Reluctant launch
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop seems to doing an admirable job of answering emails sent to him personally from concerned customers, many of whom are concerned about Nokia N9 availability following Nokia's decision not to distribute it in the US.
Regular mobile-device.biz reader jedibeeftrix alerted us to the email correspondence this morning. His own email exchange, in which he asked Elop about the possibility of buying a Nokia N9 in the UK, and specifically a carrier-subsidised version, is shown in the screenshot taken from his blog below.
While it seems, unsurprisingly, that Elop would rather operators focused on the upcoming WP7 phones, the comment: "...within Nokia they can mix between N9, Windows Phone, Symbian, etc." clearly leaves the door open for the N9 in the UK.
The blog also links to a meamo.org forum when another potential N9 customer has published their correspondence with Elop. Here's the CEO's response: "We do expect to have N9 available through some online resellers. That being said, it is also our intention to have Windows Phone based products which themselves are a great user experience and that beat the competition. Indeed, consumer research including in the UK encourages us that this will be achieved. I hope we can meet your needs one way or the other."
This is an even more unambiguous confirmation that we will be able to get the N9, but once more with the impression that Elop would rather be talking about WP7 handsets. The listing of the N9 by gadget retailer Expansys is further evidence, but it's probable that operators will opt not to stock the N9 in order to avoid confusing their customers ahead of the WP7 Nokia launches.
