Huge props to Ricky Cadden from MobileBurn for pinging me on Skype to tell me about this rumor. Someone on the Vodafone Ireland Forums who is a moderator and has the username “Ev from Vodafone” recently posted this message:
Vodafone Ireland will not be launching the N97 but will be launching the N97 Mini later this year. Due to the N97 Mini’s competitive pricing, we feel that it will appeal to a wider segment of consumers.
Another operator has exclusivity on the Palm Pre so we are not able stock it.
I can say that we are going to Launch the N97 mini as mentioned above and the Storm 2 though.
In one message that may lose him his job, and stop potential N97 buyers from opening their wallets, we have yet another device to look forward to this year.
Screenshot in case Ev decides to erase his mistake:
Click for full size (1680 x 1050)
Update: I sent a tweet to @VodafoneIreland:
And received this tweet as a response:
Yet at the same time, Ev’s post confirming the N97 Mini has been deleted.
Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe we have a mystery on our hands!