Is the Nokia N97 NAM here, already?

It seemed so long ago that Nokia previewed the N97 at CES.  In reality just four months have passed – but it seems like eternity when you’re awaiting a major product release.  We were told the N97 was being rolled to to Europe first in Q1 but they were nebulous about North America (they had me thinking Q3). Well surprise! Looks like the wait is almost over for North Americans, even ahead of the European release? While a UK version is slated to release June 29th (according to Expansys.ie), rumors are that Nokia will be releasing the North American version of the much anticipated N97 on June 2nd.  Evidence that a release date nearing is on Amazon.com‘s site where you can now buy one! Instead of saying it’s on pre-order like Nokia and other online retailers, they actually list it as being “Temporary Out of Stock.” Maybe there was an intitial stock that sold out and I just missed it? Either way, transact your order and they’ll ship it as soon as its available.  Better yet: List Price is $699 but right now on Amazon you can buy it at a discount…

Also available in Black

With more memory, better resolution, touch screen, and full QWERTY keyboard, it is not only a major upgrade over its predecessors, the N95 and N96 (great phones already), but it could just leave their new owners with little to be jealous about in not owning a Blackberry or iPhone.