The surprise, the admiration, the charming tale of the ?little guy? possibly besting the big corporations ? it was all too irresistible. Now we find that Aussie Ruslan Kogan, the independent who?d rushed to make good on his promise to sell the world's second Android phone, has faltered.

Due to an ?interoperability issue,? Kogan's handset delivery has been put on hold until further notice. Turns out, the screen built into the Kogan Agora and Agora Pro won't play nicely with upcoming Android apps, which will require a higher resolution than the display can handle.

Disappointed? Me, too. The same part of me that loves underdog movies was hoping Kogan would bat this out of the park. Sadly, consumers who had pre-ordered the phones (including our own Noah Kravitz) received an email on Friday that says it all:

Hi,

I'm disappointed to have to tell you that the Kogan Agora has to be delayed indefinitely.

This delay comes due to potential future interoperability issues.

The Agora did reach a very late stage of development. Manufacturing had commenced and it was a matter of days from being shipped to you. However, it now seems certain the Agora in it's current form will limit its compatibility and interoperability in the near future.

One of the potential issues is the screen size and resolution. It seems developers will be creating applications that are a higher resolution than the Agora is currently capable of handling.

I am sorry for this delay, but in the interest of doing things right by the Kogan brand promise, and you, the customers, I cannot disappoint you by supplying a product that I am aware will shortly have significant limitations.

In order to fully appreciate the feature-rich applications Android developers will be creating in coming months and years, the Agora must be redesigned.

You will receive a full refund for your pre-order of the Kogan Agora. This will be processed within 7 days and automatically credited to your account.

I will continue to blog about the Agora (www.kogan.com.au/blog/) as we look to develop and release a new phone as soon as possible.

Stay tuned over the coming months for many exciting new products as well as a new version of the Agora.

Thank you for your support and loyalty to the Kogan brand.

Cheers,
 
Ruslan Kogan
www.kogan.com.au

So that's it. Customers will get their money back, but not a promise for a second delivery date.

Well, at least this wrinkle was discovered before the phones shipped. (With consumer electronics giants, the public always seem to get wind of hardware issues after the fact.) So good for Kogan that he fessed up to the problem in advance. In fact, despite the disappointment, it seems that a large portion of his would-be Agora customers lauded the move as proof of Ruslan's honesty ? a rare attribute in today's corporate landscape.

Also, in the back of my mind, I wonder if Kogan's unintentionally false claims turned up the heat in the industry. Did his promises help herald the way for the upcoming HTC G2 ?Sapphire?? Though we may never know for certain, at least we know where our next Android fix will probably come from, and sadly, it ain't from down under.