Nokia has delayed shipment of the N8, the first mobile phone to run the latest version of Symbian software and a device meant to turn around the company's slump.
"In some markets, we had planned to start delivering the N8s to our pre-order customers by the end of September," the company said in a statement. "To ensure a great user experience, we have decided to hold the shipments for a few weeks to do some final amends. We expect consumers to get their Nokia N8s during October."
The company also said that the number of pre-orders for the phone had exceeded its expectations.
The N8 will be the first phone to run the fully open-sourced Symbian operating system. It has impressive features, including a 12-megapixel camera and an HDMI port so that users can connect the phones to their TVs to stream HD video.
While Nokia is still the world's largest handset maker, it is losing market share in the growing smartphone segment, facing new competition from the likes of Apple and Google. It has been promoting the N8 since earlier this year, and the industry is looking to the phone as Nokia's chance to become more competitive in the smartphone market.
The delay of the N8 comes just as Nokia's new leader takes the helm. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo's last day as CEO was Monday, with the former president of Microsoft's business software group, Stephen Elop, taking over.
Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com