Nokia Finally Ships N8 Phone

Nokia’s much-heralded and long-delayed N8 smartphone has finally started shipping, according to the Finnish phone giant.

As recently as last week, Nokia was denying further delays to the phone, although it was apparently making final tweaks right until the launch date. The phone includes a high-spec 12 Megapixel camera and Symbian^3, a new version of the open source Symbian OS, and is Nokia’s best hope to halt the erosion of its smartphone lead by rivals Apple, RIM and Google Android.

At last, it’s on the way…

“Customers who have placed a pre-order for the Nokia N8 in Nokia Online Shops and Nokia retail stores will be the first to receive their Nokia N8,” said a Nokia statement. “Market availability will vary by country and by operator, with broad availability in the coming weeks.”

Nokia has a historic lead in the smartphone world, but is losing market share and announced a fight-back at the Nokia World event in London earlier in September, where another device, the E7, which has a sliding keyboard, was also launched.

The new version of Symbian has a lot to live up to, but has been compared to the Titanic by Gartner analyst Nick Jones, and has been dropped by Sony Ericsson

Nokia’s CEO Oli-Pekka Kallasvuo, has been replaced by Stephen Elop from Microsoft, who is rumoured to be considering a move to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.

Tesco is selling the N8 for £329.97.