Phew. Not the closest call we've seen, but close enough to get us sweating ever-so-slightly. We had a strange feeling some wires were crossed when a report surfaced stating that the "Gphone" wouldn't be shipping until 2009, but for whatever it's worth, Google has now addressed the issue and affirmed that it is "still on track to announce Android-powered phones this year." The spokesperson continued by proclaiming that "some of [its] partners were publicly stating that they plan to ship Android phones in the fourth quarter," which leads us to say: crisis averted, carry on.

[Via CNET]

It's April, do you know where your WiMax service is? Unfortunately, S.Korea as Sprint backtracks on the planned April launch of its commercial Xohm service. This according to an official company spokesman. Sprint says that the launch has been delayed to "later in the year" which many expect to be as early as summer. Even then we're likely only talking about Chicago, Baltimore, and D.C. areas. Time to start making room for LTE in our sad, jaded hearts.

"As early as possible" in 2008 is getting less "early" by the minute, and details are starting to emerge on all the juicy drama going on behind the scenes at AT&T where the powers that be have been unable so far to get their long-overdue MediaFLO-based mobile TV network launched. Apparently, both LG and Samsung were rearing to show their launch devices (Samsung's Access is pictured here) at CES last month, and both were asked to pull 'em at the very last minute as it became apparent that AT&T wasn't ready to rock and roll, leaving LG with a rather awkward situation on its hands as some folks caught the Vu doing... well, absolutely nothing in the company's booth. Rumor has it that unspecified legal troubles and flaky mobile TV chipsets are both to blame, with delays hovering somewhere in the two to eight week range. Here's our simple question: if the network already exists (and it does, because Verizon's been using it for a year now), what the heck is so hard here?

Those waiting in tense anticipation for any of HP's iPAQs could be twiddling their thumbs even longer. Amidst the recent delays (and subsequent clarifications) of the 110 and 210 comes news that a whole slew of the devices will not be shipping on time. Reportedly, HP Austria has confirmed to TamsPPC that the 110 won't arrive until early next month, while the 200 series won't land until January of next year. It gets worse -- the 614 / 614c Business Navigator is purportedly delayed until next February, and the 914 / 914c isn't set to arrive until the cows come home May of 2008. As for the 314, you can still expect it by the end of next month. Granted, we can't confirm that Austria-based delays will necessarily affect America and the rest of the globe, but it certainly isn't confidence instilling news, regardless.

Unlocked Kaisers are already available from your friendly local importer (and yes, it rocks, by the way), but if on-contract AT&T pricing is more to your liking, the wait may have just gotten a little longer. We're hearing unconfirmed reports that the 8925 Tilt -- AT&T's branded version of the Kaiser -- has been pushed back a few weeks from its September 25 release window thanks to some pesky network certification issues. You know, those tests that cause a phone mentioned in December of one year to be released late the following year (pardon if we sound bitter). Anyway, the phones have apparently been shipped back to HTC for some last-minute rejiggering; with any luck, we'll still see 'em before October's out if the rumor's true. If this ends up being nothing more than a case of a few misinformed AT&T reps, though, make sure to bring enough cash on your shopping trip next Tuesday for both the Tilt and Halo 3, k?

[Thanks, John L.]

Talk about a delay -- China, which was expected to issue 3G licenses to its "top four" telecom operators, has now announced that the move will have to wait until they "come out of restructuring." As it currently stands, it will likely be after the 2008 Olympics before the licensing will ensue. Interestingly enough, information industry minister Wang Xudong has reportedly stated that "3G mobile phone services will be offered in the mainland in 2008 in time for the Beijing Olympics," but wouldn't that require issuance to take place before... beforehand? We'll keep you posted.

[Via monoNews, image courtesy of 3G]

That sound you're hearing is the collective sigh from everyone patiently waiting for Palm to actually get its act together and unveil its depressingly overdue Linux mobile OS. Yet again, it seems we've been fooled into believing that Palm actually had its ducks in a proverbial row, as BrightHand is now reporting that Palm CEO Ed Colligan recently announced on a conference call that "products based on the new Linux-based platform won't be available until some time next year." Interestingly enough, Colligan also insinuated that the firm would "continue to use Windows Mobile and Garnet OS / Palm OS II for the foreseeable future." Wait, they can actually see some light at the end of this perpetually growing tunnel? We sure as hell can't.

This one doesn't bode well for Mac fans and the iPhone-hopeful: we have it on authority that as of today, the iPhone launch is being pushed back from June to... October (!), and Leopard is again seeing a delay, this time being pushed all the way back to January. Of 2008. The latest WWDC Leopard beta will still be handed out, but it looks like Apple-quality takes time, and we're sure Jobs would remind everyone that it's not always about "writing a check", but just how much time are these two products really going to take?

Update:

Here's the story. A trustworthy source supplied us with an actual internal Apple email that went out to thousands of Apple employees earlier today (published after the break). The fact that this was an email sent within Apple's internal email system to its employees is not in question.

As it turns out, the internal memo Apple employees received was actually retracted by Apple shortly after it was sent out. (Also published after the break.) We received confirmation from Apple PR that this initial email sent out to Apple employees was incorrect, and they let us know that the iPhone and Leopard are both still on track, and should meet their expected launch timeframes.

Presumably Apple is now on the hunt for whomever was able to spoof its internal email system.

It's bad enough that nearly every HTC handset that makes its way into a carrier's lineup inevitably gets rebadged and renamed, but this one's sure to make you scratch your head. Just hours after hearing that the handset is likely to miss its May launch by a few months, we've now caught wind of an interesting teaser site that leaves little doubt about what phone is behind the silhouette. Interestingly, the Sprint, HTC, and Qualcomm sponsored site boldly states that the pictured device is not the PPC-6800, but rather the Mogul. It then continues on by insinuating that this 007-esque gizmo can handle just about any mission you task it with, but fails to provide any concrete information beyond that. Hey, you've got to find some way to keep interests piqued until October, eh?

A May launch for Sprint's variant of the HTC Titan sounded too good to be true, and indeed, it just might be. We've now heard from enough individuals to give some credence to a rumor that the PPC-6800 has been pulled back into the shop to get reworked for an October release just weeks before it was supposed to hit store shelves. The reason? Well, it's a pretty good one, it turns out; Sprint allegedly wants to take the time to do the launch up right by launching its flagship Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 6 and EV-DO Rev. A out of the gate. Now to be fair, we see no reason why they couldn't go ahead and launch it with Windows Mobile 5 and EV-DO Rev. 0 on the original timetable and push out an upgrade come this fall, but we've been through too many launch delays at this point to be too surprised or disappointed by the news.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Just when you thought you'd waited long enough, and you were all set to hand over your credit card information for a shiny new XDA Zinc, you'll unfortunately have to gain just a little more interest on that dough and ponder whether or not you'll still be passionate about this thing come March. Although O2 was shooting for a January rollout for the slideout smartphone, interested customers are looking at another 1.5 to 2 months before they can get their palms on one. O2 is touting the XDA Zinc as a Mini S, but "with added 3G power for high speed internet / video calling," and it reportedly sports a QWERTY keyboard, 2.8-inch LCD touchscreen, 320 x 240 resolution, 520MHz PXA270 processor, 64MB of RAM, 128MB of flash ROM, two-megapixel camera, miniSD slot, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11b/g, and of course, tri-band connectivity. Unfortunately, this well-spec'd device will indeed weigh you down a bit, as it tips the scales at 5.82-ounces and comes in at 2.3-centimeters thick. Still no word on pricing at this point, but just how special this thing will actually be in March remains to be seen.

[Via RegHardware]

The good news? Nokia's N95 product page on the official Nseries site is pretty thorough -- enough to give the Symbian lovers among us some in-depth reading material to hold us over for a bit. The bad news? Their device comparison chart now shows a second-quarter '07 release for the superphone, one quarter later than we were expecting. Of course, in this day and age, delays of this nature should never surprise us; if anything, we'd be surprised if a phone of this complexity were to actually arrive on time. But needless to say, the official N95 material on the site is most definitely not enough to bide our time for another four to seven months.

[Thanks, festriaqua]

As MVNOs seemingly struggle to gain traction stateside, some are looking outside their home borders for an additional revenue stream -- while others are starting to reevaluate the wisdom in taking their business model abroad. Case in point: Disney, which has been having a rough go of it with its first MVNO (ESPN Mobile) and recently launched a second with Disney Mobile, has shelved plans to take Disney Mobile to the UK via O2's network, citing "the rapidly changing competitive environment" (when we run that bit through Babelfish's corporate lip service-to-English translator, we get "we're getting our rears handed to us at home, and we need to figure out what the heck we're doing wrong before we launch elsewhere"). Of course, this is technically an indefinite delay, not a cancellation -- meaning that there may yet be hope for Brits looking forward to tracking the little ones via Disney's Family Locator service -- just not any time soon.

[Via Techdirt]