The Nokia N8's launch has been somewhat of a controversial subject, as it was set to launch this month, then it was rumored to be delayed, and finally Nokia chimed in to say that some N8s would be shipping on time. It looks like Nokia's statement wasn't far off, as the N8 has begun shipping everywhere in the world except the U.S. A Nokia rep has said that the stateside debut of the N8 has been pushed back to the end of October because the handset needs some software tweaks before it's ready for the U.S. market. The N8's pre-order page has been updated on the U.S. Nokia site to reflect the delay, saying that shipping is planned for the "end of October 2010."
It's pretty disappointing that the N8 won't be launching in the U.S. until the end of October, especially because this could adversely effect both consumers and Nokia. Interested customers in the U.S. may get tired of waiting for the N8 to launch and end up going elsewhere, and the longer Nokia waits to release the N8, the more time their competition has to catch up to them and release bigger and better products. Still, I'm sure Nokia has a good reason for delaying the N8. Let's just hope that the handset has a strong U.S. debut so that Nokia will continue to give us great phones, possibly even with carrier subsidies.
