A Nokia suit at the recent CTIA Wireless event in the US committed an embarrassing faux pas when he told the world that the Finns had managed to sell 13 million of its new touchscreen phone, the 5800 XpressMusic.
A Tweet from the chaps over at Nokia conversation reveals the truth behind the slip, but it was unable to stop the story proliferating over the web (although surely a more 'concrete' denial would have made more sense).
Nokia's first (proper) attempt at a touchscreen phone has been pretty successful... one million sold by January was a decent attempt, but to then sell 12 million in the next two months would actually be record breaking when you think about it.
The Finns have ACTUALLY managed to slip 13 million of the 5310 XpressMusic handsets into the hands of the global public since the launch in 2007 - although it still stands up pretty favourably to Apple, which has managed to sell 17 million since its launch over two years ago.
Plus the 5310's, a slim little low-cost phone, are the first to make use of the Comes with Music service, meaning they were effectively re-launched to make use of the unlimited music option.
Stop the grey!
Despite the over-zealous incorrect publicity, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has still performed pretty well in the first quarter, selling nearly three million units.
And the handset has been a hit in Europe and Asia, as well as garnering positive press in North America, despite the well-publicised failings of the initial batch over poor connectivity and speaker issues.
Given the handset is still gaining traction in certain territories, there's a good chance it could usurp the iPhone in the coming months... that's of course assuming Apple doesn't release a new iPhone in June... it couldn't, could it?
Original story via BGR
