In preparation for the release of Nokia’s N9 MeeGo smartphone, the company has had a countdown clock running on the Swedish version of its website, counting down to September 23. After ticking down for several days now, the counter has abruptly disappeared, raising questions about whether or not the N9 has been delayed.

Nokia Sweden could simply have stepped out of line with the countdown, and may have started running it prematurely; could we see it return as the expected release date nears?

The future of the N9 already seemed on pretty shaky ground when, shortly after the phone’s announcement, Nokia revealed that it wouldn’t continue releasing MeeGo-based handsets after the N9 arrived, not doing much to stir-up interest in the platform. If we’re looking at a delayed release, things could turn disastrous for the N9, as this fall is shaping up to be one full of major smartphone hardware and software releases. If the N9 gets lost in that crowd, it could be as good as dead.

Considering there’s still plenty of time left before when we were expecting the N9, it’s probably premature to call the handset delayed. We’ll wait until we hear something from Nokia (or maybe the countdown clock will pop back up on its own) before we start to get worried.

Source: Nokia

Via: The Nokia Blog, My Nokia Blog