Nokia kills N9-00, its first MeeGo handset?

We've been hearing this one for awhile now, primarily around the Twitterverse thanks to Eldar Murtazin. Now Reuters has jumped in with a couple of sources close to the company claiming that Nokia has ended development of its first MeeGo handset, presumably the device pictured above. It's not all bad news though. Reuters tosses in a bullet claiming that the next MeeGo device could be unveiled this week, meaning Nokia's highly anticipated event on Friday or even at Mobile World Congress next week. Of course, Nokia has never gone official with any handset, only saying that the first MeeGo device will be a2011 event (after missing the planned 2010 launch). So really, this is a lot like saying something that didn't exist still doesn't exist. Nevertheless, it jibes with what we've heard that the N9-00 QWERTY slider (aka, RM-680 codename "Dali"), leaked with gusto back in August, has been scrapped as a consumer device with all emphasis now on releasing the N9-01 touchscreen slate, dubbed "Lankku" (Finnish for "plank" or "board") internally. Just another reason for "Nokia CEO" to continue trending on Twitter. No, really.

[Technorati Tags: Nokia, N9-00, MeeGo]