P990 Release Countdown Watch

Kudos to Martin Little for diligantly badgering various organisations to discover the release dates for the Sony Ericsson P990 SIM-free, and on Orange, Vodafone, and the other major UK networks. The current status on P990 availability can be found on the P990 page, Martin's findings up until 15th Aug 2006 are detailed below:

Tuesday 15th August

The Sony Ericsson P990 in SIM-free format is now available fairly widely across Europe and certain other parts of the world and is expected to spread further in the coming days.

Latest news from the UK networks suggests that there are issues with the firmware, so it will not be released until September. Vodafone is currently quoting 8th September and Orange 22nd September. Here begins the next big countdown.

Monday 14th August

Deliveries are now going on, with many people in the UK expecting their phones to be delivered tomorrow morning. Expansys have stock (at time of writing), but many of the smaller dealers have sold out already.

Expansys -- NOW IN STOCK! mPhone -- 'second week of August' [delivery expected tomorrow] Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- available during September; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- 'Coming soon'. Orange have finally updated, YAY! Should be available on both pay monthly and PAYG(!!!). Also on the coming soon page. Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release' fonePlanet -- 'Available in 3-4' days (also on Orange!)

Sunday 13th August

Unconfirmed information: Information has come out that there are problems with the push email, and as such, the phone will not be widely available on networks until September. Some units are making it into the wild though. Deliveries in Sweden & Denmark are going ahead; a delivery to UK suppliers including Expansys and mPhone are expected tomorrow or Monday.

Expansys -- 'Estimated 1 day' A further discussion thread is here. According to the deliveries page, no P990's arrived with Expansys today... mPhone -- 'second week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- available during September; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- 'Coming soon'. Orange have finally updated, YAY! Should be available on both pay monthly and PAYG(!!!). Also on the coming soon page. Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release' fonePlanet -- 'Available in 3-4' days (also on Orange!)

Saturday 12th August

Friday 11th August

Expansys -- 'Estimated 2 days' [although they are saying all pre-orders will be met today/tomorrow] A further discussion thread is here. According to the deliveries page, no P990's arrived with Expansys today... mPhone -- 'second week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- available during September; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- 'Coming soon'. Orange have finally updated, YAY! Should be available on both pay monthly and PAYG(!!!). Also on the coming soon page. Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release' fonePlanet -- 'Available in 3-4' days (also on Orange!)

Thursday 10th August

Unconfirmed information: Information has come out that there are problems with the push email, and as such, the phone will not be widely available until September. Some units are making it into the wild though.

Expansys -- 'Estimated 2 days' [although they are saying all pre-orders will be met today/tomorrow] A further discussion thread is here. mPhone -- 'second week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- "What phone???" Not even on the coming soon page Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release' fonePlanet -- 'Available in 3-4' days (also on Orange!)

Wednesday 9th August

Expansys -- 'Estimated 1 day' mPhone -- 'second week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- "What phone???" Not even on the coming soon page Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release' fonePlanet -- 'Available in 3-4' days (also on Orange!)

Tuesday 8th August

Expansys -- 'Estimated 2 days' mPhone -- 'second week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- "What phone???" Not even on the coming soon page Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release' fonePlanet -- 'Available in 3-4' days (also on Orange!)

Monday 7th August

Expansys -- 'Estimated 3 days' mPhone -- 'second week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- "What phone???" Not even on the coming soon page Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release' fonePlanet -- 'Available in 3-4' days (also on Orange!)

Sunday 6th August

Expansys -- 'Estimated 4 days' mPhone -- 'second week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- "What phone???" Not even on the coming soon page Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release'

Saturday 5th August

Expansys -- 'Estimated 5 days' mPhone -- 'second week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- "What phone???" Not even on the coming soon page Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release'

Friday 4th August

Expansys -- 'Estimated 6 days' mPhone -- 'first week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- "What phone???" Not even on the coming soon page Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release'

Thursday 3rd August

Expansys -- 'Estimated 7 days' mPhone -- 'first week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- "What phone???" Not even on the coming soon page Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release'

Wednesday 2nd August

Expansys -- 'Estimated 1 day' mPhone -- 'first week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- what phone??? Not even on the coming soon page Sony Ericsson store -- 'August release'

Tuesday 1st August

Expansys -- 'Estimated 2 days' mPhone -- 'first week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September Orange UK -- what phone??? Not even on the coming soon page

Monday 31st July

Expansys -- 'Estimated 3 days' mPhone -- 'first week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September

Sunday 30th July

Expansys -- 'Estimated 4 days' mPhone -- 'first week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September

Saturday 29th July

Expansys -- 'Estimated 5 days' mPhone -- 'first week of August' Freedom Mobiles (a good UK dealer) -- good availability in August, currently only for Vodafone; pricing: Â£200+ on contract Play.com -- 1st of September

Friday 28th July

Thursday 27th July

Expansys -- 'Estimated 7 days' mPhone -- 'first week of August'

Wednesday 26th July

Expansys -- 'Estimated 2 days' mPhone -- 'end of July'

There are other UIQ Phones than the Sony Ericsson P990, and UIQ Getting Started should help you get going with using any of them.