Vodafone not to offer new Nokia phone

NOKIA’S N97 may be one of the most eagerly anticipated handsets from the Finnish handset maker but Ireland’s largest mobile operator, Vodafone, has told The Irish Times it will not be offering it to customers. Instead, the operator says it will launch a stripped-down version of the N97, which it calls the N97 Mini.

“Due to the N97 Mini’s competitive pricing, we feel that it will appeal to a wider segment of consumers,” the company said in a statement. Vodafone declined to give any further information.

O2, Meteor and 3 Ireland all said they intend to sell the N97 but none was able to provide a launch date or expected pricing. Nokia says it expects its new phone to be available in Ireland in August, but interest from operators suggests it may be earlier than this.

The N97 goes on sale in Britain today. It is only available in Nokia’s flagship store on Regent’s St in London with wider availability expected from next Friday.

Although it costs €499 directly from Nokia without a Sim-card, Nokia expects operator subsidies to reduce the price to £35 (€41) or less with a contract.

The iPhone 3G S goes on sale in Ireland, exclusively through O2, also next Friday. Although neither side discusses the nature of the contract, it is safe to assume that Apple has lengthened the term of its deal which means the iPhone is an O2-only product.

Pricing varies depending on the monthly contract that the customer commits to. 02 offers iPhone-specific contracts that bundle a set number of minutes for calls, texts and multimedia messages and a 1Gbyte data allowance. The iPhone 16GB 3G S costs €199 with the €45 per month iPhone 175 plan or €79 on the iPhone 700 contract which costs €100 a month. The larger capacity 32GB model costs €299 or €169 on the same tariffs.

To clear stock, the prices of the existing iPhone 3G have been slashed. The handset is free if the buyer signs up to an 18-month iPhone 700 contract or €99 with a iPhone 175 plan.

Palm has said its Pre will be available in Europe this autumn but has not announced any deals with operators. In the US it is sold exclusively with Sprint and there have been reports that O2 UK will get the exclusive British rights.