T-Mobile not expecting N8 until early November

Nokia N8

T-Mobile has been signalled as the first UK provider to get its hands on the Nokia N8 and is claiming to be shipping the device before its official launch date of 22 October.

However, IT PRO has learned this is only a pre-order via its website and T-Mobile is unlikely to get the Symbian^3-based device into stock until the beginning of November.

When we asked the company's sales team if we could get our hands on the N8 by going into one of its retail stores, they said they didn't have any handsets in stock at the moment and that the 10 day delivery promise online was "very optimistic."

Instead, the sales representative claimed the team were not expecting to get any in stock until the first week of November, over a week later than the official launch date.

We were also told we would be more likely to get the handset if we called back on the official release date, jumping the queue ahead of those who had signed up to the pre-order.

The handset is available SIM-free directly from Nokia's website and the manufacturer explicitly said it would be "exclusively available at the Nokia Online Shop from October 15th 1 week before general UK release."

UPDATE: We recieved a response from T-Mobile claiming the handset would be in its shops from 22 October - the official release date of the N8 - and it was the company's "aim is to deliver pre-ordered handsets to customers" on this date.

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.