Nokia's N9 MeeGo smartphone not destined for UK and US markets

Nokia said its MeeGo-powered N9 smartphone will not be available in the UK or United States. The N9 smartphone has been acclaimed by reviewers as the best Nokia device in years and rated highly for its smooth graphics, intuitive operations and sleek design.

Click here to see a video of the N9's UI in action.

While Nokia says that it takes a "market by market approach to product rollout, and each country makes its own decision," it seems more likely that the UK and the US are being targeted as launch sites this autumn for the Nokia's first smartphone running Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Mango software, which has been dubbed "Sea Ray."

Leaked videos of the Sea Ray device confirm that it shares very similar physical characteristics to the N9, so Nokia's decision to restrict sales of its only MeeGo device to particular countries seems aimed at avoiding product confusion for consumers.

Nokia has confirmed that it will launch the N9 around the world, with Swedish operators being the first to be offering the new smartphone.

Nokia has also revealed that it plans to halt sales of its Symbian-based devices as well as low-end Series 40 handsets in the US and Canada when it launched Windows Phone products later this year. The company has also revamped its distribution method in the US, and the company said it will now only sell handsets via operators. That about-face is a marked contrast to Nokia's existing strategy of bringing high-end devices to the US market and selling them unlocked, without carrier support.

For more:
- see this Engadget post
- see this Ars Technica post
- see this SlashGear post

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