MiTAC Mio 8380 Smartphone to be released in Europe in Septem

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://ppcw.net/index.php?itemid=1410' target='_blank'>http://ppcw.net/index.php?itemid=1410</a><br /><br /></div>Well it looks like you lucky Europeans may see the Mio 8380 before those of us in North America do! Here's what Arne Hess had to say:<br /><br />"I recently received an update from MiTAC about the availability of the Mio 8380 Smartphone in Europe. According to MiTAC EMEA, the Mio 8380 will be available for European market end of Q3/September 2003 and launched with operators in Western Europe. The Netherlands, Belgium and France are - according to MiTAC - the "landing shore for introducing the Mio 8380". Stay tuned for more detailed information."

[encece]

Will Arne be selling these from his site as well?

[Jason Dunn]

Will Arne be selling these from his site as well?

Good question! I doubt it, since it's coming from a different ODM (original device manufacturer), and Arne has contacts with one of them right now.

[greenmozart]

We'll obviously have to wait for Arne to respond to this directly, but I did ask him about this when he first started selling the i-Mate. At the time he hadn't developed any relationship with Mitac but said he would welcome any chance to develop one (paraphrasing).

From what I've seen (pics only) the phone is quite large, but I think it offers a great alternative to the candybar form factor that some of us can't stand. And in the conspicuous absence of the Samsung i600 I'd take anything that filled the unfortunate void here in the US! :evil: