Software not up to scratch

Nokia has announced that six of its smartphones have yet to ship because of problems with the software.

The Nokia E60, E61 and E71 business phones, which are expected to challenge RIM's BlackBerry for market share, were supposed to ship before the end of March.

The company admitted that it is still testing the software but promised that deliveries would begin soon.

"The first deliveries of the Nokia E series are expected to start in April 2006. Volume deliveries are expected in most markets during the second quarter of 2006," Maria Kellokumpu, a spokeswoman for Nokia's enterprise solutions division, said.

Nokia unveiled the models in October and had originally planned to start shipping the phones between January and March 2006.

When the phones do launch, Nokia is expected to focus most heavily on the E61 which includes a usable keyboard.

Nokia also announced that its N91 4GB music phone will finally launch this week, having been delayed from December last year.