Nokia N97 to hit the UK in March

Now here’s an interesting story for anybody who’s eagerly waiting to get their hands on the Nokia N97. Mobile Whack are reporting that the phone is due to be released in the UK, via Play.com, on March 31st, a full two months before the rumoured June release date…

If that’s an accurate date, then ooh, that’s rather exciting, as it means you, me and everybody else won’t have to wait as long to play with Nokia’s new QWERTY-toting, Symbian-powered monster. Nokia are clearly on the rampage in the touchscreen market, given that the Nokia 5800 will be out soon, as well. And with the Nokia N97 aiming to kill the opposition in the top-end market, they’ve pretty much covered all their bases. Well, except for an ultra-cheap touchscreen phone, but be honest, can you imagine that ever happening?

However, there’s always a wild card in these situations, and it may well turn out that the Nokia N97 has its work cut out for it, if it wants to make it big, because there’s another mobile phone on the way, that could well put a damper on Nokia’s party. Yup, the N97 is going to have some sizeable competition in the shape of the Palm Pre, and it’s entirely feasible that it could nick a massive chunk of the Finnish kid’s market share. It’s going to be a close-run thing, though, I reckon, since they’re both stunningly nice mobile phones.

Let’s not forget, though, that Nokia are well-known. Palm, here in the UK, really aren’t. And as we all know, the brand name on a product can make or break it. Just look at the Apple iPod (whichever variant of it takes your fancy). In my opinion, a massively substandard music player, since the sound quality is, and I say this as a musician and sound-engineer-type-bloke, absolutely god-awful. And yet, it outsells every other mp3 player on the market, all because of that brand name.

So, even if the Palm Pre turns out to be vastly superior (and part of me is thinking it really, definitely will do), I reckon the Nokia N97 will get the lion’s share of the interest, because, well, it’s a Nokia, innit…?

Do you think the Nokia N97 will trounce Palm’s comeback kid? Or do you reckon the Palm Pre will muller the big Finnish phone? Leave us a comment and choose your side!

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