In the lead up to the actual launch of the N97 you can expect a lot of hype and speculation over 2 questions:
1. When will the N97 be released?
and
2. How much will it cost?

Well online retailer Expansys have thrown their hat into the ring, as you can see, and the news is not good, or at least as good as may have been hoped.

The release date has gone from Q1 to the end of Q2 – 23 June, and the price is a top end £689.99, or over $1000.

Of course Expansys may be wrong on both counts, and only time will tell.

According to Play.com the N97 will be available on 31 March 2009.

Could this be the good folks at Play.com fishing for pre orders? Of course it could, as they got the release date of the N96 totally wrong, but it could also be an indication that Nokia have given major retailers an indication of when the N97 may be released.

In any event for those waiting eagerly for the Nokia N97, the end of March may not seem like as long a wait as they had feared.