Nokia has slipped the promised Q1 shipping dates for its new E-series phones for business users. The E60, E61 and E71 were originally due at the end of March, but we understand they won’t be available in quantity for a few more weeks yet. Nokia is apparently prioritising the E61, which has a full QWERTY keyboard and has attracted a lot of interest as a BlackBerry alternative.
The E phones are part of Nokia’s plan to get stuck into the business market, where the interoperability with enterprise applications like email servers are critical. This has caused the problem.
Software was also blamed for the N series delays. The N91, originally due to be in the shops for last Christmas, is only just arriving at distributors; the N71 and N80 should start deliveries this month.