Mobile Phones Direct - the first UK company to post details of Vodafone tariffs for the N97

Although there’s no release date yet, Mobile Phones Direct is offering the N97 for £39.15 on an 18-month Vodafone tariff. What’s interesting is that they’ve released this information on their website before Vodafone have any details of costs. By the time you read this, things might have changed, of course!

…but it’s fascinating that Mobile Phones Direct has the ’scoop’ on being able to pre-order the N97 on a tariff before the likes of CarPhone Warehouse & the other major distributors of contract phones.

I phones Vodafone to ask them if they had any details of their business tariffs for the N97 – all they could tell me at the moment is that the business tariff will roll out sometime in July. Presumably they’re awaiting the final release date from Nokia themselves before committing themselves, which is sensible.

The Nokia N97 represents the first high-end multimedia, web2.0 and business phone all in one package. It’s specifications show that, whilst it’s not at the top end in terms of hardware, the simultaneous release of the N97 alongside Nokia’s OVI store shows that the Finnish company is attempting to muscle in on Apple’s current dominance in the smartphone arena.

Obviously Nokia isn’t the only company to try and get slice of this still-in-the-oven pie: Samsung & Sony Erricson have both released high-end smartphones this year, and the battle for market dominance of this emerging technology is only in its early rounds, as mobile phone manufacturers bring on board ever-more sophisticated syntheses between new microprocessors, software and web integration. The Nokia N97 will certainly take centre-stage if Nokia is successful in its marketing (and it stands a good chance if it gets it right with the Ovi Store) – but don’t forget, there are three more digits before we reach the magic 100, so it’s obvious that Nokia still has plenty up its sleeve to compete with the specifications of the higher-end Samsung Omnia that was released earlier this year.