Nokia On Defensive About N8 Delay Speculation
Not the case, challenged Nokia, which in a post to the official Nokia Blog Tuesday -- the first day for incoming CEO Stephen Elop -- said it expects the N8 to start shipments by the end of the third quarter and has advised pre-order customers that N8 phones should begin to arrive in October.
Several reports Tuesday cited statements from Nokia that it needed more time to make adjustments to the N8, and that was the reason for the delay. A Nokia spokespeson told The Wall Street Journal, for example, that Nokia was holding N8 shipments "to ensure a great user experience." That wasn't enough to prevent a Tuesday morning Nokia stock slide in Europe, however.
In the blog post, Nokia stated that "there have been a few stories this morning about the N8 availability which we feel need clarification."
"As we have previously said, we still expect to start the shipments by the end of the third quarter," wrote Nokia representatives. "As with every global launch, when the device reaches the hand of the customer will vary by market and operator."
Nokia also re-iterates that it has received a "record number of online pre-orders for the Nokia N8," but does confirm pre-order customers who it had previously "targeted" to have their N8s by the end of September should expect to receive them in October.
First announced in April, the N8 is based on Nokia's Symbian 3 OS and includes a 12-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics camera, 3.5-inch 640x360 AMOLED display, and also Nokia's satellite navigation platform in Ovi Maps, along with other features. Nokia in mid-August began accepting pre-orders in the U.S. for the N8, which was priced at $549 and was said to be available "end of September."
There's been plenty of speculation, however, that neither the N8 -- with its 680 Mhz processor, out-done by many 1 Ghz smartphones on the U.S. market already -- nor other recently announced Nokia smartphones would do much to cement Nokia's marginal reputation with U.S. consumers. It's in North America where Nokia has failed to gain much of a foothold, and where its competition from Apple, Research In Motion and the galaxy of phones running Google Android is most keenly felt.
All of which steps up the pressure on Elop, the former Microsoft business chief who was announced as Nokia's new CEO in a management shakeup earlier this month, to deliver. An N8 delay ensures Elop and his team, already fighting an uphill battle against speculation that Nokia can't deliver phones to compete with the Apples and Androids of the world, have that much steeper of a hill to climb.
On Nokia's own blog update for the N8, several posters implored Nokia to be more forthcoming about the cause of the delays. "Be honest -- people will find out and this could come back to bite you," wrote one observer. "News of delay are everywhere, well spread, seriously. Nokia needs to make a formal clarification asap, here is not enough," wrote another. "You're once again in a no-win situation," chimed in a third.