The UK subsidiary of Germany's T-Mobile has removed one of Nokia's
Internet-capable phones from its stores until the vendor resolves a
software glitch.
T-Mobile UK has pulled Nokia's 7210 colour-screen model, which
offers picture messaging, e-mail and high-speed Internet access via
packet-based General Public Radio Service (GPRS) technology.
"The phone has a software bug that can cause the handset to
freeze," said T- Mobile spokeswoman Elaine Devereux. "We've been
forced to pull the phones from our stores until Nokia fixes the
problem."
Nokia hoped to have the software glitch resolved "very shortly",
said company spokesman Kari Tuutti.
"The problem is specific to the T-Mobile network in the UK. We have
encountered no problems with the 7210 model, which we are selling
in large volumes to other operators across Europe."
Tuutti declined to specify the problem, saying only that each
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network was "slightly
different", requiring handsets to be "fine-tuned".
"We haven't yet been able to reach perfect performance with the
7210 in the T-Mobile network in the UK, but we will," he added.
Nokia supplies the 7210 handset to rival UK operators Orange
Personal Communications Services and Vodafone, as well as T-Mobile
Deutschland. "None of these operators have problems with the
handset," Tutti said.
T-Mobile UK has sold "only a very small number" of 7210 handsets,
said Devereux. "We just started marketing the products so not too
many people are affected."
Devereux could not say if and how customers who had already
purchased the 7210 handset would be compensated.