Nokia denies UK ship date report on 'Comes With Music'

By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published September 22, 2008, 1:10 PM

A spokesperson for Nokia flatly denied a report from Reuters which claimed to have cited UK retailer Carphone Warehouse as having announced the first Nokia 5310 "Comes With Music" phone would premiere in about three weeks.

"The sales start for Nokia Comes With Music has not yet been finalized, and the date that was posted on the Carphone Warehouse Web site was in error," Nokia spokesperson Victoria Dickson told BetaNews early this afternoon. "We're delighted with the level of interest in the launch of Comes With Music, and will confirm further details in due course."

This morning, Reuters cited UK pay-as-you-go wireless service retailer Carphone Warehouse as having announced on its Web site that the Nokia 5310 phone -- the first to be sold anywhere with the company's Comes With Music service -- would premiere on October 17. Enthusiasts have been expecting the date to be October 2, and Nokia's denial of the Reuters report today maintains that earlier date as within the realm of possibility.

Blogs citing the Reuters report also noted what appeared to be early word of the service's pricing as having been reported in that story; however, the most recent printing of the Reuters story contains no such information. Furthermore, BetaNews checked Carphone Warehouse earlier today, and was not only unable to find any reference to an October 17 launch date but also no evidence from Google -- which caches the site's pages -- that the retailer ever mentioned October 17 as a launch date.

Nokia first confirmed it would launch its awkwardly named, though highly anticipated music service in the UK three weeks ago.