Nokia Delays Flagship N8 Again

Nokia said it would delay again its flagship smartphone N8 model, hitting its shares on the day new chief executivetop cellphone maker. The N8 is seen by analysts as Nokia's first top-range model to challenge Apple's iPhone more than three years after its launch. Its success is seen as being crucial for Nokia's profit margins. "A single device does not normally have a significant impact on Nokia's ... development. But with the N8 the firm has much more at stake," analysts at FIM Bank says in a note. "The new delay is once again a blow to Nokia's already tarnished image and it could also endanger the firm's Q3 earnings target," it said.

Nokia shares were 1.7 percent lower at 7.74 euros by 0821 GMT, underperforming 0.1 percent firmer STXE 600 Technology index. A company spokesman said the first phones were still scheduled to leave factories by the end of September, but deliveries to consumers who had preordered the phone would be delayed by a few weeks. "In some markets, we had planned to start delivering the N8s to our pre-order customers by the end of September. To ensure a great user experience, we have decided to hold the shipments for a few weeks to do some final amends," the company said in a statement, adding that the N8s would reach consumers in October.

Nokia announced the delay only a few days after the Sept. 15 closure of its showcase event of the year, Nokia World. "This is embarrassing," said John Strand, chiefexecutive of Danish telecoms consultancy Strand Consult. The N8 smartphone , first to use Nokia's new Symbian software, was originally scheduled to reach consumers in June. In April, Nokia warned that the software renewal would take longer than it had expected due to quality problems and said that the N8 would reach consumers by the end of September.

The weak smartphone offering and problems with software were see as the main reasons for Nokia to replace its chief executive. Stephen Elop, from Microsoft, started at his job as Nokia's chief executive on Tuesday. The N8 stands out among its rivals for its 12 megapixel camera but has a slower processor than Samsung's top model Galaxy S and the latest iPhone.