstream and even less so now that the project is mostly discontinued in lieu of rails 3.
If I knew now about the length of these projects and my limited funding, I may have stayed with erlang. It was a tough call to let go of it and go with ruby/rails and then have to go to merb due to rails not satisfying my needs to ensure the app only did the things I expected it to do. This is a key issue with rails. Its too complex for some needs. Some apps have a need for simpler frameworks due to security concerns, which was big in my case.
I think it's tough hiring good Ruby/Rails people because they're all busy. And those that aren't, are probably not good to begin with...
(I think the OP mentioned "hasn't worked out as planned" with regards to hiring Rails talent, not erlang)
Then my statement was more directly referring to the Erlang piece of it.
One of the things that crosses my mind every time I start leaning towards one of the more exotic languages is whether or not I'll ever be able to find someone to maintain the software later.
Of course good PHPers are probably busy too.
I have never heard of a company scrapping a business deal because the world ran out of lawyers or accountants. The problem isn't a lack of developers, the problem is a lack of developers at the price the company is willing to pay.