Nokia N8 Ships; Investors Gain Hope

NEW YORK, (TheStreet) -- Nokia (NOK) N8 superphone shipments began trickling out of the factory Thursday delivering on the promise of a September launch and -- if analysts are right -- it's a break from a withering series of disappointments.

Nokia N8

To answer skeptics that expected Nokia to blow its deadline, the Finnish phone giant posted pictures on its blog of N8 phones being boxed and loaded on airplane cargo containers for shipment.

"The first Nokia N8 devices have left the factories in Finland and China and are now making their way around the world," according to the Nokia blog.

The 11th hour victory not only makes good on Nokia's effort to get a competitive touchscreen phone out to answer Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and the increasingly popular Google (GOOG) Android devices, it may mark an end to some of the missteps that have caused Nokia shares to tumble.

For Nokia investors these days, one less disaster is seen as very good news.

Nokia shares were up 3% to $10.11 in premarket trading Thursday as Wall Street took a less pessimistic view of the troubled telecom titan.

Some analysts see Nokia's ability to meet its September N8 delivery target, however minimally, as an encouraging sign that the company won't issue a financial shortfall warning before its earnings report next month.

Nokia is expected to report earnings on Oct. 21. That's three weeks of tough sailing, but if it goes without another setback, it would be a refreshing change for Nokia.

--Written by Scott Moritz in New York.



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