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Nokia 5800 XpressMusic launch dubbed 'stunning success;' 120 Russians can't be wrong


We love covering the antics of gadget-crazed buyers on launch day as much as anyone, whether it be die-hard gamers waiting for a PS3 or international fanatics clamoring for Apple's latest. Sometimes, though, these big launch sellouts feel a bit... contrived. Such is the case with Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic, dropped first in Russia on Wednesday ahead of its worldwide release yesterday. An internal memo (conveniently posted onto the Mobile-Review forums by a Nokia employee) talks up the usual release day shenanigans: buyers camping for days, bribery attempts for spots in line, inventory disappearing in minutes, and an inevitable prediction that this thing will be bigger than the iPhone. However, while the memo liberally quotes from the LiveJournal musings of Mobile-Review editor Eldar Murtazin, it skips over one choice bit of information he provided: a measly 120 phones were available at this "flagship" location in Moscow.

[Thanks, pops]